Orchid Grievances

[Kevinator]

This is the thread where we grieve our loved ones...... This is the thread where we grieve our dead ones...... Share your story with others to let them learn from your mistakes (or other's mistakes).........
This is the Orchid Greivance thread .

But enough wise talk (takes off glasses). I'll start with my two.

Drac. vampira
Drac. polyphemus 'Angel'

Both of the orchids were killed over the summer of 2012. I was going for a trip to China and left my father to take care of my orchids (I'm thirteen so that would be obvious). He forgot to water them and both died a slow death, waiting for the flower scythe to reap their souls.

Here are two photos taken last year when I bought them.


R.I.P.

[WhiteRabbit]

I somehow managed to completely cook a quite new Neofinetia - I saw it had burned, so I moved it to a window with no direct light, but over the course of the following couple weeks, more and more area on the plant showed burn, even quite a bit after I had moved it *sigh*

[plumania]

Bought a Zygo early in the season,repotted it and killed it. Still sad about it because it had gorgeous fragrance.
Also killed one Ludisia discolor, do not know how though because I thought I repotted well. Luckily have one more of Ludisia.

Almost all my Cattleyas have extensive root damage .They were fine until August. It is extremely humid here and I found that rainwater got into areas I thought it would not. I repotted most into baskets and lava rock. Hope they recover. Still debating whether to repot remaining 2. (One is a large Gaskelliana with several new growths and many good roots in addition to large number of dead roots ).

[Wrebbitrocks]

I'm such a murderer I deserve prison time lol. Here's some of the ones I LOVED (and forked over big $$$ for) and doesn't include all the ones I just bought on a whim to just to have but grew onto me.
-every vanda i've owned (manuvadee sky, an udom gold hybrid, and a red mokara). although ive kept my pachara and tailor blue alive.
-a huge blc chia lin new city, pot. burana beauty,
blc liah her glory her-ta, and a couple seedlings from zozzl
-3 winston churchill cross paphs, 3 phrag besseaes, a charlesworthii cross, vini, maudiae, and coloratum
-2 odontoglossums, all 3 colors of twinkles, and 5 miltonias one of them was andrea west and that one HURT.
-2papilios, 2 alba papilios, 2 ang. sesquipedales, 3 ryncholaelia digbyanas, 2 cymbidium wallguard alice, maybe around 20 phals (i really miss my kaleidoscopes, juihbao fairy, brother laurence, amabilis...) and several dendrobiums

most were in major losses from 2 failed greenhouses incidences (one summer 2010 from cooking, and the other winter january 2011 from freezing) lol you can see i've been everywhere but this now im going on for 2 years without any major losses and enjoying the fruits of my labor. wish me luck!

[dounoharm]

over the years there are many that died....mostly from moving across the country and learning new light values, as well as rains....funny fla was a difficult environment for me....rain rot got a lot of them till i put up plastic.....and the move to nc was very damaging to what i had left fro california, i just had two big catts that made it from that move....one of them got sunburned to death, but the other one made it and i still grow it.....not much to show for 40 years of orchids, but, every death is a little more learned....and carelessness is unforgiveable with orchids, got to stay on your toes! i cherish the one survivor, and have much respect for it! i have many more now that i have the gh, and all are loved and babied....havent lost any since the gh....its a miracle!

[lepetitmartien]

Well, just trashed about a dozen, mostly NOID hybrid Phals and Colmanaras (Masai Red and Wildcats). Dead on the altar of "gone two month and family did the watering"… and misunderstood the lecture I gave.

I nurse the rest and kill the mealy bugs with joy in reprisal.

[Orchidreamer]

This summer has been hell for my orchids. At times I felt I've been pushed to breaking point, as if I wanted to give up growing orchids. I ended up having to create a spreadsheet to record every single casualty.

Here's the list:
BR= black rot (pythium or phytophthora, most likely)
SR = soft rot (erwinia, most likely)

Cattleya walkeriana 'Kenny' fusarium wilt? BR?
Phal tetraspis 'C1' crown rot (I wanted to cry )
Vanda coerulea crown rot
Cymbidiella rhodochila crown rot
Pleione praecox BR-start with new growth
Laelia anceps var vietchiana BR
Cattleya walkeriana BR-new growth, 2nd bulb
Vanda coerulea BR-start with one leaf, progress downwards
Dracula orientalis fungal spots and wilted
Slc Jeweler's Art 'Waiomao Plum' BR
Encyclia prismatocarpa SR
Acineta beyroldtiana BR-start with new growth
Cochlioda noetzliana SR
Cochlioda rosea SR
Dendrobium bellatulum SR-start with new growth
Rodriguezia venusta SR
Angraecum leonis roots all dead and then crown rot
Sophronitis coccinea SR
Miltonia cuneata SR-turned orangish and squishy
Angraecum didieri BR-penetrated crown and proceeded downwards
Oncidium praestans slow death and each growth rotted off
Wilsonara Opalescent SR
Cattleya skinneri BR-entire leaves turned black overnight
Odtcm Wildcat terrible leaf spot, virus!?!?
Anguloa clowesii BR
Wilsonara Castle Issa SR-rotten pbulb one by one
Miltonia Red NOID SR-erwinia? Orange rot
Miltonia Yellow NOID SR-erwinia? Orange rot
Phrag Grande Erwinia
Phal NOID root rot which was not my fault
Cattleya trianae 'alba' BR-start with new growth
Dendrobium aggregatum SR
Paph Armeni White Root rot...there goes $50 down the drain just for this plant

[Wrebbitrocks]

Originally Posted by Zootrophion

Miltonia Red NOID SR-erwinia? Orange rot
Miltonia Yellow NOID SR-erwinia? Orange rot

whoa, you have the same orange rot problem on your miltonias too?!?! i have no idea what it is either. did it have that strange spicey-smell to it?

[cbuchman]

Each time I make a gift to orchid heaven, I save the tag in a plastic bag. The bag has gotten large over the years. It would be too depressing to inventory them. Sometimes, I learn from my mistake and buy another of the same and successfully grow it. Sometimes, I buy another because I can't resist and find I really can't provide the appropriate environment and it joins its predecessor.

I summer outdoors and find that I really need to monitor the rain fall as the orchids are not protected. It's not unusual to have a week of solid rain here, and then there is rot! I now monitor the weather on the interest and if need be, move orchids back indoors for the heavy rains. This has decreased my death rate substantially.

[vjo]

Right now I am trying feverishly to save a Paph.Hercules from erwinia...any hope? I think it came with it as I dont have it on any other plant and I had only had it about 3 days when I noticed it. I thought it was just n old leaf dieing so didnt treat it the first few days. Soooo sad....Jean