Question
QUESTION: Hi,
  My orchid is 'in intensive care' right now and I am hoping you can help me work out what is wrong with it and what would be best to do. I have 4 Phalaenopsis orchids now which until now have all done very well. My oldest is about 3 years old and they are flowering just about all of the time and growing new shoots and leaves. The orchid in question was growing happily (lots of new leaves and a few new stems with buds developing on one) and then suddenly the leaves began to wilt, look very 'wrinkly'/veiny and go black at the edges. This has continued and the buds have died and its looking very worrying. I do put Orchid fertiliser in their water and spray them with this a few times a week to keep the soil slightly damp (not dry as a bone) and I am worried it could possibly be over fertilisation? This is all I could think of attributing it to. They are kept in my room in a constant environment (temp wise and things) Ive cut off the dead bits to prevent the leaves dying back any further but they are still continuing to go soft, wrinkly and blacken at the edges. Help! I really don't know what to do to save it or whats wrong!

Many many thanks
Katie

ANSWER: Katie, thank you for your question. The issue with your plants is one of the most common ones that I experience with those having orchid troubles. If you forgive the pun, reoots are at the root of the problem.  You need to purchase some orchid potting mix (usually consists of fir bark and other additives.  Then, soak a portion of the potting mix that you plan to use and save the rest in a dry condition for future use.  While the new orchid potting mix is soaking, unpot a plant, remove the old potting mix, rinse off the roots and notice that you have one or more roots that have collapsed.  These are dead and the reason you see the leaf problem.  Leaves cannot survive without the proper nutrients from the roots.  You need to remove the mushy roots, retaining only those that are firm.  Be sure that the pot that you repot each plant in has lots of drainage holes in the bottom and/or sides. Repot the good roots into a clean pot adding the wet potting mix and place the pot in a place to allow the excess water to drain out of the pot.  When it is done draining, place the pot into your growing area (preferably an east window).  Do not water for at least a week or until the new potting mix has dried out.  Then, water once a week.  Expect the wrinkled leaves to separate from the plant at some point.  Your focus now is to grow healthy new roots and leaves.  Feel free to ask followup questions for any remaining concerns that you have now or in the future.

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QUESTION: Thank you very much for your reply.

I have taken your advice and bought some orchid compost as I noticed my other oldest orchid beginning to go the same way and felt I really did need to act on this. I have subsequently repotted them and found that just as you said there was a lot of dead root growth in the pots. My new worry is that one of my orchids (the orchid which began to rapidly go downhill first) has no 'healthy' and alive roots left! They were all brown, soft and dead. Does this mean that this orchid has absolutely no chance of survival now since it has no ground roots to enable it to absorb any nutrients from its surroundings? It has a couple of air roots (one for example that is near the base of the pot) but I don't know if this will aid the plant at all. I am pretty amazed that it was thriving so well (the growth of new flowers and leaves) at the same time that it had no living ground roots!

I am very grateful for your advice and help on this
Hope to hear back from you again soon
Katie  

Answer
You're welcome Katie. It is likely that the air roots are responsible for survival of your plant.  Sometimes, air roots are a survival mechanism, especially when the potting mix is sour.  When you repot with fresh orchid potting mix, you may carefully placed the air roots into the pot before adding potting mix.  They shold be thoroughly soaked to make them more pliable and less subject to damage during the repotting process.