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Originally Posted by sharon lynn
I don’t know what I’m doing wrong. To wet? To cold? To light? Not enough light? I have southeast ,also east windows & 1 northwest window I can put it in.. if it’s in wrong place/ I don’t know why it’s yellowing,it’s lost 3 small leaves already advice? Ideas?
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Could be a fungal or bacteria attack due to some portion of the plant being being too moist - probably some bits in the base of the plant - water trapped inside there, leading to rotting.
At this stage, an orchid anti-fungal and/or antibacteria remedy could help. In my kit, I have a product called yates anti-rot phosacid, which is apparently a phosphorous acid, and sold as a systematic fungicide. I also have cleary's 3336 and other treatments. After applying a systematic fungicide to the leaves and all around the stem region (and then tipping the plant on its side to drain any excess liquid fungicide treatment - wearing gloves etc), you could then just give the plant good air-circulation, while keeping the bark moist (damp). Provide a decent amount of natural light to allow the plant to recover.
Maybe could also try not putting the plant inside the bathroom for getting moisture/humidity etc, as it could be picking up something from the bathroom moisture. Hard to say for now.
Some general golden rules would be:
a) Provide good air circulation to the plant (leaves and roots). Not necessarily windy conditions, but light air flow at nearly all times - is good for preventing fungal and bacteria issues, and also good for the roots (if the media is airy enough, and allows air to flow through nicely, which also requires decent size holes at the bottom of the pot).
It looks like your pot and media are fine. If the pot has good size holes on the bottom of it, then that will be good.
b) Water the media and roots only - if possible. Don't wet the leaves too much, unless the air-circulation is so good that the leaves will dry out relatively fast. Actually, I usually avoid getting the leaves wet. Avoid getting water into the pockets between the leaves, where water can accumulate between the leaves at the base of the orchid. Of course, in nature (in the wild) - the orchid doesn't have somebody to help with these things. But, in the wild, orchids might grow at different angles, like on their sides, or upside down etc, so water might not accumulate in the crown or in pockets etc. Or the region that orchids grow (in the wild, or some outdoor environments) may have conditions where the plant just doesn't get water stagnating in it or around it - which is nice.
c) Provide adequate amount of light for the orchid to grow comfortably.
d) Occasionally - whenever you want, such as once a week or once every couple of weeks - allow the media to dry right out. This would be to give anything that you don't want to grow inside the pot a hard time. Eg. algae etc. Actually - I think what can also help is to not use a clear pot. Clear pots are nice in some ways, but can be problematic in other ways - like allows light through for growing algae, which can then die and rot, and ..... we know where this is going.