Gastrochilus japonicus question

[c123anderson]

Hi everyone. I have a situation involving a Gastrochilus japonicus. I don't have pictures; I think the narrative may be enough.

I bought a GP. I received it with a spike, which began to bloom about 2 weeks later. The buds were opening and everything seemed good. Then the bud started to fall off. About all at once. Within a day all buds had dropped. I had watered it the day before.

Sad, but, having traveled with a spike, I figured that it was stressed. I didn't think the blast (this is a "blast", correct?) and the watering were related.

Then the leaves started to fall off one by one, until I was left with one leaf, which fell off yesterday. I am now ready to admit I have a dead GP: It is a black stalk.

I was going to remove the "corpse" from the media and look at the roots to see if that was the problem. Having received it two months ago then having it now dead, I could say it was the seller, but I don't want to assume this is the case without really examining how I am caring for my plants and making sure I'm caring for them properly.

Can anyone help guide me in diagnosing what happened?

[Roberta]

I think at you need to do that autopsy... you need to look at the roots. Also inspect the medium. Was it broken down? Or is there "wildlife" in there that might have munched it from below? If the medium was broken down causing roots to rot, that's on the vendor... that's not something that happens overnight.

What were your conditions? Light, watering, temperature? (This is not a fragile species... it should be able to tolerate considerable chill)

[c123anderson]

Hi Roberta, I hadn't even thought about a "wildlife" situation. Light, temps were all consistent with other orchids in area. No chills and no high heat. Light is filtered light in a west facing window.

Plant was watered regularly with no issues. It even had a nice looking aerial root. I had watered it with a typical amount, pouring watering into the media. That's when things went south.

I also had a Macodes petola that became "seriously unhappy" ("dying") after this watering. No fertilizer in this watering. No other plants had any issue afterwards, just these two.

[Roberta]

What is the medium? How does it look for those 2 plants?

[c123anderson]

Both are in sphagnum moss.

[Roberta]

Was the sphag in decent condition or did it look old? Condition of roots?

[estación seca]

Macodes tend to be quite sturdy unless they get too dry for too long. Any chance that happened? Maybe with a change of light with the seasons? Did sun shine on the pot and overheat it?

[c123anderson]

Sphagnum moss looked good, but I didn’t dig into it or repot.

I would say that at least the Macodes got a little dry and then watered with flooding.

I feel guilty, to be honest.

[Roberta]

Don't feel guilty! A lesson for the next time... and there should definitely be another try. Macodes is a terrestrial... grows in detritus on the forest floor, so that gives an idea of how wet it likes to be. The Gastrochilus? No clue, being Vandaceous drying out a bit should not have harmed it... I grow Gastrochilus mounted, so it definitely dries out.

[c123anderson]

So I pulled apart the moss. It was very dense, which seemed odd. I say that in ignorance, though, since I don’t prefer it as a media so I don’t use it often. No “wildlife” was visible.

What I did notice was a moldy smell to the moss. Could a mold have damaged the roots?

I have been documenting orchid growth through pictures. This GP had a nice looking root above the moss. I don’t know below, but all seemed well. Then the buds blasted and the spike looked blackened, and the visible root also started to blackened. This seemed odd, since it would’ve not rotted so easily above the moss.

Any advice or thoughts?