Cut off the browning stem at the bottom and pull off the yellow leaves if they are loose and cut off the shriveled roots. The plant is healthy looking and should be fine once you get it repotted but you need to trim off all other rotted or shriveled roots when you do that. Experts on here can best advise you what orchid mix to use and how to repot properly. I think it is just done blooming which is normal and if you have enough bright indirect light it will bloom again eventually but they do not bloom nearly as often as some people expect.

Link to Phalaenopsis culture advice.

American Orchid Society Culture Notes

If you add where you live or your climate zone to your ID that will assist in getting fine tuned advice.

Thanks for the suggestions! I'll check out that website, it looks helpful.

I'm in DC and it's usually a bit humid in our condo though as I mentioned above the a/c has been cranked the past week with visitors so it's much less humid than normal. It's in an east facing window that gets good sun in the morning and then no direct sun starting around 11 or 12.

I'll go ahead cut the stem and shriveled roots and repot it into some orchid potting soil this weekend and see what happens.

So my orchid is not doing well at all.

I cut the stems and repotted the orchid in a mix of bark (which I soaked overnight first) and just a little bit of spaghum moss to help maintain moisture. I put it in a plastic container that I cut out some holes in and then put it in a ceramic container that had a lot of cut outs.

After a few days, the bottom leaves turned yellow which didn't worry me since it seemed like they do that sometimes based on posts I read. I did check the moisture level and found that the moss and most of the bark had dried out, but some of the interior bark was still a bit moist.

It's been a week since I repotted and now all of the leaves (including the new one that was growing) have turned yellow. All the bark is now dry, but I did see that there was a little bit of condensation in the bottom of the plastic pot. I cut out some more holes just on the bottom to help alleviate that.

I don't know if my orchid is just in shock from the repotting, if I screwed up by putting it back in it's normal spot after repotting, it was too wet because I didn't have enough holes in it, or it got too dry.

Here's a picture of how it looks now. It's not in a lot of light right now because it gets good morning light but not a lot of afternoon light (which it was doing fine in for over 1 month). The two leaves that look green are actually turning a tiny bit yellow on the underside.

Any thoughts? Think I can salvage this orchid?

Judging by the yellowed new leaf, you may have crown rot.

How were the roots when you repotted? Was the crown of the plant soft or squishy?

They can survive and eventually thrive on 2 green leaves, but when the top leaf starts to go I find it's very hard to get them to recover.

The roots were a little dried out but not too bad. I trimmed off the ones that were completely withered. There were some green tips on some of the other roots- looked like new growth. No rot.

The crown of the plant was fine, not soft or squishy. Now that top leaf is really soft, not squishy but really limp. The two greener leaves below it look and feel healthy besides the little bit of yellow color underneath. The leaves aren't turning black, if that makes a difference. Just turning yellow and falling off.

When you see yellowing on the newest growth, in the center of the plant, that usually means it will not recover. If water gets into the center and you don't tip or blot it out, it can spell disaster. I'm no novice, but I lost one myself by not paying attention a few month back.

You can give it a few weeks to see if it will grow another leaf from the center. If it does, it will come back. But in all likelihood, the plant is already gone. If you want to keep trying, it looks like you need to give the pot a long soak, 15-20 minutes, every 5-7 days, so the bark stays damp for a few days. Condensation inside the pot isn't a bad thing. Phals like humidity. If there are holes so that air can move through the pot, condensation is fine. A phal can usually take it if the bark gets totally dry, but they are certainly happier in a humid pot.

dannie317 and I agree, then. Outer leaves can fall off and the plant can survive. When the center leaf goes bad, it typically spells death of the plant. I currently have one in that situation where the top leaves were sunburned and fell off. The plant is making a basal keiki and I'm certain as soon as the keiki can survive independently, the mother plant with die.

Thanks! I understand what you're saying, but there's actually a smaller leaf at the base that's still green and looking good and the two other green leaves seem to be holding on. I'll try soaking it and see how it looks in another week.

Thanks for all the help- I'll report back!

Just a quick update-

Those two leaves did end up falling off in August, but there was a small green leaf underneath so I soaked the plant once a week as recommended and I'm happy to report that the plant seems to be coming back! There's a new leaf that popped up just before Labor Day and it's getting noticeably bigger every week. I think another leaf has started growing and the visible roots look green and healthy too.

