The plants look fine to me, just some damage to the leaves. Go ahead and prun really bad part and repot them after they are done blooming. Don't remove any roots until you repot and then only those that are truly dead.

Hey Debbie - I agree with smwboxer - the phals look fine, the roots seem healthy. Regarding the second plant, styrofoam at the bottom is quite common - I do it with some of my plants and it helps with drainage. It also saves me having to fill the pot with medium (good sphag is pricey!), and it creates a nice little humid void at the bottom of the pot. The roots appear perfectly healthy to me from your photo. The only thing I would kind of check out is that the first phal seems to be potted in something not sphag, with a layer of sphag on top, although I can't really tell from the photograph.

Yeah, I'm not as worried about phal #1. You are right though.. upon closer inspection while I thought it was potted in all moss, it does appear to be moss on top of dirt or something. I guess I'll wait until I'm sure it's completely done blooming and then repot it. It looks cramped in its current pot right?

As for phal #2, some of the roots inside the pot looks mushy and black to me. I think they are rotting. And since it is done blooming, I think I should repot it sooner rather then later. However, I had read on some threads regarding rehab of poorly treated phals that you should allow them to adjust to their new environment before a repot. So, I figured I'd ask all of you. I'll also snip off the portion of the bad leaf and dip in cinnamon.

any other thoughts on this?

Hi Debbie,

I'm constantly buying distressed phals from the big box stores. Man, they treat them poorly.

I agree with everything written so far.

In reference to the one with the brown roots if you are ready to transplant it than go for it. The first thing I do when I get a distressed phals home is immediately take them out of the pot and remove the moss/planting mix just to get a better look at the overall condition of the plant. Then they get a good cleaning, soaking and than repotted. (Same pot or bigger depending on need)

Phals are very resilient and as long as you handle the plant and the roots with a soft touch you shouldn't have a problem transplanting it now. For that matter, even the one with the green spike can be transplanted without much concern. Remember that phals can maintain green spikes for months before they initiate a second blooming so you may be waiting quite a while for that spike to do something. (On the flip side though, I've also had one distressed phal immediately initiate new buds after a little TLC so it could go either way.) Phal #1 doesn't look overly cramped in it's current pot so you do have the time to wait. Most orchids love being root bound so that shouldn't be a concern. But may I suggest that you pull off a bit of the moss to see what it's planted in. It shouldn't be dirt (and if it is transplant immediately.) It may be a fine grade orchid mix. (a peat based soilless mix or husk fibers etc.) As long as the planting medium under the moss looks fine you can wait on this one - or not - either way the phal should be fine with good care and a bit of TLC.

Thanks for your input Claire. Yeah, I found a local supermarket a few weeks ago that marked their phals down to $4 because they are no longer in bloom. they clearly had no idea how to water them. some were drenched, some were bone dry. I figure I'd take a chance.

I took a look at the medium under the moss under phal #1. Not exactly sure what it is. I'm going to take another look later. If I think it's dirt, I'll repot immediately with bark (that's what i have on hand)

I just clipped off the rotten part of phal #2's leaf and dipped in cinnamon. I also clipped the spike after the second node... it definitely isn't going to grow another spike from it- it's too brown looking. and I figure it should devote it's resources to getting healthier again. I think I'm going to pull it out of it's pot later and look at the roots. if they do look like they are turning black and mushy I'm going to prune and repot now before it gets worse.

Hi Debbie,

Claire is right. Don't be afraid to unpot any orchid when you get it home to get the complete story on its condition and repot in your choice of media that you are experienced with. They both looked fine to me and I would cut the brown spike off as close to the bottom as possible and sprinkle cinnamon on it also. Great stuff, cinnamon ! When you do repot, determine the pot size by the root ball, not the leaves and plant size.

I used to try and rescue ALL the 1/2 price out of bloom orchids at Home Depot !! Box stores only care for them two ways, underwatered or overwatered !! I learned to pull the plant out of the pot and check the roots right there before I would buy it because they aren't usually in clear plastic pots !!

Grow well !!

Chryss

Thanks Chryss

When dealing with roots, don't worry what color they are. Worry about their texture. Plump and firm okay, dry and stringy or mushy not okay.

Packing peanuts allow air to reach the roots in a pot. Orchid roots need air.

So, I decided to repot both. Here are pics.

It appears that phal #1 was in a mixture of dirt and coconut chunk and bark with some moss on top. However, it appeared to be mostly dirt when I took it out of the pot, so I discarded it and put it in bark. Here are some pics of the roots.

{{gwi:170774}}

{{gwi:170780}}

Here are pics of phal #2's roots:

{{gwi:170781}}

{{gwi:170782}}

The above pics are from AFTER I was done pruning. I hope I didn't cut anything off I shouldn't have. Orchid126's comments above about root rot were helpful but I didn't see it until after I was done.

I gave the bark for both a good soak before repotting. I won't water again until mostly dry.

Here's hoping I did ok!

Um... is this crown rot? Will these plants make it?

Spray with dilute Physan 20 (1 teaspoon/gallon) or dilute peroxide hydrogen every other day for a week or two. You will see the black fungus become white and gone. Also spray on moss/bark too. There are plenty of good root and plants will survive.