Vic,

First of all, you have to understand that phalaenopsis, like most orchids,
are epiphytes, and the species in nature tend to grow attached to the bark
of trees with their roots on the surface and hanging out in mid air.
Because of that adaptation, it is important to make sure that the potting
medium you have has lots of free air space to allow gas exchange to occur
freely at the roots. I doubt if most growers would find a "mud mix" to
provide enough air flow, and even so, keeping the moisture-air balance is
tough. I'd suggest moving the plant into a more open medium - one that
still holds a lot of moisture, but that has lots of so-called
"macroporosity", spaces between the particles. There is no single best
medium for everyone, so describing more of your growing conditions is likely
to get a variety of suggestions from us here.

Secondly, I think your attempt at remedies has negatively affected the
plant. As the aerial roots you removed were difficult due to the green
inner core, it sounds like they were still viable and functioning. The gray
coating is velamen, which is basically dead cells that act as a sponge to
capture water and pass it onto the living tissue. If they were stiff and
wrinkly, it was likely a symptom if insufficient watering or humidity, or
both.

If the plant only has a single viable root at this point, I think letting it
bloom again may mean the plant's demise. I would remove the flower spike
altogether, repot it into a more "open" mix, and get it well established
again. Once it is healthy, it will grow new spikes.

One more thing about phals roots and rotting - cold and wet is a terrible
combination, so this time of year it is important to keep the plant warm.

--

Ray Barkalow - First Rays Orchids - www.firstrays.com
Plants, Supplies, Artwork, Books and Lots of Free Info!


wrote in message
...
My phal has me well and truly stumped.

It finished its second blooming for the year about a month ago -- it
seems to be on a winter and summer schedule, and the summer blooming
seems to have lasted longer than expected.

Right now I'm seeing something that looks like what Kenni Judd
described in another post.

Phals with previously-bloomed spikes that are still green can make more
flowers, sometimes from the end, more often from a secondary branching
lower
on the stem, and these seem less dependent on temps, but these bloomings,
too, are very disappointing compared to what the plant is capable of on a
good primary blooming.
--
Kenni Judd
Juno Beach Orchids


It's still a bit early to tell, but it looks like it is a secondary
branch that is forming. That's the good news.

The bad news is that its roots seem to be rotting. I've cut off a
number of aerial roots (three or four) and I'm pretty sure some of the
roots that are in the mud mixture (Pro-Mix with extra perlite) are
also rotting. The aerial roots started developing problems at the
tips/ends. The best description I have of them is that they started to
look deflated. I let the damage back up the root a bit, just to see
what would happen, but I couldn't let that happen for very long, so
out came the scissors and the razor blades. Lopping off the root was a
bit of a challenge as the centre core/vein was still very green and
very strong.

The last new leaf the plant produced is now about
four-and-a-half-inches long and still seems to be growing well. I
don't see any signs of a new one coming along yet. The plant hasn't
produced any new aerial roots in about two months, which is a long
time for this plant.

Now I've read here that phals may try to blast buds if they think they
are dying. Is this what this plant is doing or can it continue to live
and thrive even as the roots are dying?

I had decided to repot the plant, but I wanted to give it a chance to
really finish its blooming cycle and for the spike to turn brown and
dry out. Of course it's not co-operating. I don't want to discourage
it from blooming, so I'm not overly excited about repotting it now,
but first and foremost, I really don't want to let the plant die.

I've tried to figure out if the pot I chose when I repotted it this
past spring was too large, or if the medium is breaking down much more
quickly than expected (I have notice for the last six weeks or so that
it doesn't seem to be drying out as quickly, and my watering schedule
is longer than normal), or if there is something else that has
suddenly gone wrong. Does anybody have any suggestions about what is
happening, why it is happening, and what I should do next?
--Vic