Follow up to cymbidium orchid with brown spots, repotted 2 months ago, leaves floppy

[rbarata]

Hi rbarata! That cymbidium looks nice. I've never grown one before, but just looking at the central region of the pot where there's no green growth. Is that due to regular behaviour ----- the cym grows outwards?

If not regular behaviour, then would the slow growth possibly be due to too much water in the central region? And the orchid could have been just flghting to grow? Just asking only!

This one was just a few pbulbs when I potted it. Those are the oldest pbulbs, the original ones. As they are small the outer sheaths are covering them completely. They are not dead. Just hidden under the sheaths. In fact they feel to the touch like hard dry wood.

About the behaviour, I've seen some doing that while others don't.

[Nmari]

Hi South park
Thanks for that.
It is heading towards winter here, but we have some nice weather too. Today is 18 degrees C and later this week it is in the 20s.

My main concern currently is that the leaves on the bottom left of the first photo are completely floppy...like they're dying/dead/rotting/I dont know. And the other group of leaves appears to be heading in same direction.
Would it be worth taking the plant out of the bark to see what is happening with the roots?

I am worried about super dry bark too and wonder whether this is contributing.

Thanks for your info re the cockroaches too.

Thanks!


[QUOTE=SouthPark;916450]nmari ----- it's coming into quite cold times now where you live, right? So orchids might start slowing down growth rate.

Watch out for the combination of very cold AND very wet roots.

As for the cockroaches ----- that's ok. If a plant is growing outside, then all sorts of insects can go into the media, but the orchid will still be ok.

What you could do ----- is to water the media (bark) in the regions toward the rim (edge) of the pot. So dump water into the media toward the rim. The bark around the sides can then stay very wet, while the orchid can still get moisture without getting overwhelmed with too much water.

This doesn't mean that the bark closer to the orchid should stay dry. It doesn't have to. Some water can be applied - but less of it. Just avoid making the bark directly underneath (and near the roots) stay ultra wet all or most of the time.

Also - watch out for super dry bark. Because super dry bark repels water, so that if we water super dry bark, then water can just run right out of the pot, and the orchid can then just die from dehydration because hardly water gets into the individual pieces of media. That is, water will just roll straight off the surface of a super dry piece of bark, like water off a duck's back.

[SouthPark]

Originally Posted by Nmari

Hi South park
My main concern currently is that the leaves on the bottom left of the first photo are completely floppy...like they're dying/dead/rotting/I dont know. And the other group of leaves appears to be heading in same direction.
Would it be worth taking the plant out of the bark to see what is happening with the roots?

Absolutely nmari. Unpotting the orchid and taking a look at the roots should be done immediately for situations like this ----- such as right now.

See if the roots are watery and mushy. If so, then remove the bulk or all of the mushy bits - running under tap water while removing the bits can help.

If the roots are very dry instead, then it will be a case of the media needing to be more moist. But - at this time - let's see what is detected with the roots by checking the roots right away.

If it turns out that the roots are oxygen starved due to not enough aerated water movement around the roots and around the media (ie. water in and around the roots not moving much or at all, such that the roots use up all the oxygen in that water and then dying of lack of oxygen), then just change the watering method - eg......try out the approach of watering the sides near the rim more, instead of dumping water closer to the plant.

[Cym Ladye]

I tend to agree with SouthPark on this. When a plant is in trouble, I do not care if you are in Alaska, you need to unpot the plant and see what is going on.

You used too large a pot (over potted) for your division in the first place. Remove the plant and carefully remove any rotten roots. then CAREFULLY coil the remaining roots into a pot just large enough to hold the existing growth and a new growth. Fill with fresh mix which has smaller bark and some perlite. Use a skewer to hold growth in place if necessary.

Your plant will need time to develop new roots from the existing growth but more likely, a new growth. It needs time at this point but may not show much growth until next spring.