Hi. You need to think what caused the rot. One of the commonest causes in cultivation is too low temperature , not enough light. What I would do is cut away ALL the dead tissue with a sterile knife, wash the whole plant in a mild chlorine solution - don't forget to rinse off the chlorine with sterile or boiled water - then leave the wounds to dry for 24 hours. I wouldn't treat them with anything. Get a large jamjar or similar, quarter fill it with fine gravel and add a couple of tablespoons of water, not enough to reach the top of the gravel. Sterilize the whole by microwaving for about 3 minutes. Don't let the water boil away. When it has cooled, pop your plant into the jar (its ICU)and seal the lid.It should fog up. Make sure it is not in contact with any base water. Some people use sphagnum moss, but unless there are live roots, there's not a lot of point. Keep it very warm but out of direct sunlight. In a couple of months ( if you are lucky - your plant is critically ill) you will see new roots forming.

Okay, but what should I do about the cinnamon I sprinkled on it? is it true that cinnamon retards root growth? thank you.

I wouldn't put chlorine on the plant. Just pot in some small bark with some sphag mixed in. Pot the plant in a small pot, keep warm and water when almost dry. Check with your finger down into the mix. Don't put cinnamon on any root area. Give it good light and hope for the best. Spring is coming, the days are getting longer and if your plant is going to make it, it will now. Leave the aerial roots alone, they can help carry the plant until new roots form.

Good luck,
Jane

I agree with Jane. Also, the main growing stem is too long, and should be shortened, otherwise the stem would have to be planted into too deep a pot, and that would be too much medium for a plant with so little roots. I also agree with ifraser when he says cut away all dead tissue with a sterile knife or new razor blade and let the wounds dry. Pot it into a very small pot since there are hardly any roots.

Thank you so much for all your insight. But about the stem, how can I shorten it?? the only live roots are at the bottom of it, so I'd have to cut them off or use the aerial roots instead... Is that right?

Many people (including me) worry about using chlorine on plants and you should only use it an emergency and in very low concentration.It must always be rinsed off afterwards. However, you MUST do it with this method, otherwise any bacteria/fungal spores still on the plant will multiply extremely rapidly in the enclosed conditions of the ICU, undoing all your goood work. The cinnamon will have been washed off by the treatment. What the plant has taken up already will do no harm, but I have only found it to be useful as a prevention, not in emergency surgery! Without seeing a photo of your plant it's difficult to say how much surgery it needs, but in general, if there are still live roots they should be left. If there is a substantial amount of live root left, a less radical solution is to sprinkle the wounds with a very small amount of sulphur and just wrap them in sterile sphagnum, as another respondent suggested. I would still recommend you keep it 100% humid for a while to prevent dehydration.

ifraser25, would peroxide do as well?

Pharaoness, if the only roots you have are way down on the old stem, then you must leave them. But in a few months recheck the stem and see if any more roots have grown, and if so, then you can trim the old stem. In the meantime, be careful watering. Use the skewer.

In Hawaii when they want to propagate phals they cut the top off, plant it, and it will re-root. Then the remainder of the plant will throw off keikis.

I've never used peroxide but I guess it would be OK, same rules as before, leave it for a few hours then rinse it off.

Thank you for all your help, I hope my plant makes it. By the way, I do have a link posted on the bottom of my first post in this thread, just click it and that should give you a much better view of exactly the condition my plant is in. Please post your thoughts once you've looked, thank you again!