Help! I think I'm an orchid killer! - Orchid Board

Erika · #1 05-25-2010, 06:54 PM

I am new to growing orchids. I thought I was doing the right things cause my plants looked healthy. But then suddenly the leaves started getting ribbed. I used the skewer method to see if the potting mix was moist and they seemed to be dry.... so I watered them real well. Now the leaves are droopy AND ribbed. Their roots were dried out too and I had to cut most of them off the one plant.

I have 2 Phals, 1 reg Catt, 1 mini Catt, and 1 other thingy I can't remember the name of - Epidendrum maybe. Can they survive with very little of a root system? Should I mount them on something rather than trying the potting medium? My one Catt is mounted. I love my orchids but as obvious as one would think it would be to tell if they are wet or dry - I may have totally messed them up.

AGG! any advice? other than to not water for maybe 2 wks and see if they improve? ty

Izzie · #2 05-25-2010, 06:59 PM

Welcome to OB!

Can you tell us what kind of media they are planted in, what kind of pots?

I wouldn't necessarily hold back from watering for a long time- just water as needed- the phals when the roots in the pot turn silver, and the catts after they've been almost dry for a day.
Epidendrums are amazing, and put up with a whole lot of error. If it's a reed-stem (upright with alternating leaves), see this page, it's a GREAT reference for Reedstem Epis. Reed-stem Epidendrum

Izzie · #3 05-25-2010, 07:03 PM

Also- pictures of the plants and their pots/roots (if they're clear) would be great to see if there's something else going on.

How do you water? What are you using to water (tap, distilled, filtered)? Are you fertilizing?

Have you repotted these plants? If they aren't blooming, taking them out of the pots and repotting is a great way to see what's going on and clean up dead/rotted roots.
Repotting whilst in bloom might make the buds blast, but a lot of people never have a problem with it. If the plant needs it, the flowers aren't a priority.

The wilted/wrinkled leaves are indicative of a lack of water- which can happen from over and under watering. Roots rot from overwatering and are no longer able to take up water.

Definitely keep doing the skewer method- it's great!

Eyebabe · #4 05-25-2010, 07:43 PM

I have been through this many times although not en-mass like you are dealing with. After much research, I will relate my problem that causes this...
The Phal and the Catt species are those I am most familiar with and they require a humidity of about 50% at least to do "well". Orchidwiz puts many of the Phal and Catt requirements up around 70% for optimal...WOW! Very difficult for a window grower to achieve!
When you water, of course your humidity goes up but these plants need to dry out before watering again. However, the humidity cannot drop to the normal household humidity of 30% without causing excessive dryness in the roots. So the roots get overly dry from low humidity suffering some damage and we see the dry roots and water again on a stressed root system probably a bit too soon creating a downward spiral.
The leaves look wilted because the root system is not able to absorb the water you are providing due to the periodic damage from over dehydration.
My solution was to purchase humidity trays...they worked so-so. Then, I purchased a couple of humidifiers and I'm in pretty good shape now. Misting(very fine) only causes a temporary rise in humidity but with a few plants you might get away with it if you can do it 2-3 times per day.
So the short of the long in my humble opinion is to do your best to increase your humidity level.
After over five years of playing this game, I am going greenhouse...should be about 12 more weeks and I'll be "free"; or maybe this is a delusion ^.^

Erika · #5 05-25-2010, 08:33 PM

I have repotted them in regular clay pots in that mulchy bark stuff. Many of them were packed tightly in moss so I figured that was a good step to take.

One of the Catt's I bought at a local grower and he suggested mounting it on a piece of wood. He said he does this a lot and that in FL it's very easy to keep them outside for the summers. So I had that Catt and then my Epi and another Catt that didn't seem to be doing so well outside on my back deck. It was under the roof so it got lots of bright light but was protected from any direct sun. I misted the mounted one and would occasionally mist just the leaves of the others. I am using fertilized spray to mist and when I water them.

I had just kept my Phals and my mini-Catt inside. The Phals "seemed" to be doing pretty well on just the inside light of the sunroom. The 1 Phal I did buy at an Ikea - found it on sale! for half price.... I bought it because it had great roots (at the time). The mini Catt is happy on my kitchen window sill which, in my opinion, doesn't get as much light as the sunroom but... it's happy so I'm not going to fuss with it.

It should be humid enough outside for the orchids, right? I'm thinking figuring out the whole to water or not to water is my biggest issue. Like I had mentioned before, I am using the skewer method. If it's dried out when I pull it out - I water. How long should I wait again to water if the leaves are all ribbed? The pseudobulbs were so plump on the 1 Catt I bought and they look so shriveled now. Ugh... I really don't want to kill them.

I'll try to post pictures when I can. Last time I couldn't post to a site. I could email them if that would help anybody figure out what's going on.

thanks for the ideas....

Eyebabe · #6 05-25-2010, 09:28 PM

Without pictures, outside humidity in Florida I would think is sufficient. The only thing about the additional details you gave that struck me as "off" was the fertilizer part.
I have always read to fertilize weakly weekly...but I have also read when in doubt, don't fertilize. I certainly would not have fertilizer in my misting. Maybe back off the fertilizer...
Consider your water quality as well. To many salts can build up and begin to ruin the roots.
Finally, plants in clay pots also dry out faster than plastic...so need more frequent watering.
Good luck!

ardera · #7 05-26-2010, 04:07 PM

The orchid nursery here sells their fertilizer with the fertilizer for spraying leaves as well. So I couldn't say for sure, but I don't think it would hurt. Only thing I would mention is to spray them in the morning, so the water on the leaves has time to evaporate before the evening. Otherwise it can lead to crown rot on the Phals, and open the door to other problems....