Will this survive?

[morphiii]

One of my phals. has lost almost all of its roots!!

The spike started to turn yellow and when I check the roots, all the velamen on the roots are mushy and soft. When pulled the came off easily.

The weird thing is the white soft roots in the middle is still firm and elastic.

Will the roots survive without the velamen?

The plant has only 2 firm roots left. Is the plant done?

Did I kill another one?

sigh!!

[morphiii]

Maybe I should mount it to save the roots. Suggestions is greatly appreciated.

[jbigio]

First you need to trim all the dead roots and clean the old medium off the roots that are still good. I'm guessing you either over watered or the medium is old or wrong. I would either re- plant in bark or as you suggested mounting might be a good way to go. I’ve tried rooting hormone on some of my small babies when I re-plant and they all have strong roots. I keep all my Phal (about 20) in medium bark and it has worked well for me. As long as the leaves are not dead and you still have some good roots you have a chance to save the plant. You also may want to try keeping it in a small pot in a large zip lock to keep the humidity up. Hope this helps. Good luck

[morphiii]

Originally Posted by jbigio

First you need to trim all the dead roots and clean the old medium off the roots that are still good. I'm guessing you either over watered or the medium is old or wrong. I would either re- plant in bark or as you suggested mounting might be a good way to go. I’ve tried rooting hormone on some of my small babies when I re-plant and they all have strong roots. I keep all my Phal (about 20) in medium bark and it has worked well for me. As long as the leaves are not dead and you still have some good roots you have a chance to save the plant. You also may want to try keeping it in a small pot in a large zip lock to keep the humidity up. Hope this helps. Good luck

Are all the roots without velamen dead? They seem rather healthy naked roots.

I have a lot of them. It is just the velamen that are rotted out. The thing is if I mount it, will the roots dry out too fast, since it has nothing to protect it from cold or heat.

[jbigio]

When you mount you can wrap the roots with sphagnum moss which will keep it from drying out to fast. I’ve only mounted two and they are growing roots past the moss. You will have to water regularly

[viper]

I mount most of my orchids and they thrive. it is a good idea to mount that orchid of yours. good luck!

[tom499]

I personally wouldnt mount a stressed orchid. The bits of stringy root you have left after thefleshy bit is gone should be cut off too. Lose the flower spike if its still attached.

Wrap moss around the base and use a clear plastic bag to put it in. Just keep it moist in a slightly shadier spot

[viper]

treat it like a cutting.

[kmarch]

Originally Posted by viper

I mount most of my orchids and they thrive. it is a good idea to mount that orchid of yours. good luck!

viper, It may or may not be a good idea for morphiii to mount his ailing Phal depending on a number of cultural factors. Mounted orchids often require more frequent watering and higher humidity which morphiii may or may not be able to provide.

In another post you said you had mounted a Phal and it quickly died.

[sandra]

morphiii, I have 2 phals that are hanging on right now by one root, each. They were potted in a new medium I tried and it ended up killing off most of the roots. The idea now is to promote root growth without suffocating what's left. I went to a nursery and spoke with a few people who recommended that I repot the plant in LECA (Hydroton is what I used). I've added a little sphag on top to keep humidity up. So far, so good. The water runs through the medium, keeps the medium moist but has a lot more breathing room than other types of mediums and at this point, is what it needs; it's similar to the sphag/bag method, only potted up. You may want to try this or the bag method. All is not lost....good luck with this.

[morphiii]

Well I found a small trunk in my backyard and mounted my sick phal. on it.
I have included some pictures of the roots without the velamen.

There are only 2 full functioning roots, one about 4 inches long, the other about 2.

Will he make it?

[pikevi]

What a beautiful job, morphiii!

Well done. I hope it will do well

[tom499]

Thats a very nice mount, but i still worry about the plant. I still wouldnt have mounted it, and with the roots in such a state cut off the flower stem and put it in a vase or something. The leaves already look limp your gonna have to work hard to keep it well watered without causing further rot.

[Aleksa]

I'm 100% sure that you will lose plant if you don't cut the stem off!

[morphiii]

Originally Posted by tom499

Thats a very nice mount, but i still worry about the plant. I still wouldnt have mounted it, and with the roots in such a state cut off the flower stem and put it in a vase or something. The leaves already look limp your gonna have to work hard to keep it well watered without causing further rot.

I will try my best but there really isn't anything left to rot except the one big root.

Will they still rot even mounted like this?

Do the velamenless root still function at all?

Some of the naked exposed roots feel dry but most of them still feels squishy and firm.

