help! I think my orchid is dying?

[neworchid]

I posted pics to my album. It was doing fine for months and the last two weeks the leaves have turned yellow and brown and the stem turned black! I was told to water it every two weeks about 1/2 c or so of water + food. The only thing I do know is I wasn't suppoosed to be letting it sit in water. I know now to drain it. ?? any help or suggestions? thanks~

[Hedge]

I think you will have to write this one off, I'm afraid. The leaves are definitely dead, and it looks like it is growing in moss, which I have not found to be a good medium for Phalaenopsis.

Better luck next time

Heather

[neworchid]

its in bark, just a thin layer of moss on top. theres a new green leaf thats remaining?!

[Zoi2]

I think I agree with Hedge, it's a gonner but.....pull it out of the pot and look at the roots. If you have any viable roots you may be able to save it. It will take months of intensive care though. It might be easier to just purchase a healthy phalaenopsis.
Joann

[neworchid]

thanks

[Ben Belton]

If this was not a special plant to you, get a new one. If it is something worth a lot of attention every day, then...

I've done this... a couple times. As long as you have a living root (and you have a couple) you might have a chance, but you have a lot of crown damage.

Pull it out and see what kind of roots it has. I'd then get a 3-4" pot and put a few inches of Styrafoam peanuts in it. Soak some sphagnum in water, and then squeeze every drop of water you can out of it. Lay a thin layer of sphagunum over the peanuts. Put the plant on top Get a spray bottle with water and some Superthrive. Spray any living roots 2-3 times a day. Do not get water on the crown. If there were any living roots below your mix, put them on that thin layer of sphagnum and put a tiny layer of sphagnum on top. Tiny as in only 2-3 strands thick. If you do this, you want the sphagnum over the roots to almost dry out, but not get crunchy every day. It needs to be where there is a lot of humidity.

Ready to toss it now? :-)

Someone gave me the plant in the attached picture back in February. This is about 3 inches across and stuck on grape wood. I've been spraying the roots a couple times a day, if I could, since then. This is an old picture. The plant now has several small healthy roots, some new leaves, and is ready to be potted. No, its still not in great shape and if everything goes well, it will still be 2-3 years before I get a bloom, but its alive and will make it if I don't screw up.

Good luck. We've all been there

[neworchid]

thanks, i might? try that.

[RosieC]

I agree with Ben that it might be savable, but it all depends how much effort it is worth to you.

You seem to have a good leaf at the top and some arial roots and so with careful care it may recover.

I have saved one, by putting it in a very small amount of bark (I used a bigger pot and packed out the bottom with pebbles, packing peanuts and perlite) the main thing is to only have a small amount of the moisture holding medium. First remove all mushy/dead roots then pot it up.

When you water (both healthy and sick phals) you should run a lot of water through the pot, but then let it drain completely and wait until the medium is dry all the way through before watering it again.

If you use too little water it can also be bad for them, and getting the balance right is one of the keys to growing Phals. If you can use a clear pot then wait until the roots turn silvery (right down to the bottom) and there is no sigh of moisture in the medium (right down to the bottom) before you water again.

When rescuing this one I would also advise especial care that it dries out between waterings (but gets a good amount of water when you do water). The good roots that I can see in the pic are arial roots and these don't like converting to be under the medium, but in my experience if they are under the medium but in an airy enough mix they will still operate survive.

In my case I also took it out the pot again once or twice a week and let the roots dry and spread out the medium to fully dry, then soaked the roots for an hour and once the medium was dry (sometimes 24 hours later) I potted it back up. I'm not sure if this was the best method or not, but it lived and has been growing new roots and a new leaf recently (I now leave it in the pot).

[sunny]

i know what i do. you have to take it out of the pot. there's a good chance the roots and root stem are black. cut off as much as you can, even the stem. scrape as much rot off as you can with your fingernails. even between the root and the plant. re-pot it. do this every three months or so. if there are any healthy roots left, you can stay ahead of it. then, eventually, all the bad roots are gone and you have a healthy plant. always remember, do not re-pot based on leaf size, but on root size. you may end up with large leaves in a small pot. but you may save it.

carol

[Ben Belton]

I really like Rosie's reply. I thought about that, but I don't do it because I like to see the roots myself. A big chunky bark mix would allow air and retain some moisture too.

If your are someone reading this who has lots of different orchids, this probably sounds crazy to you, but I have 99% Phals, so this is standard operating procedure sometimes for me.

Sometimes it seems a potting mix goes from good to mush overnight.