Hi Alexa - sorry to hear about your sick phal. I'd trim off the hollow papery roots with a disinfected exacto knife. If any of the leaves are turning yellow, I'd trim those off as well and cover the fresh cut with cinnamon. It sounds like the healthy roots won't be able to support the spike blooming, especially if the leaves are yellowing. I think the best option would be to cut the spike off, allowing the plant to put all its energy into recovering. The blooms should last if you place the spike in a vase of water. Some people have success with the "sphag and bag" method to help encourage the growth of new roots, might want to give that a try.

Best of luck,
~altair

I agree, cut off the spike all the way down to the last inch or less and remove the bottom leaf. I don't think that bagging is necessary since there are live roots. It just needs to be potted and watered properly. You may lose another couple of leaves, but leave them on while there is any green at all.

At this point you should decide about this plant. It will be a long comeback. It may not bloom in 2008 again at all. If you are primarily interested in flowers, toss it.

If you want to learn about orchid culture, pot it and love it. Remember that love means giving it time and not too much fussing. Orchids run on a different time scale from people and growing orchids is a great growth opportunity in the area of patience.

Welcome to the world of orchids.

Thanks for the advice.

Since it spent a few hours wrapped in a damp paper towel, it is already showing signs of perking up! I think the problem was the new roots (one is about 3 inches long, two others are about 1 inch and there is a 4th that is about .5 inch) were sitting above the medium and it really wasn't getting any moisture at all.

I will cut the spike, but it looks like all is not lost. It isn;t an expensive one (I got it at Lowe's last fall) but it was the first one, so I will try to save it for sentimental reeasons.

THanks again for the help!

Alexa

Glad to hear your plant is perking up :) Phal roots are notorious for climbing out of their pots - they like to have airflow around their roots.

~altair

Since it has so few roots, you might have to prop up the plant until it gets some.

You might also want to give it some Super Thrive - for my rescue phals I always soak them in a mix of warm water, a couple drops of super thrive, and a spoonful of sugar for a few hours. Then I pot it up in Sphag and basically leave it alone - water sparingly at first then wait til the sphag is crunchy to water again. I have not lost one plant this way

"At this point you should decide about this plant. It will be a long comeback. It may not bloom in 2008 again at all. If you are primarily interested in flowers, toss it." Ricardo1 - That is WAY cold.

I got hooked on orchids because of the flowers. Still am. But you have to love the plants (keep them happy and healthy) to get the flowers. This hobby is way too expensive to maintain if you chuck the problem 'chids. (I say this tongue in cheek of course - but it does hurt a bit to be reminded that some are tossing out of bloom orchids like yesterdays garbage.)