Help Save my Orchid!

[Chinchilla31]

i have a young phalaenopsis orchid (about 4 months now) and all of it blossoms have fallen off and now the last of its little buds is going to drop too. i keep the plant next to a south facing window (i live in ohio, not alot of light this time of year) and water it about once a week. i don't know whats going on with the plant, but it looks like it is slowly dying i have some pictures. can anyone tell me what is wrong??? thx

Orchid pictures from friends & fun photos on webshots

[jkofferdahl]

Your plant is basically desicated. The wrinkling on the leaves is a good indication, and the roots also look like they're in rough condition.

Before doing anything else I would snip the flower spike off, then powder it with cinnamon to seal it off. Then I would repot. The plant is now in sphagnum, which can dry extremely slowly. It's possible that it didn't get dry enough between waterings and so some of the roots rotted, though the roots visible in your photos look dry rather than water-rotted; you may find that those in the pot are rotted, however.

Before repotting, soak the new potting material in water for a good 12-24 hours so that it is thoroughly wet. I like to start the soak with boiling water when I prepare new medium. After you remove the plant from the old material, clip off any dead roots. You might also want to put the plant in a pan of warm water after removing it from the old material just to really let it soak, and to see what roots are still viable.

Finally, after repotting keep a close eye on the medium. It should just get dry before watering - you can test this by sticking a pencil into the medium to see if the wood absorbs any moisture inside the pot. Between waterings, mist the plant a couple of times a day (but be careful to not allow water to sit in the crown of the plant).

Good luck!

[tmaxwell]

it looks stressed, but it should pull through. Try giving it some new medium, a good coarse bark mix. just looks dry, and probably needs some food. (not now, wait till it plumps up a bit) At least it's not rotting!

[Becca]

One thing I would like to add to the other wonderful comments is that the reason the leaves are dessicated is because it is not getting enough moisture. This is probably due to the lack of good roots to take up the moisture. If you have a humid place to help the 'chid recover it will help slow down the moisture it is loosing through the leaves. Some people will put them inside a plastic zip lock bag (known as sphag-n-bag) to help with the humidity if they can not provide it.

I also noticed a brown spot on one of the leaves you showed us. Watch that spot and make sure it doesn't spread. If it spreads you could lose the leaf. You may have to cut the brown spot out if it is spreading, or you could try and treat it with something like Physan 20.

I hope this all makes sense. If not anyone is more then welcome to try and clarify what I am trying to say...lol.

Good luck and keep us posted.