Broke off lead bulb on RLC Lime Cooler 'Krull Smith'

[cluelessmidwesterner]

Hello Everyone,

I had to do an emergency repot on my newly acquired Better Gro RLC Lime Cooler 'Krull Smith'. I decided to risk it going into winter since the media looked bad. The pair of pbulbs which snapped offwere the largest (and heavest which was causing the plant to fall over) plus the one directly behind that broke off the rhizome whilst I was trying to clean the roots off. I've potted up the back four pbulbs. Presently I have the two pbulbs in a small net pot, wired inside of a larger net pot, (inside a large terra cotta pot) with a bit of sphagnum and leca around the base of the pbulbs. Is there any chance the two pbulb that snapped off will root? What can I do to ensure that they will 'take off'?

Thanks in advance

[rbarata]

Give it warmth and humidity. Don't water it but mist the medium top layer every day or every two days (depending on your RH).

[SouthPark]

There was a thread from this year where somebody (could have been Ray) mentioned that they managed to get a bulb to root and grow a new shoot/lead.

Dormant Eyes

The main thing is to provide the life-support system (eg. a semi-covered fish-tank for providing humidity, with suitable growing temperature and features for cutting down on fungal/bacterial activity ---- such as not allowing the temperature to get too cold in the tank, and maybe a dc fan for gentle air-movement).

[Leafmite]

I agree that humidity and warmth are the best way to save them. As long as you can keep the pseudobulbs from losing water or rotting, they should eventually produce new growth on one of their dormant eyes. It might take three to six months, depending on the orchid's growth cycle and how bad the condition, but, until there are new roots, you will not need to do anything to care for them except to keep their environment humid. Patience is really important.

Good luck!

[estación seca]

Reconsider whether you should do emergency repotting in the future. I think it's better to water a plant carefully for a while than to repot at the wrong time.

[rbarata]

Originally Posted by estación seca

Reconsider whether you should do emergency repotting in the future. I think it's better to water a plant carefully for a while than to repot at the wrong time.

Right!

[Leafmite]

I live in dimly lit, cold Ohio, grow in the home, and I have found it better to either remove as much of the old medium I can or to pot the orchid in new medium than to wait. As long as the pseudobulbs are kept in good humidity and not allowed to rot, all should be fine by next June/july.

[Orchidtinkerer]

When I read this post I thought the same as estacion, even though I have a golden rule of never to trust what is at the bottom of the pot removing the media is sufficient to start with sometimes, in this case with the damage done, maybe a bad move. But we all learn somewhere and learning from ones mistakes is the best way to learn sometimes.

I know that a lot of my plants would not have survived if I had not repotted them straight away, repotting has been essential in creating new roots otherwise the new roots would have just rotted like the old ones that had already rotted.

A hard repot can cause damage stress and stagnant growth for a while, yes, but no repot can cause the death of the plant. I'm not saying it will but for me it is an essential step to make sure new growth has a fighting chance.

I can control temperature, lighting, watering, fertlizing and so on and so far my conclusion is you can get all of those right.. but the state of the roots is the deciding factor in growth for me most of the time. Your roots don't even have to be rotting, if conditions are not optimal (ie too soggy, not enough aeration) the plant will already grow slower.

So in some cases it can cause more damage not to repot than to repot. Of course it is impossible to prove that statement, that is like saying you saved a chicken from stopping it crossing the road... but who says the chicken would have been hit by a truck? Maybe it would have gotten across safely. Maybe not.

[Jeff214]

I had a lead p-bulb break off in August. I buried it in LECA, staked it, and put a saucer of water underneath, and put it in a shady spot outside. After two months, it finally rooted! You can't always save it but it's definitely worth trying. Good luck with yours!

[rbarata]

Agree! Looks like an old damage.