Question
Hello!

I bought a cute little mini phal about 2 weeks ago and was pleased to see that it had about 14 flowers and another 10 or so buds when I bought it. About 2 that were half opened when I bought the plant have fully opened, but all the buds on one side (it has two flowering stems that grow in opposite arches) are starting to turn red/yellow and wither. I'm concerned also that some of the roots might be rotting, as they look a bit yellow (maybe soft?) through the small plastic pot and there were a couple small black flies buzzing around the bottom of the pot when I pulled it out of the larger decorative pot to water it. The buds that have bloomed are beautiful and seem fine--no signs of them whithering. The leaves are also large and firm and green and seem to be doing ok. None of the buds that still look healthy have opened up in the last 2 weeks which makes me worry that something is going wrong (the last  week or so is when some of the buds have yellowed/whithered).

I have some orchid bark and could re-pot it, but I'm hesitant to do so as I've been advised that these orchids should only be re-potted once they're done flowering. Any suggestions of what I can do in the mean time to help revive my plant and help the remaining buds bloom? Should I cut the whithered buds off? Or just let them fall off on their own. I don't want to kill the plant!

Thank you!

Answer
The good news is that the plant still seems healthy. I would not concentrte on the buds so much at this time and focus on maintaining plant health.  If the plastic pot is in a decorative pot that has no drainage holes in it, it is likely that the potting mix it is in has degraded and you may well have root rot starting in.  The flies (probably fungus gnats) lay their eggs in decomposed potting mix-- which is further evidence of a decomposed potting mix. Use a standard orchid potting mix and not straight fir bark in repotting this plant.  Also, it needs to be repotted into a plastic pot with lots of drainage holes to allow air into the mix and water to drain out.  Decomposed mix holds water and stays wet much too long leading to root rot. If there is root rot, that may influence bud development, leading to your concerns about the buds.

If you want to wait to see if any buds open, that is fine as long as you take the plastic pot out of the decorative pot and reduce the watering.  Normally, it is true that repotting should await the completion of flowering because repotting does disturb the roots that feed the buds.  However, I suspect that in this case you may have root rot that will hinder or slow any furher bud opening and little will be gained by further delays in repotting.

Because you have a mini phal you want your repotting mix to be near seedling size particles (ie. 1/4 - 1/2 inch in diameter). When you unpot your plant, rinse off the roots thoroughly and remove any that are mushy before repotting. Wet your potting mix prior to use as dry fir bark is water repellant and wetting it reduces the repellancy.