Rescued a sad looking Cymbidium Orchid from a friend.

[Ducky87]

Today I received an Cymbidium orchid from a friend. Unfortunately this is very sickly looking, at least in my opinion. I attached pictures of the plant. The roots showing on the top are very mushy and might as well be part of Medium. Should I take out the plant and check the roots or should I just re-pot it and get rid of the old roots?

[RJSquirrel]

thats nothing but bacterial and fungal rot and maybe a virus or 2 just waiting to infect your whole collection....both of them
Seriously get that out the house and hit with a fire hose.

[Ducky87]

lol... well I tried to pry it out of the pot, but there are fresh new roots growing out the bottom. I am assuming I need to repot it as soon as possible to get rid of all the dead roots.

Any fungicides I should keep my eyes out for? I really want to try to save this plant... without the use of a firehose! haha

:P

P.S.

They have had the Plant for about a year and a half and god knows how long the store had it before it was given to them as a house warming present.

[WhiteRabbit]

I don't know if those roots are rotted ?
I would repot, it can probably go down in pot size.
The newer growth looks ok, other than bent foliage.

[Ducky87]

Thanks Whiterabbit, I am going to repot it as soon as can get a new pot. this one will have to be broken to get it out. I tried getting it out the other day and got nothing. very much so stuck. any advice on a potting Medium?

[Hedge]

Love your canine pal!

[WhiteRabbit]

You might try soaking the whole pot in lukewarm water for a half hour or more to see if that helps you get it out of the pot.

When you get it out, cut away any dead roots. I have my cyms potted in a mix of fine and medium firbark, perlite, charcoal - I also throw in some styro pnuts. Some people go with just the medium fir bark, perlite, charcoal, skipping the fine bark, just probably need to water more often that way. Many people also use coconut husk chips either instead of, or combined with, the fir bark. Mostly, the mix should retain moisture pretty well (cyms don't want to dry out), but also drain well.

[pedidiva]

Thanks White rabbit~~

I did not know what an appropriate potting mix would be for a Cymbidium. I just recently purchased one that had already flowered & did not know what to use for potting material. Do you use a special type of pot?

Pedi

[WhiteRabbit]

Originally Posted by pedidiva

Thanks White rabbit~~

I did not know what an appropriate potting mix would be for a Cymbidium. I just recently purchased one that had already flowered & did not know what to use for potting material. Do you use a special type of pot?

Pedi

I just use regular plastic pots that have holes for drainage at the bottom

[pedidiva]

Great, thanks

Pedi