Is my orchid dying?

[asphodele]

Hello everyone. I'm new here and also a first time orchid owner. Growing up, my mom had lots of them and since moving out I wanted to start growing them as well to remember her by I wish I asked to teach me how to care for them before.. But yeah, I bought an orchid at a local store yesterday, the blooms attracted me maybe I made a mistake ..

I'm not sure what's wrong with it but I want to nurse it back to health. From what I read the pseudobulbs shouldn't be wrinkly and there shouldn't be black stuff on it .. And I'm not sure that's how the roots are supposed to look like. I sprayed some water on it earlier and the roots turned green but now they're white again.

If anyone an give me tips or point me in the right direction, it would be highly appreciated

[aliceinwl]

It looks like a Dendrobium nobile or Dendrobium phalaenopsis type: I can’t tell which. Care will be different depending on which it is. Do you have a shot of the leaves or flowers?

To start with it looks like it’s dehydrated and badly in need of repotting. I like to grow both my Dendrobium nobile and D. phalaenopsis types in clay pots in bark. I’d get some new media and a suitable pot (one that just fits the roots), soak the plant, remove all of the old media that you can without damaging the roots, repot it, and water whenever the bark approaches dryness. If it’s a Dendrobium nobile you can let it go completely dry between waterings in the winter and only water when the canes start to wrinkle before resuming regular watering in the spring. If it’s a Dendrobium phalaenopsis, water whenever the substrate approaches dryness all year.

Edit:

Looking again, I think it’s a Dendrobium phalaenopsis type, so it will not want to dry out.

[estación seca]

It looks pretty healthy to me. It's growing on a coconut husk. I wouldn't try to remove it from the coconut. You will damage all the roots.

Younger Dendrobium roots turn green when wet, then white when dry. This kind doesn't like to stay dry for long. In your conditions, and growing on the coconut, you could water every day.

[asphodele]

Originally Posted by aliceinwl

It looks like a Dendrobium nobile or Dendrobium phalaenopsis type: I can’t tell which. Care will be different depending on which it is. Do you have a shot of the leaves or flowers?

To start with it looks like it’s dehydrated and badly in need of repotting. I like to grow both my Dendrobium nobile and D. phalaenopsis types in clay pots in bark. I’d get some new media and a suitable pot (one that just fits the roots), soak the plant, remove all of the old media that you can without damaging the roots, repot it, and water whenever the bark approaches dryness. If it’s a Dendrobium nobile you can let it go completely dry between waterings in the winter and only water when the canes start to wrinkle before resuming regular watering in the spring. If it’s a Dendrobium phalaenopsis, water whenever the substrate approaches dryness all year.

Edit:

Looking again, I think it’s a Dendrobium phalaenopsis type, so it will not want to dry out.

Here it is. It does look like a dendrobium ..

---------- Post added at 10:30 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:26 PM ----------

Originally Posted by estación seca

It looks pretty healthy to me. It's growing on a coconut husk. I wouldn't try to remove it from the coconut. You will damage all the roots.

Younger Dendrobium roots turn green when wet, then white when dry. This kind doesn't like to stay dry for long. In your conditions, and growing on the coconut, you could water every day.

It does seem very hard to remove from the husk, is there any way to change the medium?

This one leaf just turned yellow early this morning. I did notice when I initially brought it home that it had something like a bite mark, although barely noticeable. Now it's yellow

[PhoenixIndo]

I would leave it on the coconut husk until there is new growth and it starts putting out root. You'll see the bumps around the base. Then you can try to remove the coconut husk. Soak it well, peel off the coconut a little at a time. You WILL lose roots, that's just inevitable. I usually repot these when there's new growth and new roots.

Can also leave it in the husk if it's not falling apart/smell bad. Water once a day like ES said.

Physical damage would usually make dendrobium lose the leaf. Do you grow indoors or outdoors?

Don't worry so much about your plant, hard cane dendrobium is easy to grow in tropics. Give it bright indirect light. I use wood charcoal, lava rock or pumice, tree ferns, mounted with some moss on the roots and the smaller variety in semi hydro.

[Orchidtinkerer]

there was a recent thread on this coconut husk/block type of potting.

Everyone that has had to repot a plant potted in this stuff has damaged the roots BUT the longer you wait the worse it will get.

Soak that block of death in a bucket of warm water and let it sit overnight - if you are lucky that will loosen that block enough. My vote is not to delay.

[SouthPark]

Originally Posted by asphodele

From what I read the pseudobulbs shouldn't be wrinkly and there shouldn't be black stuff on it .. And I'm not sure that's how the roots are supposed to look like. I sprayed some water on it earlier and the roots turned green but now they're white again.

White coloured roots are no problem. Some wrinkles in older pseudobulbs is ok too. But wrinkles and significant shrinking in relatively new bulbs can mean not enough water getting into the orchid (via the roots) when it needs it.

I'm just going to assume your humidity is ok in your region - as I think your region will probably be good for growing orchids. It's possible that your media needs to be kept a little more moist.

If you're only spraying the roots a little bit at each watering ........ then it could be sort of like somebody just lightly wetting your lips whenever you need to drink water. As in ------- it might not be enough in terms of getting adequate water.

As for black coloured regions. The main thing is that the bulbs don't go black and mushy.

If there happens to be any fungal issue ------ then a copper spray treatment, or a phosphorous acid treatment (like monterey garden phos) could help. But hard to say at the moment what the black portions are due to.

[Roberta]

When repotting, I never try to get all the old medium (whatever it is) off. Take what comes off easily, leave the rest. Preserving roots is the most important thing, and I have never found that the medium left behind is particularly a problem. Eventually, the roots that have it clinging will die just because they are older, and that's the natural progression of nature. In a few years, that part will be coming off anyway, but by that time there will be plenty of new roots.

[Steve83]

I think the plant looks great.

I wouldn't repot either lol