Plant looks very dry. What is your watering regimen? What fertilizer and at what strength are you using?

I took a pic of the pot right before I watered it. The watering regimen is fine. My concern is the roots color and the burnt tip. The fertilizer was from repotme.com - MSU (RO water). I have a home filter for all of the water inside the home. Used full strength thinking it would be fine. I will use half strength next time. The fertilizer is Macronutrients:

• Total Nitrogen 13% (Nitrate Nitrogen 12.5%, Ammoniacal Nitrogen 0.7%)
• Phosphate 3.7%
• Potash 15.9%
• Calcium 8%
• Magnesium 2.6%

Micronutrients:

• Iron 0.177%
• Manganese 0.088%
• Zinc 0.044%
• Copper 0.044%
• Boron 0.018%
• Molybdenum 0.018%

I agree, that mix looks very arid. There is something wrong with your growing conditions. Light, watering, potting mix, humidity and fertiliser have to be in balance. My Phalaenopsis are in this room while my Cattleyas are down the yard in various enclosures. It is a Phalaenopsis death zone out there.

Do you have a temperature/humidity gadget?

My home has low humidity right now because it is winter time and the heater is on. She was kept in the bathroom where it was brighter and more humid but there was too much light so I had to more her. Would love for someone to actually comment on the discolored roots than the dry medium that I do let dry out between waterings. Her leaves do not look dehydrated and roots are still green.

The fertiliser is an unlikely culprit, in fact it is good that you are using it to replace the minerals taken out of your tap water. The problem is elsewhere.

The temperature and humidity next to my indoor all year Phal. collection is at 8:30 am. 24.2C Humidity 73% they are three feet from a window. No sunlight. Because the sun is almost overhead (Summer Southern Hemisphere)

Did you use the powdered MSU or liquid? I've heard of people who had issues with the powdered in the past.

You also say you have filtered water but is it RO filtered?

You need advice from the real orchid growers in the North of the USA.

But seeing the University of Google says the current temperature in Kansas City is around 0C. and the humidity is 58%. You have to wonder what the humidity levels would be in the average home.

Even though Phals. will burn in direct sunlight, they need high light. As the sun moves North for winter here the Phals get sunlight filtered by an outside blind and a matchstick blind. Hopefully, the sun they get will be like the sun in the tropics filtered by the top layers of foliage in the rain forest.

The usual reason for dead roots is "cold and wet".

A far as the root turning black: How long ago was the phal replanted? They sometimes will loose roots (turn brown and mushy) when moved/repotted between different media.

I would not trim roots or repot, the mix looks fine (as stated by others it's a little dry, but we'll assume it isn't always that dry) and the plant should send out new roots to replace the older/brown ones. I'd say the mix may last you another two years...

Good luck,

Bob

The tip of the root should be a slightly different color, ever a brown-pink color because the tip has a lubricant that helps the root push it's way through the medium. If it is not mushy or black don't worry.

The discolored roots are very likely BECAUSE of the dry medium and not the fertilizer. Whether it's just the tip or more, fertilizer damage doesn't look like that in Phals in my experience. More likely is that as it has become more dry in your home, the roots have become dehydrated and hollow and dead. You need to water more often, maybe throw some sphag in your mix and get a humidifier for the room. A typical home in the Northeast with the heat on all the time has humidity levels at <20% so the problem you're having is dehydration.

Seems like everyone is so concerned about that medium. I will repeat again. I water about once to twice a week. It has been more dry lately because the heat is on. I let the mix dry out in between waterings. The mix is moist for days so the cause is something else. I just recently repotted because I had a mealybug scare but it's under control. I saw a few on this plant but since I used 70% isopropyl alcohol treatment and repotting I have not seen any in 2 weeks. When I repotted the roots were that color and there were not mushy. Just discolored. In fact those roots were like that for over 6 months when I first repotted because this was a grocery store plant. The medium was terrible and just about all roots had to be trimmed off. She has produced new roots since then. In my previous post you can see she looks discolored. Spotting and yellowing on the bottom leaf. The new lead stopped growing. My question was only to see if any could may recognize this a root disease.

And there is spag moss in my mix. The moisture is her medium is just fine. I took the pic right before water because the discoloration could been seen better.

I'll risk one more comment regarding watering regimen. With what I've experienced growing phals, your plant looked too dry before being watered. The medium mixture I see in the pot, is more what I use on cattleyas. Would that cause blackened roots ? Don't know. But if you fertilized while the plant had been thirsting for water???

is it just this phal showing blackened roots? Are your other phals growing good healthy roots? Did they respond the same way to being fed? How long have you been growing this plant?

Play

-0:07

Mute

HD

CaptionsMore Settings

Additional Visua

More Settings

I would focus on the new roots not the old. You can expect some of the old roots to die off naturally, plus you would see some root loss when you change from the dense mix at the store to a looser mix at home.

Do you use RO water?

Sheila thanks for the comment. I have been growing that phal for a while. She has been trouble from the start. I let her bloom too many times since bringing her home from the store. After trimming off most of her roots she has been fairly weak. She's just not bouncing back. I love her large blooms and so I am still attempting to save her. She was my first. My other orchids are doing fine in a similar mix. You can't see in the pic but there is maybe 40% moss. She stays moist for almost a week. I had to repot her because I had a small mealybug infestation. I had to treat all of my orchids with 70% isopropyl alcohol. That phal has discolored leaves and spotting. I have isolated her. Afraid she may be sick with a virus. She is just not getting better. That was the first time I ever fed my orchids and the other didn't not respond with burnt root tips. The discolored roots have been there for a while. Months and months. They do feel firm. I have had this plant for maybe a year and a half.

James, I don't use RO water but I do have an extra large filter for the whole home. The water is more pure than regular tap water from the city.

MSU for RO puts back minerals that are stripped out in the RO process. Regular filters will not remove dissolved minerals from the water only solids, so it is possible the high mineral content of your mixture may be burning the roots

James, this is what I have: http://www.pelicanwater.com/whole-house-water-filter.php

Here is the fertilizer: http://repotme.com/orchid-fertilizer/Orchid-Fertilizer-Pint.html

In the description it says "FEED ME! MSU orchid fertilizer for RO/Rain/Tap is urea free, great for orchids and other prized plants" which is why I purchased it. Would it be ok to use at half strength?

For my next purchase I wanted to get Dyna-Gro Orchid Pro: http://repotme.com/orchid-fertilizer/Dyna-Gro-Orchid-Pro.html. Is there something else you recommend?

I can across this discussion from a while back, you might find it interesting. It seems like they may have changed MSU since then. I remember there being different products for RO, tap, and rain water, it doesn't make sense that the same mix would work the same in different types of water.

MSU discussion

The tap water in my area is very hard, when I first moved in I lost a lot of plants from burnt roots. I have since changed to rain water. Your filter system looks really good but I doubt it is removing dissolved minerals from the water. It's good to have some minerals in drinking water so I don't think they would try to remove them.

No one is going to be able to tell you exactly what is going on with your plant based on a photo. It could just be normal root aging or a reaction to re potting. I would keep all of the comments posted in the back of your mind, some may apply here some may apply to other situations. You may loose a few plants along they way but that's the only way you will figure it out.

westoh Z6, the black tip is not progressing. Thanks for the great input.