Vanilla Orchid dying from roots up

[ccarlson]

Hello. I'm a new vanilla orchid owner. I received a foot long slip for Christmas and potted it in orchid bark mix. It had no roots but does have the root-like things shooting out around the leaves. It's in a warm house and I took it in the bathroom with me each morning to give it tons of humidity as I showered. I also sprayed the leaves at least daily. It started lose the bottom leaves. I got scared and looked at some u-tube videos of how to pot vanilla.

I started again. Cut off the dead bottom vine, sprinkled it with cinnamon, and potted in a mixture of orchid bark and moss. I gave it a stake that's covered in moss to help retain moisture. I watered it thoroughly and have watered it weekly. It feels pretty dry when I water it. I spray the root-like things by the leaves as they are dry and they started looking better. But, the vine is continuing it's death march. The vine itself looks black and shriveled from the bottom up. The bottom leaves turn yellow, then brown spotted, then black and shriveled. This is progressing up the vine. There are only a few good leaves and small bit of green vine left. Any ideas on how to revive this?

[Leafmite]

Not sure what is happening to it. The root-like things coming from the leaf-nodes are roots so you can actually cut the dead part off about an inch above the brown and gently plant these roots in soil.

You can always order a new one from Logees or Hausermann's Orchids or even Amazon if you need to replace it. Good luck!

[ccarlson]

Thanks

[Kruger]

1) I'm not an expert, but that bottom leaf doesn't look good. It looks like soft fungal or bacterial spots.

2) Whenever I've seen this plant at nurseries, none had medium up their trellises. I'm not saying its a bad idea, but I've seen many healthy examples without it.

3) You have a lot of algae on your moss / plant. Perhaps this is suffocating the roots?

I think this is going to be a difficult revival. Wait for more senior members to post, but I would be inclined to cut way above the bottom leaf, mount the remaining portion to a small mount, and nurse back to health with good airflow, steadier ambient / warm temperatures, and high humidity (but not constantly wetted roots).

[SouthPark]

Totally agree with Kruger.

Salvage whatever is available. I began growing some juvenile vanilla orchid plants last year, which were originally growing in spaghnum moss (which the sender of the orchids was using). I repotted them into 5 mm average diameter scoria rocks - in very good drainage pots.

And now the three plants are growing all over the place. Good air-flow around the plant and through the airy-media pot, and nice tropical temperatures make these plants grow fast.

At the moment, I haven't given the 'vine' anything to grow along - so the leaves just grow along the ground right now. A photo of the plants in scoria (taken last year) is shown in this link HERE.

All I do is just use the watering spray wand to water the scoria media only. Watering every day is just fine. The leaves remain dry.

One recommendation is to not give the bath-room treatment, such as do not take the plant into the bath-room during shower time, and don't mist the leaves - unless air-flow in the growing area is good ...... otherwise it may invite growth of some things - like certain kinds of fungus.

It looks like you still have good sections of plant with at least a root sticking out. Cut away the degraded leaves, and the dead/dying lower potion of the plant (such an inch or so below the root, and pot that section (with the root) into bark or scoria, in a good drainage pot. Keep the media moist, and provide good air-flow around the plant and pot. Don't allow the roots in the pot to become water-logged.

The 'root-like' things along the stem are roots. They're regular roots. That's why you can cut the vanilla orchid into pieces, and plant any root region into a pot.

[Fran20]

Hi SouthPark,
Where do you obtain those nice sturdy-looking grates that are pictured in the vanilla vine link you provided?

[SouthPark]

Originally Posted by Fran20

Hi SouthPark,
Where do you obtain those nice sturdy-looking grates that are pictured in the vanilla vine link you provided?

Fran - I buy these grates from a local hardware store, which is sort of like the equivalent of Home Depot.

I only ended up with these as they did what I had in mind, which is to just keep the base of the pots above any water that might build up in the pot dishes. Anything similar or does the same thing will be just great. There are even round (circular) ones available.

grate weblink

The grate I buy comes embedded in a white drain pipe casing, which are easily separated by just lightly pushing the grate out of the casing. I just use the grate portion.

When I water the media with the spray-wand, I put enough water into the media, and some water will run out through the base of the pot (through the drainage holes), which gathers in the dish. The grate keeps the base of my orchid pot above the water line of any drained water. Usually - the drained water will be evaporated by the following day in my region.

Also do a google search on 'egg crate louver' or 'egg crate divider'. It's possible to look around for not just the desired area dimensions of the grate, but also the height of the grate. Choose the thickness or height to suit - depending on how much water drains out into the pot dish.

For outdoor growers, they don't need to worry about this, as their growing benches will just be metal grid/grates, and the water can just run straight out of the pot and through the grates, and onto the ground.

[Fran20]

Thanks, SouthPark,
I was thinking of setting my plants on such grates over a humidity tray. Would something like this fit the bill?

RELN 4 in. Round Green Grate
Model # 000218
(in Home Depot Store SKU #1003050341)

[Kruger]

Originally Posted by Fran20

Thanks, SouthPark,
I was thinking of setting my plants on such grates over a humidity tray. Would something like this fit the bill?

Access Denied

The eggcrate that was quoted I think would be better. I have also used dog kennel liners with chicken wire over the top. The idea is you want the pots to always drain and get good airflow. If your only holes in the pot are on the bottom, you want unrestricted access for air to pass below the pot. I don't think those storm drain covers give you good airflow.

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by Fran20

Thanks, SouthPark,
I was thinking of setting my plants on such grates over a humidity tray. Would something like this fit the bill?

RELN 4 in. Round Green Grate
Model # 000218
(in Home Depot Store SKU #1003050341)

Egg Crate (which comes from the "lighting" part of Home Depot) is really easy to work with. It comes in 2 ft x 4 ft sheets, you can create any size you want by just breaking the grid where you want it, with a needle-nosed pliers. (a lot easier than cutting with a saw) Here's a link if you want to order it online. https://www.homedepot.com/p/Plaskoli...233A/202025149

Here's an example of that use, when I used my spare bedroom as a "greenhouse". http://orchidcentral.org/GrowingAreas/indoor.jpg