Too much or too little water on this Aerides Lawrenciae x Odorata

[samnkyle]

The Aerides Lawrenciae x Odorata that had the frozen spike when shipped by Ebay seller looks like it's dying!

Am I giving it too much water or too little? The leaves are wrinkly and some of the roots looks mushy but some look desiccated!

It gets misted/watered every other day... Sometimes more during the weekend. It's sitting on a bark media but enclosed with coconut fiber in a clay pot. Gets feed once every 1 - 2 weeks. Kept in a (tent) greenhouse with 45-80% humidity, 61-80 degrees F.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated!

[Zoi2]

For my 2 cents: I would cut off all dead mushy roots, leave it out of the media, spray/mist the live roots daily and increase air circulation.
Joann

[samnkyle]

Thanks Joann.

It seems the seller had the roots in some sort of dense media before and then shipped it to me bare root.
I had it originally on coconut fiber only but looked like it wasn't getting enough nutrients so I added bark last week. So you think it needs more air circulation?
I have a fan running on my GH all the time but I'm finding my mounted orchids drying out more.

Ok, I'll soak the roots in some water with some Dyna Gro Grow, ProTekt and KLN... and then let them all hang lose.

[Wjs2nd]

Looks like it needs more water. I agree with the above and would just get rid of the bad roots. The other roots look great.

[Becca]

Not sure if this well help or not, but I have an Aerides houlletiana that is growing in a clay pot with no potting medium in it. Personally I think a wood basket would be better then the clay pot, I don't think the roots that are inside of the pot dry out quickly enough. But it has a lot of roots outside of the pot as well. I dunk mine daily in a 5 gallon water bucket for about 30 minutes to an hour early in the morning and then the roots dry out by the end of the day. Personally I think the roots like to dry out quickly and most potting medium would not allow them to do that.

[samnkyle]

I don't have the luxury of being able to dunk mine daily cuz I travel for work and home only 3 days, 4 nights a week...
So, I guess I can try the dunking of the roots overnight weekly?

[Becca]

I don't know if overnight would be best....generally that is when temps cool down and that combined with lack of air movement is prime for bacteria to spread from what I have read....plus if you are watering a plant that has no potting medium only once a week then I think that would be to long in between watering for it.

[samnkyle]

I have an overhead mister that mists/sprinkles water every other day and I have the aerides practically next to the humidifier that is on pretty much most of the day (except at night when I close the tent/greenhouse)... I guess the moisture isn't enough.

I do mist/spray it by hand at least twice a day on weekends (Fri-Sun) when I'm home.

Ok, so I'll try the soaking for an hour on the days I'm home and then I'll switch the media to something more airy.

Thanks again for the suggestions/advise!

[Becca]

Good luck and keep us posted on how things go!

[samnkyle]

will do. thanks again becca!

- janet