Ugg mass produced Phalaenopsis.

[Grassypeak]

Every time I go to repot a Phal that has come from a less than reputable source I end up having to trim almost all of the roots off. I don’t normally purchase Phals form chain stores, but these two were cheap and so beautiful that I caved. They held their blooms for a reasonable amount of time but the new leaf growth was too long and narrow for my liking. I had planned on repotting them anyway, so out of their pot they came. They were not necessarily poorly planted. They were in a plastic pot with packing peanuts on the bottom and reasonably good quality sphagnum on top. The sphagnum was packed a little tightly but aside form that there was nothing terribly wrong with the potting. The entire time I’ve had these two plants I’ve let their medium completely dry out between waterings, but when I depotted them almost all of their roots were dead. This is not usually a problem that I have with my own Phals, so I’m inclined to think something was wrong with their chain store experience.


This is what the plants looked like in bloom.


This is what was left of the roots when I was done removing the dead stuff.


Guess I won’t be seeing any blooms this year. :?

[allanschon]

I've had the same experience with every orchid I've bought, unless it was at a show. Even my local greenhouse, which is otherwise fantastic, has given me fits over the poor condition of the roots.

I think that a lot of the damage may come from shipping, at the greenhouse at least. OTOH, it should be illegal for Home Depot to buy/sell orchids. While their employees are usually pseudo-informed on just about everything else in the store, the orchids either never get watered or get dunked twice a day. Leave aside the 20% RH processed air...

Good luck with your phal; I have two that looked almost as bad three months ago, and now I have roots growing like mad. I'm holding out hope that I get blooms this year.