What do I do?
My orchid had root rot.. here is what’s left. It is still growing but there are no roots and the leaves are looking really pathetic.
2ft to light, indirect
5” pot without drainage
Last watered 3 weeks ago
3
Best Answer
That’s too bad, but on the good side it’s using what energy it has stored to grow a keiki (plantlet). Don’t trim the spike nor the leaves. That small growth will need to suck all the energy from them that it can to develop its own roots. You can help the plantlet by wrapping a small amount of sphagnum moss around the base and keeping it moist, try not to get moisture in the crown (keep that part dry). If you can coax it to 3 leaves with 3 roots that are 3 inches long, you’ll have a clone of the original.
Late to the party here, but you can save it from total root rot if you just clean it up and put it in a mosspital… throw it in a tall vase (transparent plastic small trash can would also work) atop a bed of moss, water the moss. Vase should be at least 8in tall… you need to create a humidity zone around the orchid so it can absorb water from the air around it (since it has no roots) and continue photosynthesizing to grow new roots.
I have done this with phals that came with total root rot, in my experience roots grow at a rate of around 1/4 inch per week in mosspital. A plant in this state needs longer rehab so moss (first video) is the better environment, but the second video also shows another variation on this type of rehab.
https://youtu.be/8XgOQQDwJR4
https://youtu.be/-U1sGAeKicg
I have done this with phals that came with total root rot, in my experience roots grow at a rate of around 1/4 inch per week in mosspital. A plant in this state needs longer rehab so moss (first video) is the better environment, but the second video also shows another variation on this type of rehab.
https://youtu.be/8XgOQQDwJR4
https://youtu.be/-U1sGAeKicg
Sad to report that it failed. 😞 my lovely orchid has passed! RIP!