Not giving up, not yet.

[the_noob]

Please don't judge, here's the poor baby. I'm not giving up hope. It could be time wasted, but I'm not letting go until it turns 200% brown. It was a friend's birthday present. The flowers died and I promised I would take care of it.

The lowest point was at having only those two healthy looking roots. You can see the plumper section closer to the crown, and then the other half which is skinner - which was the turning point when the crown died - meaning the root grew "significantly" after the crown "died".

I don't particularly baby it. I make sure it has water. Placed at a bright spot. Worm poop tea (skinny) dip every other few days when I nurture my other plants. For maybe a month? (definitely less than two months, as a New Englander, I know seasons.)

Today I'm delighted to see a few new things: a new root tip, some sort of new growth from the bottom of the crown, and I scrapped into the crown and it is a little green!

Advice and comments welcome. Otherwise I'll keep doing what I'm doing and keep you guys updated. Obviously it will take a lot of time for it to completely die or miraculously bloom again, so be patient.

[orchidwitch]

Oh, man. How exciting! I've had many plants miraculously come back from the brink of death, and there's nothing more rewarding than being vindicated after refusing to give up on a sickly plant. I don't have any suggestions for you since I'm new and learning, but I'd love to see what this little fighter's fate ends up being.

[SouthPark]

Originally Posted by the_noob

Please don't judge.

Still looks promising. Probably a good idea to get the roots into a scoria rock pieces media --- maybe 5 mm average diameter pieces, and just keep cycling the watering and airing. And occasionally give some weak liquid orchid fertiliser (mixed with water) to get some nutrients into it.

[DeaC]

Good luck! But put it in the will...with instructions!

[IngieBee]

Looks like what you're doing is working, so I'd keep that up until you have real leaves. You don't say what type of orchid this is? Probably a phal? Anyway, it's undoubtedly an epiphytes which come from stores in pots with an old plug and stuffed air-less medium when they need lots of air around them. Phals do like it warm, and with some humidity, which I think you have in Boston, so really, all you need to do is watch out for cold which they hate. No water in the crown, dab any accidental water with a paper towel, don't leave it wet. Since the roots do photosynthesize, I'd keep it unpotted until you have great leaves again and keep doing what you're doing. If you like the type of care you're giving it now, you could mount it instead of potting it later. It just needs to be watered more frequently that way, but you're less likely to over-water, and the roots would have plenty of air (as it is it's natural growing medium)

Anyway, the care you're giving it now seems to be working, I would keep it going and check out the phal thread "the abuse stops here" LOL