orchid leaves dropped and leaves turning yellow

[Johnny51]

Hi Everybody!

I am excited to join this forum! I have two orchids that are not doing well. One was a gift planted in soil so I transplanted it in orchid bark which it did well for over a year but never bloomed. I water it once a week in the soil and fertilize every two/three weeks but last week, the three really green leaves it had fell off BUT it has finally has little buds that are growing out. So will new leaves grow if I stop overwatering it(I guess that's the problem) and does an orchid need leaves to bloom? Also another older orchid (4 yrs) recently lost two leaves that turned yellow...over watering again? Your help is greatly appreciated!!!
Johnny

[Roberta]

First, Welcome!

I don't think you are overwatering the plants, likely grossly underwatering them. Photos help... supposedly you need 5 posts before you can upload photos, but I have seen newer members succeed. Give it a try (Go Advanced, then Manage Attachments) - you need to have pop-ups enabled for the site.

If the plants have lost their leaves, lack of water can cause that. Not a good sign... with no leaves, likely will not survive, much less bloom. If you had one that was growing well but not blooming, probably needed more light (for more hours, not necessarily more intense) Knowing what types of orchids we are dealing with would help. (I am guessing Phalaenopsis, but photos will help to identify the type)

[Ray]

Folks will often say that lower leaf loss is “normal”, but I would characterize it more as “common” but certainly not “preferred”.

Plants take in water, minerals, air, and photons and convert them into various phytochemical resources. They are used to 1) stay alive, 2) grow, and 3) reproduce, in that order of priority.

A plant in marginal culture will just sit there, resource production is slow, so the plant just stays alive. If the parameters are better, it will store the excess resources and commit them to adding tissue and growth, which also gives the plant greater capacity to produce those resources and to store them. If the culture is better, the plant will store even more of those phytochemical resources, which - when the necessary “triggers” have been met - it can expend upon blooming.

That well-grown plant will continue to grow and add tissues, becoming the bigger and bigger “specimen” plants that do very well and often win awards, but if something is lacking in the culture, plants will move those resources out of older tissues to sustain the growth of new tissues, resulting in the eventual loss of those oldest leaves or growths.

Wrapping all that up: loss of lower leaves and older growth (in sympodial plants) suggest something is lacking in its care.

[Johnny51]

Thanks Roberta & Ray! That sheds some light (pun intended!) on my orchids. I guess watering them once a week or every 9/10 days, I thought was better than more frequently but since you said I was grossly underwatering them - it make sense the one's leaves fell off (such a shame as it was a pretty plant with vibrant green leaves and really was doing better in soil than when I transplanted it in orchid bark and trimmed the roots then underwatered it so it probably went into shock. The other one's leaves that turned yellow (only two so far) I'll water more frequently (maybe every three days or so?). It resides in the family room with six huge (6 ft) windows letting a ton of indirect light in but hasn't flowered in four years since I first bought it home. I'll take pics and try to post.

---------- Post added at 06:15 AM ---------- Previous post was at 06:08 AM ----------

And yes they are phalaenopsis. The one has lots of long aerial roots coming out. It looks like it's starting to bloom but no buds blooming yet and I really want to make it bloom so I guess like I said, more water every few days?

[FranningtonBear]

Hi and welcome!

I’m nowhere near as knowledgeable and experienced as either Roberta or Ray but I notice you described trimming roots during re-potting, other than a few very specific circumstances, I believe it is generally considered unnecessary and detrimental to the plants overall health to do so.

Looking forward to pictures as well, this board is such a wealth of knowledge!

[Johnny51]

Thanks, did not know that, thought I was doing it a favor like all planted pots by trimming the roots.

[Roberta]

Definitely don't want to trim roots. (Even some that look bad are useful) The plant has no other way to get waterr. And soil is also bad - Phalaenopsis are air plants - in humid nature they grow on trees with no medium at all. The roots need "humid air" not "wet". So orchid bark (medium or large) has lots of air space. When water, you pull air into the root zone. Frequent watering with very airy medium is good, infrequent watering in highly water-retentive medium like soil does not give an epiphytic plant what it wants.

[Johnny51]

I guess a pebble tray would help. I've been trying to find little pebbles like I had years ago, but the orchid store went out of business. In VA. we lived near a nursery that had a fantastic hot house filled with orchids but here in Pa.- I'll have to find one.

[Roberta]

A pebble tray (or other so-called humidity try") is quite useless as far as significantly raising humidity for the plant. You get the "humid air" in the root zone by choosing an airy medium (like bark), then watering well, let dry out somewhat, and water again. All dependent on that good root system. Successful orchid growing is all about roots!

If a room is very dry, you just need to water more often since the leaves lose water to the air. But for most homes, the ambient humidity is OK, as long as the plants are watered correctly.

You can learn a lot about basic Phalaenopsis culture reading the first few pages of this thread:
The Phal abuse ends here.

[estación seca]

Welcome!