Please help me save my Cymbidium

[enchanted]

So for Valentine's day this year I got a lovely Cymbidium. I absolutely love it, but I'm worried I'm killing it. I've tried to do a bunch of research on cymbidium care online, but honestly so many websites contradict each other that I'm not sure what to do.

When the plant arrived it had three flower spikes and was beginning to flower. I am fairly certain I over-humidified it at first, since it was right next to our humidifier, which stays on fairly high. The flowers began turning brown and falling off. I tried to make sure it was getting a nice temperature drop by moving it into a cool room at night. I stopped doing this because I didn't see a noticeable difference and I thought the constant stress on the plant from moving rooms couldn't be good.

It now resides in a room where it gets sun in the mid-morning from an east window. At night we close the door, shut the heater vents, and turn the fan on to try and bring the temperature of the room down. I got a thermometer and humidity gauge so I could figure out if the plant is in a good environment. Problem is I don't really know what is acceptable, especially with humidity.

The temperature will reach about 73 during the day, and drop down to around 65 at night. This doesn't seem like enough of a drop, but I'm not sure.

The humidity will reach a high of around 50% and a low of around 39%. I have no idea if this is okay or not.

The leaves are slowly turning yellow, then brown and dying. There is also a fairly defined line towards the bottom of the leaves, which I think is the line from when I received it. The new growth has a sickly yellow tint to it.

I have been fertilizing it every 7-10 days with a 30-10-10 fertilizer, and that is also the only water it gets, yet the soil seems moist. I've read that is good, so I ruled out watering as a problem.

I thought some pictures would be helpful.

The entire plant, as you can see it is not happy.


Trying to show the lines on the leaves.




Please help me! I really don't want to lose this plant.

[Zoi2]

Hello enchanted and welcome to the OB.
Does that cym pot have drainage holes?
Joann

[enchanted]

No drainage holes. The pot is made of wood if it makes a difference. It's just the pot it came in, I didn't think I should repot it when it's stressed already.

[Zoi2]

If there are no drainage holes, the roots are sitting in water....not good. The cym needs to be watered and then drained. Have you checked the roots?
Joann

[enchanted]

What's the best way to check the roots? I mean should I take it completely out of the pot? I always thought that was really hard on plants and should be avoided.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

The pot must have drainage holes. Your Cymbidium can handle full sun. If you/re not comfortable with exposing it to full sun, a light exposure that's bright is good enough. Many of the Cymbidium hybrids available can handle pretty cool temperatures (I grow mine as cold as 45 degrees F in the winter). They can tolerate heat too (it gets a little over 100 degrees F during the summer here). Three of my Cymbidiums just bloomed, so blooming season for many of the Cymbidium hybrids is spring. Cymbidiums are semi-terrestrial, that is in nature their roots grow within leaf litter and top soil same goes for Paphiopedilums.

[Zoi2]

Yes, take it out of that pot and repot it in a tall plastic (clear if possible) pot with drainage holes. You can still use a decorative container, just not as the pot it's actually planted it.
Water logged/dead roots are more stressful than repotting.
Joann

[enchanted]

Okay thanks a lot, I'll look for a new pot this weekend.

[Zoi2]

You might want to check this site out. Basic Cymbidium Repotting
Joann

[bodaciousbonsai]

I also noticed that your humidity levels are nowhere high enough. you should always have at least 65% at the lowest. plus you also said that the only water this cym gets is water with fertilizer. that again is not a good thing. you probably have a real high salt concentration in the medium wich is the reason for the yellowing leaves. I would repot plus do a flushing with just straight r.o. water,distilled, or rain water. when i water my orchids I feed then flush, feed then flush. 30-10-10 also is not to good. thats a real high nitrogen percentage. I would go with a more balanced fertilizer like 10-10-10, something that has a nice even npk balance.