Semi-transparent leaves on my "Nelly Isler" orchid?

[fruitgoblin]

Hello!

New member here, happy to have found this place I repotted my two orchids yesterday, a dendrobium nobile which seems perfectly fine, and a "nelly isler" cambria which is looking off;

I am completely new to orchids and only know basics. I have tried asking a more experienced friend about this and she too couldn't figure out what's going on, so without further ado I will now share some photos and information:

- The orchids are in the brightest part of our home, a corridor with a window where 60% of our house plants are (the orchids are not in direct sun however);

- This corridor has a tiny window that connects to a bathroom where we shower, so plants can get some humidity from there;

- I live in Portugal, and currently our temperatures are around 7-10ºC (44 to 50F, google tells me)

- I have not watered the cambria in a month, and since it looks... sappy right now, the only thing I did when repotting was to clean its roots carefully with cold water, but not too cold;

- We haven't opened the window very often near the plants so they don't catch drafts, though sometimes I do open the windows to circulate the air upstairs;

More details about the photos:

Photos 1 to 7 were during repotting
Photos 8 to 10 were today

- I have gently squished the roots, bulbs, and leaves, none of them feel mushy. They are all very solid and dry to the touch;

- The roots seemed okay to me, though I did spot two to three root ends where they were darkened to black, which also did not feel mushy.

Thank you in advance for any answers & your time!

[Roberta]

First, Welcome!

Nelly Isler is an Oncidium-tribe orchid, and those hate to dry out. So I think that it may be suffering from lack of water. Its new medium will dry out even faster - which is good, the roots need the air. But you definitely need to be watering it. Unlike the nobiie-type Den, Oncidiums like Nelly don't have a rest period.

[fruitgoblin]

Thank you for the welcome & suggestion

It could be, I did realize a bit later that I should not be caring for it in the same way as the nobile during the winter;

Though I have to wonder, as the bulbs don't seem very wrinkly, and also because today I saw it oozing liquid (as seen on picture 7)... there's also something I mentioned in the title and then forgot to add in the main post, which is the fact those yellowed/darkened spots you see along the leaves are actually semi-transparent;

I'm a bit worried, but I could try giving it some water.

(Also, the new medium for both of the orchids is only bark, the bag said it was specifically for orchids... I know some people use sphagnum moss mixed with the bark, I couldn't find it however)

[Roberta]

Bark is excellent... sphagnum just makes it hold more moisture. More frequent watering will compensate fora less-retentive mix... and makes it much harder to overwater so you can water without worry.

[estación seca]

Welcome to the Orchid Board!

Do you mean the temperature in the room where the plants grow is 7-10C?

I agree cambrias (Oncidium hybrids) should not dry out, but I would not keep mine that cold all the time.

If your outside temperatures are never close to freezing you could put the Dendrobium nobile outside for the winter, with very good light. This helps encourage flowering. It will be fine so long as it does not freeze. Water occasionally so the stems don't wrinkle too deeply.

[fruitgoblin]

Originally Posted by estación seca

Welcome to the Orchid Board!

Do you mean the temperature in the room where the plants grow is 7-10C?

I agree cambrias (Oncidium hybrids) should not dry out, but I would not keep mine that cold all the time.

If your outside temperatures are never close to freezing you could put the Dendrobium nobile outside for the winter, with very good light. This helps encourage flowering. It will be fine so long as it does not freeze. Water occasionally so the stems don't wrinkle too deeply.

Thank you Yes, the corridor in the house gets very cold since we only warm up the rooms;

The nobile has been fine, in fact I think it has been very happy with its current conditions as it has been growing a new cane! I'm actually afraid of placing plants outside on our varanda since we live close to a mountain and the wind here is terrible for our outdoor plants, we always need to find ways to cover up our varanda otherwise everything dies I will still keep the idea in mind though, perhaps if I find something safe to keep it out of the wind;


Going back to the orchid that's worrying me a lot however:

I was considering bringing the cambria into my bedroom where it's warmer (around 13-20C these days), since I did wonder if it was getting too cold for its liking.

Another possibility I considered for the weirdness of the leaves was that maybe too much humidity and bacteria could be gathering at their base since the leaves fold into a tube-shape near the base... hope that's not the case, but that's something I thought about since the yellowy semi-transparent blotches on the leaves are appearing on the bottom half of the leaves, and it does get humidity from the bathroom window...

Is there any safe way of cleaning the base of the leaves when they fold into a tube at the bottom?

Thank you all for your answers so far

[estación seca]

I would definitely bring it to a warmer room and water it. I would not try to clean the leaf bases, but you could invert the plant and shake water out of them after watering. I don't know how cold-tolerant this plant is. Many Oncidiums, even if damaged, will make good new growth from the base once conditions are proper. They may even survive a few new growths dying from improper care, and go on to make more growth.

The primary problem is not rot, but a weakened plant from being too dry and too cool. Rot would be a secondary issue. When you correct the conditions the plant should recover if it is not badly damaged. Oncidiums that die of rots die from the rhizome up, and the grower almost never realizes the problem until it is too late. Yours does not look like this.

[rbarata]

Welcome fruitgoblin!
Where do you live, in Portugal?