[morphiii]

Originally Posted by Aleksa

I'm 100% sure that you will lose plant if you don't cut the stem off!

What makes you say that? The stem is not brown or yellow yet, once they turn yellow I will cut it off immediately.

[morphiii]

I am just wondering if it is possible to give the plant an iv?

I have a needle and I can put some saline and stick it in through the crown.

Maybe the plant won't be dehydrated too much.

Has anyone ever done that?

[tom499]

Your plant is in a state of shock after losing many roots.

Have a feel of the leaves, they should feel firm and quite thick like a succulent. If they are limp then the plant is dehydrated.

The stem and flowers are a problem because the plant has to pump water all the way up the stem. The plant will try to stay in flower for as long as possible, meaning less water is going to the vital areas like root growth and the leaves.

The roots without velamen wont recover and are of little use.

You will have to keep the mount moist at all times, as this is how you will keep it in the pot.

As the plant is quite big keep it in a cool humid place like the bathroom, this will limit water loss.

[jbigio]

If you want to actual do everything to save the plant CUT THE FLOWER STEM. The plant can’t put all its energy in growing new roots if it still has flowers. Flowers are a sick plants safety net to perpetuate the species if it can flower seed and spread the seed then it has done its job. If you remove the flowers all the energy left should go into it trying to grow new root.

[morphiii]

An update; this morning one of the lower leaves dropped off. It is just dry and limp.

The plant that I bought started out with only 5 leaves and now 3 are gone.

I have since cut off the spike and put the flowers in a vase.

I am not too optimistic about this and just counting the days when I have to announce another death.

sigh .

[jbigio]

let’s hope for the best but this isn’t the first or last one lost we all lose one now and then

[brookn]

I have been following this thread, and I think I should have weighed in about the mounting. Mounting a stressed phal will just put too much more stress on it. I totally agree with Tom on this. It will lose leaves if it is stressed. I would not reccomend the IV technique, as putting a hole in the crown may cause many other problems, such as bacteria, or fungus. I think that putting a bag around the plant will help, and you may want to look into some fungicide for it while it is recovering. I also reccomend that you do not fertilize this plant for at least 6 weeks or more. It will be touch and go until it acclimates to the mount and recovers. I am glad that you cut off the spike, as that will give the plant some energy to recover.

[morphiii]

Update; I have unmounted the phal. which looks like a overgrown seedling at this point, cut off all the stringy roots and dip him in a root hormone, it is some kind of white powder. Wrap it back up with New Zealand moss and moist it with water.

The one good root is now half a root as the bottom half of the root is mushy. I cut it off. So now there is only one and a half good root and 2 leaves.

tick tock tick tock tick ..........


I went out to get a new big healthy white phal. at Home Depot. The top 3 or 4 roots are already rotted out when I got him home. I unpotted him and mounted him on another log and wrapped the 25 or so healthy roots ( big white ones and some thick green ones) in New Zealand moss.

If this one develops root rot again I will be out of my mind!! Just to warn you.

[kmarch]

Originally Posted by viper

treat it like a cutting.

I'm sorry to be blunt, but this is just wrong, bad advice. With only rare exceptions, an orchid should not be treated as a cutting off an ordinary plant. Please viper, I understand that you may want to be helpful, but giving bad advice like this doesn't help anyone and may lead to the loss of someone's valued orchid. Please know what you're talking about before you post.

[morphiii]

Originally Posted by kmarch

I'm sorry to be blunt, but this is just wrong, bad advice. With only rare exceptions, an orchid should not be treated as a cutting off an ordinary plant. Please viper, I understand that you may want to be helpful, but giving bad advice like this doesn't help anyone and may lead to the loss of someone's valued orchid. Please know what you're talking about before you post.

What does that mean? I am doing something wrong with the root hormone?

Please help.

[morphiii]

Update; One of the 2 remaining leaves on the rootless phal. started to turn light green/yellowish in the back, towards the crown.

Does this mean the leaf is dying or dead?

[jbigio]

I have used rooting hormones on many of my plants I fell it has been helpful about half the time and will do no harm all the time.at least for me. good luck

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

To answer your question on the function of velamenless roots, if the velamen is gone all the way to the end of the root, the root is effectively dead and should be cut off, as there is no function without the velamen. However, there is the occasional condition where the velamen is missing on a portion of the root, and the good portion of root with velamen, beyond the damage, is functioning properly and even growing. So the stringy portion while bare can translocate the food and water OK and the stringy roots with good tips should not be cut off.