Problem with new promnea sunlight

[mkallen81]

Hi Everyone,
I am sorry to keep bugging you for info, but i am reading a LOT of conflicting info about this dear little orchid. Some say that it should dry out between waterings, others say it should never dry out. some say to pot in only sphagum moss and others say an airy mix with moss is best. So I am really unsure if this plant wants to be wet, moist, damp, airy or dry between waterings. Does anyone have any experience with the prom. sunlight that can share what worked for them. Just in case it helps i live in the Mediterranean France. So this summer its gonna get hot and dry, yet somewhat humid due to the proximity of the sea.

Any thoughts are helpful! Thanks, just loving chatting with you all. Wish I could be of help to someone but am too ignorant of orchids to do so.

Thanks!
melannie

[Ray]

The promenea parent gets rain all year, with a very high level during the summer. The warczewiczella parent's territory has a similar profile, but with late winter being a dry period. Merge the two and even moisture seems to be called for.

The fact that the advice you get is so scattered and conflicting is because the growers' cultural conditions determine "what works" more than does the plant itself, and they are failing to say "{This} works under my growing conditions".

The trick is to select a medium that works under YOUR growing conditions to supply even moisture (not soppy) while allowing lots of air flow to the root system. Nobody can tell you exactly what that might be.

[mkallen81]

Thank you for clearing that up! So I will likely need in the summer some way to keep this thing wet because it gets SUPER hot in our appartement, but definitely room for air movement.

thanks!!
Melannie

---------- Post added at 10:55 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:52 AM ----------

ok i am so sorry to keep bugging you all. But now this plant is yellowing its leaves! it stopped the bud blasting, and everything was going well. Now the leaves are yellowing and turning brown. the roots that i can see look good around the air vents. what gives?

any ideas? thanks so much, it truly appreciate you all!

Melannie

---------- Post added at 10:57 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:55 AM ----------

ps to remind you, she is getting watered with distilled water only, the temperature is around 21/22c during the day and 19 at night. In good light but none direct. IDK what to do and i really love this plant. I feel like it is too much water, but I am letting it dry out and the leaves even wrinkle a bit before i water

any thoughts?

thanks bunches!

[Ray]

Have you fed the plant at all? Orchids get very little, if any nutrition from the potting medium, so must be fed via fertilizers.

Yellowing leaves could be chlorophyll - loss of green from chlorophyll degradation. Adding about 1ml Epsom Salts to a liter of water should fix that in a couple of weeks.

It might also be a sign of pending leaf loss due to poor growing conditions.

[camille1585]

Can you post photos? Echoing Ray, there can be many causes of yellowing.

But based on my experience with this plant, I'm going to guess that might be rotting. A lot of people have trouble with this plant; leaves start yellowing and falling off, new growths turn brown.

Letting the leaves wrinkle is usually not good for this orchid, they do like to stay moist (but not soggy).

[mkallen81]

gah! since it is a hybrid i thought it would be easier to deal with. I will send pictures tomorrow as it is dark here and the lighting stinks in my appartment.

Also I have not fed the plant because I thought you weren't supposed to feed it until after it is done blooming. So confused. LOL

Melannie

[mkallen81]

gah! since it is a hybrid i thought it would be easier to deal with. I will send pictures tomorrow as it is dark here and the lighting stinks in my appartment.

Also I have not fed the plant because I thought you weren't supposed to feed it until after it is done blooming. So confused. LOL

Melannie

[mkallen81]

Hi everyone , sorry for my late reply. been sick

Here are the photos of the yellowing leaves. she has now developed 3 more. idk what i am doing wrong with this thing

thanks for the help!! Melannie

[mkallen81]

Well its official. I un-potted the plant and the roots were rotting all over the place. Don't know why because I don't see how I watered it too much. I cut off all the dead roots, re-potted in a mixture of bark and moss and it is just dying faster than it was before. I am so sad

[Ray]

Originally Posted by mkallen81

I un-potted the plant and the roots were rotting all over the place. Don't know why because I don't see how I watered it too much.(

Water does not cause root rot. Roots must succumb to some extreme stress and die, and THEN, they will rot.

There are several things that can put plants in extreme stress - suffocation is the most common, but temperature extremes and poisoning (over-fertilization, excessive applications of additives or pesticides, for example) are also possible.