Hello everybody,
I was given this beautiful plant 6 months ago ... during this time the plant was on the terrace and enjoyed excellent health but a few days ago I decided to take it home because it started to get cold outside.

it seems so much worse ... the leaves are really soft, those at the base of the plant are dying and the one on top of them all has a not very marked brown spot.

The last flower has fallen a month ago and the stem is turning yellow / drying slowly from above. Moreover the roots are almost white (except those close to the plant) and in many points green spots are seen as if it were mold I am very worried, do you have any advice?
thanks a lot to everyone!

That could be sun burn if the plant got sun on the balcony or, it could have gotten too cold. The white roots are dead. Are there any green roots? How/when do you water?

Read the 'stickies' at the top of this page for a lot of information on the care of Phalaenopsis. If you have more questions, ask away!

Thank you Daisyl,
I think my orchid got too cold, weather here has been around 13 degrees and I left it outside for a week... auchhh
and yes, near the top I can see some green roots. Normally water once a month, but I'm spraying the bark two times a week.

Do you think I shall cut the dead roots?

thanks for the info, I'll go reading all the stuff!

thanks

Lolipof, the white roots are NOT completely dead! Do not trim any root unless you are 110% sure of what you are doing.
Your orchid is a Phalaenopsis and the leaf is yellow because of too much light. Phalaenopsis do not need any sun, just some what bright light like an African violet might require.
You have come to the right place, "the Orchid Forums" in order to get good information on how to grow them. Please read through all of our 'stickies' and threads because there is so much good information to be found within.
Your leaves are getting soft because the plant is not getting enough water. Why? There may not be enough live roots there to support it. Dead roots are chocolate brown and pull easily away from the rest. Roots that are creamy color, light tan, gray or white are still alive.
If you repot the orchid and get it into a proper sized pot with a good growing media, it will recover fairly quickly. You will see new roots develop in 4-6 weeks, maybe 6/8 but it will recover. With new roots, the strength to the leaves will return.
Scroll back several pages within the forums and read every one you can find including the sticky on Growing Supermarket Orchids-Phalaenopsis!
They will begin to make some sense. When it is in new media, it needs to be watered once every five days. Fertilize 4 times a year. Very weak solutions though.
IF you have any questions feel free to contact us again and feel free to contact me directly via tree mail!
We are so happy that you have found us and it is not hopeless!

@Lolipof, I don't see any live roots but, if green ones are growing near the plant, that's a good sign. I would not re-pot as the bark looks fine. Those dead roots are serving a purpose, they are tethering the plant in the pot. I would not trim anything.

No one can tell you how often to water because they don't live in your house - your conditions are completely different. You will have to judge watering frequency for yourself. Your plant does looks very dry though. I would get all the leaves and roots wet then hold the pot under water (to the rim, otherwise the bark will float away) for about 10 minutes, you may have to hold it down with something heavy (I use table knives) to keep the pot from floating away. Don't water again until there is no more moisture visible through the clear plastic of the pot, then water as I described.

The flower stem will not grow new flowers so can be cut off. If you mean 13 celsius, that is not too cold so the damaged leaf probably was sunburned. Phalaenopsis like bright shade, no sun. Phalaenopsis grow only a few leaves at a time (between 3 and 5) so, if old leaves die, there's no problem as long as new leaves grow. You will have to be patient as it may take several months to grow enough roots and be healthy again and grow more leaves. The leaves and roots are in balance - enough roots to support the leaves and enough leaves to support the roots.

I would like to add - if one submerges this pot to the point of getting not only the roots wet, but accidentally ( word added later) also the leaves, it is a good idea to gently tissue out any water which might have gotten into the crown of the plant, as this might invite rot.

Only submerge the pot or the bark will all float away.