Root rot - I think I'm losing this one

I have a phal with root rot. I've had this one for a while and it has bloomed several times. It now has a new flower spike with three branches and many buds. I noticed that the flowers that opened looked somewhat deformed. Then a bud fell off. Shortly after that one of the new flowers died. Now the leaves are starting to look a little wrinkled.

I removed the plant from the pot and saw that at least 50% of the roots were mushy. I cut off all the bad roots. I removed all of the old medium. Washed the remaining roots and repotted it.

It's not looking too good, but it's kind of soon to tell.

My question: this is one of those phals that always wanted to lean over the side of the pot. It leaned over so far that it looked like it would fall out of the pot. I would try to straighten it but that never worked. Any chance that my fooling around with it shocked the roots?

I never water without sticking my fingers way down to the bottom. If it feels moist I don't water. I can't figure out what happened to this one. I'd hate to lose this one, but I certainly don't want my other six plants to get infected. They are all growing new spikes.

What should I do?

Reply to
Jane
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My recommendation is to cut off the spikes so the plant can use its energies for recovery.

Wetness, by itself, does not cause root rot. There are many factors that can - excessive mineral buildup or other poisoning, getting too cold, etc - but the most common reason is suffocation. Trying to "train" the plant upright is not likely to have contributed to the issue unless you did so with such vigor that you broke the roots!

Orchids do most of their gas exchange through their roots. If the medium is getting too compact due to water compression (with sphagnum) or just plain old decomposition that happens with time, it can choke off the airflow pathways and suffocate the plant. Then, if the medium is getting that dense, when you water, you actually exacerbate the problem, as the droplets are held in the tiny, remaining open channels by surface tension, effectively closing them, too.

Reply to
Ray B

Cut the spike off. Boy, I HATE to do that. I've been waiting for months for the blooms. However what you say makes lots of sense. Thanks for the help.

BTW - is this a contagious condition? Do I need to move it? Unfortunately I have not been able to find another spot in the house where an orchid does well.

Reply to
Jane

Nope. it's not contagious.

The living tissue has to die, then it will rot.

Reply to
Ray B

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