Help with Grammatophyllum!!!

[GinaStarSeed]

Help please! My very favorite orchid,my Grammatophyllum is struggling. It has been doing wonderfully for almost a year. Due to not repotting it soon enough and it getting very underwatered/low humidity the last few weeks all of her leaves are turning yellow. I have gotten the humidity back up and gotten her water. And I plan to repot her as soon as she seems less stressed. My question is, one all the leaves are yellowing like this, is there any bouncing back? Can the leaves turn green again? Will they still continue to yellow and fall off?? I am so bummed about this... here are some photos. The leaves look a lot more green in these photos than they actually are.. they are very yellow.. any advice appreciated. I love this orchid.

[estación seca]

They drop their leaves if you don't water enough. It should make new growth soon.

[GinaStarSeed]

So ?? No chance of any of the leaves staying now that there is proper water? Will it loose all of gem? Even the ones that have only turned a yellow tint and haven't gone fully yellow? Could they maybe stay and maybe turning more green again? The two shoots are still pretty new growth.

[Roberta]

Generally once a leaf starts to die, it does not revive. But you will get new leaves on new growths and after awhile, you won't even see where it lost the old ones. Part of that is just the natural flow of things. The leaves don't live as long as the plant, the plant just makes new leaves and new growths. It lives on the pseudo-bulbs when it has a period of "drought" This genus has the capability of getting very large - those pseudo-bulbs can manage a lot of storage of water and energy, that keep the plant alive when it hits drought periods in nature.

[isurus79]

As said previously, these guys drop their leaves and grow new ones. Shouldn't be a problem for this plant.

[GinaStarSeed]

Will they grow leaves off the same puesdobulbs? Or will they have to grow a whole new puesdobulbs first?

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by GinaStarSeed

Will they grow leaves off the same puesdobulbs? Or will they have to grow a whole new puesdobulbs first?

New pseudobulbs. The old ones will supply energy and nutrients to grow new ones.

[estación seca]

With normal care the leaves stay on the pseudobulbs for some years, then drop off. The old pseudobulbs last a year or two after this, then die. Often when dying normally, they turn dark brown or black and mushy inside, which can be frightening for somebody accustomed to other kinds of orchids. This is just how this plant drops old pseudobulbs. The dead pseudobulbs dry to a tough hollow husk. Sometimes you can just pull this out with your hand, and other times you would need to cut it out.

With good care the plant makes two new growths from each previous pseudobulb. In this way they become large plants quite rapidly.

If underwatered, old pseudobulbs start dropping leaves. The plant may lose all its leaves, but the old pseudobulbs remain viable for a while. If neglected further, old pseudobulbs start dying. They die the usual way, which is to get mushy, and dark brown or black. At this point beginning growers often think the plant is rotting and cut back on water, which is just the wrong thing to do.

If the grower remembers to water a leafless Grammatophyllum, and there are some pseudobulbs alive, they will begin pushing new growth when weather is warm.

If the grower lets the plant dry out much at all while it is pushing new growth, the new growth will die quickly. It turns black or dark brown while it does this, which inexperienced growers ascribe to rot, and then they water even less. The plant will die rapidly if not watered properly when making new growths.

When first learning to grow these I read it is best to water them evenly all year. Let them get almost dry between waterings, but not dry. When they are pushing new growths or flower spikes, do not let them get very dry.

They will also be quite unhappy without enough light. Growers in Hawaii put the various species up next to the glass at the top of the greenhouses, or grow them in their brightest greenhouses. Grammatophyllum speciosum grows in full tropical sun, like bamboo, if it is watered enough.