Thanks for the help!

I'm interested-are the new growths coming from the crown of the original plant or are they growing on the side of the stem of the plant? I've seen many cases where a phal produced a baby orchid on its stem (basal keiki) in response to having its crown rotted. Yours could be a basal keiki the plant is making.

I didn't realize that. It's not growing from the crown, so maybe it's a basal keiki? Can you tell from the picture below?

It's sort of an awkward angle, but from what I've seen in pictures and videos, I'm pretty sure it is a basal keiki (the red leaf). Congrats! Your orchid is trying to live on through its baby. I think you should continue to give it the same care you could give a regular healthy phal plant. Make sure you don't get water on the keiki. You don't want to risk the new growth rotting. It should eventually form roots of its own, and once the roots grow long enough you can separate it from the mother plant.

That slightly larger green leaf looks as though it's attached to the main stem and not the keiki-is it? If it is, don't get water near it (don't mist). If the leaf is part of the mother plant, it should help the mother orchid photosynthesize energy to grow the keiki.

Hope it keeps growing!

(Forgive me if I'm completely wrong about all of the above-I'm rather new to plants and especially orchid growing. I'm relying purely on what I've seen and heard from videos, posts, and pictures.)

That's pretty cool!

The larger green leaf is attached to the mother plant. I've just been soaking the roots once a week- no misting since I was worried that's what caused the plant to decline in the first place.

If the new plant continues to grow at that awkward angle (the newest leaf would be growing downwards into the bark) should I just move the bark out of the way?

And how would I be able to tell if it's forming it's own roots since it's essentially growing at the bark level?

Thanks!

Hmm...not sure...

Yeah, if the new leaf starts growing into the bark I'd say just move the bark out of the way. For roots, I think small nubs will begin to appear on the base of the keiki and elongate into roots. You should be able to tell which roots are coming from the keiki and which roots belong to the mother plant if you look closely.

Here's an image from another post here (http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/1558277/keikes-on-phals?n=40) of a keiki on a flower spike. Yours is a basal keiki, but I think the roots will look identical.

Here's another pic of a healthy phal with a mature basal keiki from (http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/3296393/phalaenopsis-leaf-growing-under-roots-and-media?n=5).

When you cut the keiki from the plant, make sure it has at least 3-5 roots, all at least maybe 5 inches long. Once your keiki is ready to be separated from the mother plant, I can post a video if you like of someone cutting a keiki from a mother phal. I'd say maybe a year until it's ready.*

*Just estimating, other growers may probably have more experienced advice to give.

It is a basal keiki. The mother plant is keeping it alive and will do so until you have at least 2 leaves on the keiki and 4 one-inch long roots. This will take a long while - like months. I have a basal keiki that grew before the summer and has 2 leaves, but no roots of it's own. I think it will be a year until it can be separated from the mother plant. The mother plant will not grow anymore, but will just serve as the host for the keiki.

Thanks everyone! And thanks for the pictures of the roots. The leaf of the basal keiki is growing like crazy, and I see the second one really coming out now. I'll keep an eye on the roots and will probably be back on this forum for advice on how to separate it whenever that happens!

How is it doing now??

My plant has done well over the winter. I'm trying to figure out when I should start fertilizing it. It has 2 fairly big leaves and looks like it may be growing another leaf from the bottom. It also has a longish root. I'm attaching a picture.

I also think it may have mealybugs. I'm attaching a picture of those as well (slightly blurry) in the hopes that someone can confirm. If it is, I think I just need to wipe it with a cotton swab soaked in isopropyl alcohol, is that right? If I do that, what's the likelihood of it coming back/spreading?

Thanks!

I'm actually going to do a separate post about the mealybugs because the problem is worse than it first appeared to be.

I'm trying to figure out when I should start fertilizing it.

I think now would be a great time to start. Can you see how many roots are in the pot and if any are growing?

There was one root + an aerial root, but I actually separated it from the plant because the mealybugs infestation was pretty bad. It was easier to clean it off with just the keiki.

I'm going to see how it does for the next couple of weeks and then see if I need to fertilize it.

I'd continue to fertilize as you would normally (weakly/weekly?). The lil' feller probably needs some nutritional help right now.

Bob