New to orchid and petals are withering

[zeroboya]

Hi I was given an orchid last month, and was busy to tend it until last week. During that time, it was being watered everyday, as I know. Now after I took over, I keep my orchid in my office, there is no Window only normal light, from light bulb and since it is office, it is air conditioned.

When I stared to take care of my orchid, the petal has stared to withered a bit, but now it looks very dry and one of the petal came off. It's leaves also started to turn yellow and one of it has a wrinkle on it.

I have attached pictures of my orchid, any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

[CTB]

You have a phalaenopsis, watering outside about twice a week, inside once a week, I see roots showing, it needs repotting in bark mix for orchids, hoping your pot has drainage holes in the bottom. Are you office lights on all the time? If not, it will need its own grow light to grow in office setting. Air conditioning is good, is it on all weekend or does office get hot? Or cold? Best to do some Googling and read up on that type of orchid.

[zeroboya]

Hi CTB,

" it needs repotting in bark mix for orchids", what do you by that.

My office lights up at office hours only, if I do need to get its own light, will any light do or there are specific light for it? Does it need to be directly above it?

For air conditioner wise, it's off after office hour and Sunday. The environment will feel a bit hot sometimes, roughly 32 to 33 degree Celsius.

Thx for your reply.

[WhiteRabbit]

Check out this thread http://www.orchidboard.com/community...ends-here.html

[zeroboya]

thank you for sharing the thread.

[sthh]

First, do check your pot, does it have drainage holes?
Second, most of the phals that comes to South East asia are from Taiwan, and are densely packed in sphagnum moss.
These can retain a lot of water in SE Asia climate, and if you water too much, the phals root will rot. Root rots are the easiest way to kill phals.

Don't water your phals everyday, esp if you are not planning to repot your phals.
Once a week, or maybe twice every 3 weeks is ok.
Only water your phal when you touch the moss, and it feels dry.
Whatever water that drains onto your saucer, dump it.

Leaves turning yellow could mean that the roots are starting to rot. When the roots starts rotting, it can easily catch a disease, and soon you will find that more leaves and even the stem will start rotting.

What you can do is to take out the phals from the pot, loosen some moss, and replace some moss with inert materials like styrofoam.

If your phals leaves are turning dark green, it could mean that it is not getting enough light. It will survive, but may not bloom, until it gets enough light. If you give it more light, the leaves will turn lighter green in colour.

Don't worry about flower petals withering. They wither when they are done flowering. For the health of a plant, we usually look at the roots, leaves and stems. Sometimes, we look at the flowers to check for virus.

[zeroboya]

hi sthh,

yes, my pot does have a drainage hole. I will try to take out my phals and loosen the moss. and will also install a light above my phals. thx for the advice.