Rotting Blc., Rlc., or C. Waianae Leopard 'Ching Hua' seedling

[SpclK]

I received a Blc., Rlc., C., whatever it is now... Waianae Leopard 'Ching Hua' seedling (Quit changing the name! LOL) as a party favor at our society's 2018 Christmas Party. The media was good at the time; it looked to be the cattleya mix from repotme.com, so I didn't mess with it. I had some previous experience with phals (bought my first one in 2014 or 15), but this is my third cattleya-ish orchid so I didn't know it was actually a seedling with four pseudobulbs until very recently when looking at some photos our OB members here posted. Oy vey! The seedling has a long ways to go.

The orchid either climbed out of its pot or was knocked over and put back into pot in same media due to time constraints within the week or last. The media is now smelling like the mushroomy, broken-down bark smell so it desperately needs a repot or mount of some kind. It's on its very last leg (rot has taken 4/5 pseudobulbs, leaves, and I suspect roots leaving only the new growth with one leaf and a very short root. Pictures to follow soon when I figure out how to upload them (Thanks to SouthPark for detailed instructions!). I'll post the photos later tonight or tomorrow morning.

Culture and conditions:
Light: 22 in. away from a SSW-facing 73-84 in. high window; bottom of window sits 2-3 ft. from the ground. Window has thin white curtains; swag covering top 1/2 of upper window, tier covering all lower window. Table top sits 3 ft. above the floor. Oncidiums shade Waianae Leopard during the summer.
Temp and humidity: Winter D 68°F 45-50% N 65°F 45-50%; Summer D 78-84°F (with central air) 50-60%+ N 80°F 45-60%. Currently 71°F 45% on a cloudy day with low light with no supplemental light.
Water: Previously used spring water from artesian well but changed a few months ago to RO water; soaked plastic slotted pot in water for 5-15 min. 1-2 x's weekly letting it dry slightly between waterings, flushing regularly.
Fertilizer: Eh... none at the moment... bag of what was believed to be a half-filled sandwich bag of MSU fertilizer was placed accidentally in a pool of spilled water on the countertop; I put the bag on a hot-air register to dry and the contents became a slushy, watery mess and was thrown out. I was going to make homemade organic fertilizer but haven't got around to making it yet.
Media: Looks to be Cattleya mix from repotme.com; it's now least about 12-15 mos. old now and smelly so needs repotting.

[SouthPark]

Splck ----- I grow an orchid ---- LC. Siamese Doll 'Kiwi' (it's not my fault it's called this name!! ------ it's due to whoever registered this one) that might be along the same lines as the one you grow - but the colouring of yours is much more spectacular. My orchid does excellently in just plain scoria - 10 cm average diameter.

If your orchid is still a juvenile, then 5 to 8 mm diameter scoria pieces should work excellently for you.

If your media is currently very smelly and broken down, then even fresh-water pebbles or clean rocks from the garden or somewhere (with no salts in it etc) into a pot will be very workable, until you get your new media - which might be bark, bark/perlite, or even scoria.

[aliceinwl]

I grow my Cattleya types in bark (mainly repotme mix). It sounds to me like it’s staying too wet for too long. I’d try to downsize or improve air circulation in the pot. I shoot for a balance that allows the substrate to be pretty much dry a day or two after watering. So far I’m liking clay pots because they breathe and have some weight to them. I’ve also had good luck using Kelpmax to jumpstart root growth in plants that I had to repot that weren’t actively growing roots on their own.

This probably won’t be an issue since yours is a seedling, but I have a Cattleya type that struggled all summer. It had mostly dead roots when I got it, but I was conservative about removing them. It turned out that they were forming kind of a moldy sponge, retaining moisture, and leading to rot in the canes and musty substrate. I trimmed off the dead roots and rotted canes, gave it a Kelpmax soak, and put it i a smaller pot. It now seems to be on the road to recovery with lots of new root growth.

[Ray]

First - if the root system is as far gone as I suspect from your description, leaving it sit out unpotted for several days is no issue whatsoever.

The key is to have a very open potting medium so the roots can breathe. If it's decomposing enough to have a mushroomy odor, soaking twice a week has probably suffocated the roots.

Also, I would view that plant as preferring more light than oncidiums get, so they should not be shading it.

[SpclK]

I finally learned how to post pictures online thanks to SouthPark! Mucho Gracias, SouthPark!

Here's the pictures of my poor seedling taken on 7 Feb.

[SouthPark]

The bark media looks good there!

Keep providing good growing temperature for this seedling, and don't put the seedling in a very still air growing area. Medium light intensity will be good (no direct sun). And make sure to maintain a slightly moist media to allow any surviving roots to keep getting moisture - either directly, or just through close proximity with moist media.

Keeping moist media is ok. Make sure that the media doesn't become (or stay) super wet to create stagnancy conditions in the media. If your orchid pot has good size drainage holes at the bottom, then that will be GOOD.

The bark surface in that particular photo appears quite dry. So make sure it becomes wet enough in order to start absorbing some water (not just absorb water at the surface ---- but in the depths below too). Very dry bark repels water. This means dry bark won't accept water properly until the bark becomes wet enough.

[SpclK]

Originally Posted by SouthPark

The bark media looks good there!

The bark surface in that particular photo appears quite dry. So make sure it becomes wet enough in order to start absorbing some water (not just absorb water at the surface ---- but in the depths below too). Very dry bark repels water. This means dry bark won't accept water properly until the bark becomes wet enough.

SouthPark, the media is stinky, though... smells like the icky, mushroomy, broken-down media smell. It smelled like this before I put the seedling back into the media after it fell/climbed out of the pot. Since I'm a newbie with cattleyas I couldn't tell what roots were viable and what weren't except, of course, the cute little short green root or two so I just plopped it all back into the old media... old because as I said previously I received the seedling at our 2018 society Christmas party and I don't know how long the seedling was in the media prior to the party. I'll post a picture later today or tomorrow of what the roots look like. I have thoughts of cutting the dead bulbs and roots off and putting the seedling in media similar in size and ingredients to the Oncidium and Seedling Mix made by repotme.com and put it in a very small cup with holes in the bottom and sides for air. I might even have a very small clay pot to put it in but will have to sanitize the pot first; I'll put it in the small plastic cup first.

[SouthPark]

spclk - thanks for explanation the situation! I assumed that the photos were with the new media. A mixture of bark and what appears to be perlite.

When the media or something is very noticeably smelling 'bad', then definitely an immediate removal of the plant from the media is a very good move.

Followed by inspecting the roots, or washing the roots as much as possible - clean them up. Even a short dry-out after washing will be helpful. Followed by potting into new bark of the same size and type. A bag of super dry bark may need to be pre-soaked before potting the orchid into it. That's just to prime or prep the bark with adequate moisture.

[aliceinwl]

I guess I would differ in regards to the roots. I’d leave them alone and manipulate them as little as possible especially if the plant isn’t actively growing new roots. I would agree about changing the mix, however.

I have a couple sized similar Cattleya seedlings that haven’t been doing great for me, and I switched them from plastic to clay and fresh media and gave them a Kelpmax soak last week. They weren’t growing roots so I was very gentle with them, I’m seeing an improvement in leaf turgor already so I’m optimistic.

On closer inspection it does look like the plant has at least one growing root, this means it’s a good time to repot, but I’d take pains to ensure nothing damages that root tip.