My milt Rouge seems to be dying on me!

[rw131]

Hi everyone! I am a rookie when it comes to orchids, but I really love them! My wife was kind enough to buy me a Milt Rouge plant when we went to a Orchid show a few months ago. And now, the flowers have died, and the leaves that are left are all turning brown and dying. i was told to water it with tepid wated once a week, and to let the water drain. I don't have it in a place where it gets direct sunlight, the room is pretty well lit though. And I mix alittle plantfood with the water once a month. What am I doing wrong?!Can someone please help me save this beautiful plant?

[Bud]

Welcome & Hello !
Sit back and relax...you've come to the right place...read postings by other members and learn from their wealth of knowledge gleaned from their years of experience on growing orchids.
Pictures would be a great help in order to give you a more accurate advice: also your growing zone area in the USA...

I grow my Miltonia on a windowsill facing south. I have indoor heat in my apartment at 75 to 80F and at night it goes down to 60-65F with a 2 gallon humidifier and a small oscillating fan...It experiences extreme temps in summer (manhattan can be very humid and can get up to 105 in the summer) Its when I bring indoors all my orchids except my vandas and mokaras who loves hot and humid summers.
Bright diffussed light is necessary to bring Miltonia into bloom. not direct sun because the leaves are very sensitive.
Miltonia dont need a drying out period. It must be kept evenly moist throughout the year. Drench the plant in the sink in the morning, and let them dry out before nightfall. Once a week watering in winter and every other day in summer is normally sufficient.
I fertilize it weakly every other week with seaweed mix and worm tea mix. In the summers I add some AlgoFlash Orchid fertilizer.
Since Miltonias are epiphytes, I use coarse coco chips, bark, lava rock, charcoal and hydroton...I repot this plant every two years or if the media begins to decay.
*I am also growing a Miltonia on S/H

[msaar]

This plant is Miltoniopsis Rouge (rather than Miltonia), and as such, requires different growing conditions. Check the appropriate culture sheet at the American Orchid Society web site- AOS.org

[silken]

Originally Posted by msaar

This plant is Miltoniopsis Rouge (rather than Miltonia), and as such, requires different growing conditions. Check the appropriate culture sheet at the American Orchid Society web site- AOS.org

I agree. I have a Miltoniopsis Rouge. Their culture requirements are different from Miltonias in that they need less light and can't tolerate warm temps. They must never dry out but cannot remain soaking wet either! A bit tough to find a middle ground! I would check the roots and see what is going on. They have quite fine roots so can rot quickly if kept to wet. If too dry, the new growths will be wrinkled as they grow.

If you could tell us what it is potted in and possibly what the roots like (A photo would be good) then maybe we could help further.

[rw131]

Thank you for the info about the AOS.org society. I will take a look there. The plant is potted in a clay pot. Do you think it would be okay to pull the plant out from the pot to take a photo?

[Paul Mc]

What sort of medium is it planted in. For example, bark chips, sphagnum moss, peat moss, perlite, etc... It should be ok to pull it out, but be very careful not to damage anything.

---------- Post added at 07:23 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:21 PM ----------

As a side note, if you don't know for sure what the potting medium is, it would be helpful if you posted a picture of that as well.

[RJSquirrel]

my post now seems insignificant

[rw131]

Can someone please explain to me how I can go about putting a photo of my orchid for you to see?! Every time I try to upload a photo, it fails!

[silken]

http://www.orchidboard.com/community...tml#post396283

[rw131]

Thank you Silken for the help! I have gotten so far as to actually try to upload 2 photos' but twice it failed and I received an 'error 300'. Would anyone know what that means?