Habanaria rhodocheila - getting yellow leaves

[Orchid Davantage]

First post ever, excited! I have been growing orchids for a few years, what started with one turned into thirty five. the family keeps on growing. I mostly haves cats, phrags, a few cymbidiums. That was about it till I got an Habanaria rhodocheila last month. It was in bloom, beautiful bright orange. The blooms are now just about done. The leaves at the base are yellowing, the ones at the top seem ok so far. Is it a matter of light, too much or too little watering or is it just part of the growth cycle? Should I cut the leaves off? Now that the flowers are almost finished should I cut them off?

[katrina]

Not to worry...what you are seeing is normal for Habenaria. This particular orchid is deciduous...it will drop all of it's leaves and it will "sleep" through the Winter. When the leaves are about gone...stop watering it until you see new growth next Spring. It's hard to get used to seeing what looks like an empty pot about half the year...but that's what this one does.

Through the Winter you can drizzle just a little bit of water around the edges of the pot once in awhile so the tuber doesn't shrivel up. Think evening dew when you do this...but don't soak the pot...just a little damp. You want to be very careful because too much water when it's dormant can result in the tuber rotting...like I said, just a bit of dampness to keep it from shriveling up.


Good choice you made...it's a beautiful orchid.

Almost forgot...just let the leaves go...they will fall of when they are ready to fall off. Same w/the spike. It'll be ugly during this phase but let it do it's thing in it's own time.

[Orchid Davantage]

Thanks Katrina, I did not know this plant would go totally dormant. I always get a little panicky when that happens. I will mostly ignore her till the spring, and then I will be a child again, all smile.

---------- Post added at 05:40 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:38 PM ----------

One other question, does it still need a lot of light while dormant?

[katrina]

I keep my totally dormant ones on the shelves (under the lights) w/the other orchids...mainly because I'd forget to drizzle them from time to time if I didn't but I don't see why you would need to....there isn't anything there to absorb any of the light anyway. Just don't put it somewhere where you forget it and/or it gets too cold.

BTW - I was super nervous the first year w/my first dormant one. I didn't know if I'd ever see green again. Hell, I still have doubts about the green showing up again but I am a little more confident than I was that first year. Still...when I look at an empty pot...I can't help but do a little finger crossing.