Last leaf

[orchidlauren]

Orchid i most recently purchased is dropping its 2nd leaf leaving one left. Its base is a little brown & mushy & it dropped all of its flowers. I water once every week & 1/2 and ensure theres a dry period & make sure to not get water in or aroung the crown. It’s normally in 75° f. What do I do? I can’t get supplies b/c of the virus & i love this orchid.

[orchidlauren]

Pictures (Watering right now)

[SouthPark]

The roots look quite ok there. Have you got regular garden pebbles or rocks that you can just gather from another the garden? If so, then just gather a whole bunch of stones, rocks, pebbles, and give them a very good wash. And put the orchid into that ---- with a very free draining pot. Then put the orchid into a medium light growing area, with some gentle air-movement around the growing area.

What media was the orchid planted in before?

[orchidlauren]

It was originally potted in packed spagnum, i rinsed & repotted in fresh spagnum

[SouthPark]

Originally Posted by orchidlauren

It was originally potted in packed spaghnum, i rinsed & repotted in fresh spaghnum

I see. Thanks for mentioning that. The source of the issue will likely be due to the roots not being able to cope with the conditions in the spaghnum - eg. water remaining on roots, and running out of oxygen (because the water can't move enough - so the root uses up the oxygen in the water that's clinging to the root, and no new oxygenated water is able to take the place of the de-oxygenated water in and around the root), then dying and rotting.

For the original grower that grew the plant in this spaghnum ----- they knew from their own experience and their growing conditions how much water to add, and when to add it. The original grower will pack the spaghnum into the pot in a particular way - such as relatively firm packing, not loose-packing.

When the orchid changes hands - the new owner may not know just how much water to add, etc. And so the growing conditions can become unfavourable for the orchid in the new location (ie. with the new owner).

This is just what happens in many cases. What we probably need is an orchid growing manual that everybody can read first, where the first page probably should contain the most important things like ----- don't do such and such.

---------- Post added at 08:36 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:33 AM ----------

Lauren ----- for the moment, since the roots still look pretty good --- don't use spaghnum for the moment. Just grab lots of fresh-water river pebbles or something, and pot your orchid into that.

[orchidlauren]

Will do. Usually I let them soak for 10 minutes and go into a complete drain so not alot of water is retained. I’ll try watering less with this one specifically. Thank you.

[JScott]

Sphagnum can work well for large greenhouses growing lots of tiny young plants in tiny pots and the condition can be carefully controlled. Sphagnum is also good from a shipping standpoint, because plants my go a long time without being watered, and the sphagnum will stay moist for a long time, so neglected plants don't dry out so fast.

However, when you get it home, the first thing you should do is get that plant out of the sphagnum. Watering in sphag is tricky, especially in larger pots, and a lot of nurseries will repot a plant in a smaller pot directly into a bigger pot and really cram the sphag in there to hold it place, because they can charge more to a plant in a larger pot. The best thing you can do for this plant is pot it in a coarse, loose, free-draining medium. Use pebbles like somebody suggested, or order a potting mix online. Repotme.com has some good stuff. They're a little spendy, but if you just have a few plants, I think it's worth it to order from them.