Orchid withering

[TheEdge]

Hi all,

I am new in this forum and i recently just started growing orchid. I am from KL, Malaysia.

About 2 months ago, I bought my first orchid from a church garage sales. I don't know species and it was a small shoot. I put it under a shade under a tree and for the last 1 1/2 months it was doing ok. Not growing but also not withering and shriveling up. Recently, it started doing just that and I thought maybe it is too hot to put it outside, so I moved it in 2 weeks ago and to no AVAIL, it is even doing worst now.

Could any of the seniors here give me some advice to revive(if it is even possible). I fear it is dying and I just want to try one more time to see whether I can still save it.

PS: I water it twice a day. No insect's attack. Just dying for no reason. Fertilize it 2 times a month. Fertilizer type is the leaves type.

Any comments will be appreciated.

[Zoi2]

Hello and welcome to the OB.
I'm sorry your plant is not doing well but we need a bit more info to help you. Is it possible to post a picture? Are the roots firm?
Joann

[TheEdge]

Hi Joann,

Thanks for the quick reply. I will post the pic tomorrow. The roots are firmly attached to one piece of the charcoal only. But not exactly firm because when I tried to check the roots by wriggling it a little bit, it seems fragile. Plus it is not exactly fat and white like I see in the nursery. It is dull to dark color, not sure whether it is because of the charcoal

[WhiteRabbit]

Pictures would definitely be helpful. Twice a day seems like a lot of water - but not knowing the specifics - what type of orchid, potting media, or bare root - couldn't say for sure
Hopefully with pictures, someone can help you out

[TheEdge]

dear all,

i have attached the pictures for your comments. thanks in advance.

[Eyebabe]

It seems to me that they could both use re-potting.
The pictures are small so I can't see a lot of details.
The phal looks like it may have some soft leaves related to root rot and the leaf with the black spot looks like an infection that should be cut off with a sterile blade.
Both plants could use a treatment with Physan 20 which is a general anti-fungal, anti-bacterial with re-potting.
Hope that helps!

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Ummm...

I think it's a Cattleya hybrid. Quite possibly an Epicattleya or an Slc, idk.

It has very few living roots left (being generous with this statement, because I can't see clearly).

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Pot's too big. Potting media is too wet and needs to be changed out.

Probably grown too bright and there's what looks like a secondary fungal infection as a result from being weakened (massive root loss counts as being weakened).

[TheEdge]

Wow, that was quick. thank you so much for all your inputs.

King_of-orchid, should i just cut off the infected stem only leaving the root. From the picture, you can see one stem is infected from the root. Or should i remove the infected together with the root. I m worried that if i do the latter, i might damage the good root.

Why do you say that the pot media is too wet. IMHO, it is too dry because it can't retain water. I am using charcoal and broken pots as the media.

Eyebabe, should I cut the entire leaf? I will try to look for the anti-fungal as prescribed by you. Thank you again for your input.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Cut the short dead roots. Leave the long dead roots on so you have something to anchor the plant down in the pot or onto a mount. When it starts growing new roots that have attached onto the substrate, then you can remove all the remaining dead roots.

The rhizomes and pseudobulbs don't look like they're infected with anything, so there's no need to do anything with them.

The leaf with the spot is the one that's infected with fungus. It's on its way out anyways, just wait until it turns yellow and just remove by hand (it should come off easily).