brassavola nudosa, dropping leaves.

[plantluvver]

i cannot find my camera, so a verbal description will need to be enough.
i did not water my orchids for 2 days, because i did not want to water at night. today a leaf fell off. I thought I might have been clumsy, but a second one fell off. Before they fall, they start turning a reddish color starting at the base of the leaf.

what can cause this? i got the plants from Andy's about a wek ago. I was soaking in the sink daily at first, but I was afraid of the orchids not drying out enough.

These don't look broken off, looks like the plant dropped them rather then they broke.

[silken]

A picture would really help. But soaking every day sounds like too much for a Brassovola nodosa. What are the roots like. What temperatures was it shipped in and was there a heat pack?

[plantluvver]

I forgot to say that the orchids are mounted, and I have it in a south window, not right up next to the window, but hung about a foot away. (on the side of a kitchen cabinet. (our weather is genearally overcast, so I don't think it is in too much light.)

[silken]

Ok, with mounted, watering every day may not be too much. So long as they do dry in between. Did it get chilled during shipping? Can't offer much else. Maybe someone else can.

[plantluvver]

I have been keeping my house at 70 F. No, it was not sent with a heatpack. Temperatures in my area have been about 40 F, at the coldest. I am watering with tap water.

[silken]

40F is pretty cool if it had to endure that temperature for any length of time. It could be the problem. Make sure it dries out before watering and just keep it in moderate temps and don't over fertilize till it shows some new growth. If the roots and rhizome are OK, it should survive.

[plantluvver]

I forgot thast you asked about roots. Most of the roots are a silverygreen in color. I thinkthey are okay.

[Leafmite]

The reddish color at the base might indicate a fungus/bacterial problem. If you don't remove the papery stuff around the pseudobulbs, water can sometimes get trapped in there. Normally, this is not a problem if the air is really warm and there is a nice breeze (as in summer) so that the water completely evaporates before the next watering but in the winter, this can be a problem if you live somewhere cold, especially if the days are overcast. Being in the window, the plants are even cooler and water evaporates even slower.
When I grew them in the colder window, I probably soaked the mounted brassavolas about once a week. Under the lights, this year, I soak the two mounted Brassavolas twice a week and water the 'potted' nodosa (in a pot with no medium) every other day. The lights make it very warm and dry.

[plantluvver]

What is considered a moderate temperature? Usually in winter, I program my thermostat, to turn off heat at night, and to raise it before I get up. But so far, I have been feeling chilled this winter, and have been keeping temps a constant 70F.

[RJSquirrel]

IMO its just too dry in your home for a mounted orchid. They need consistent constant humidity. We like to think watering replaces the humid factor but in reality, It only passifys us into thinking we are doing something. Misting is not humidity. Its light watering. You cant mist anything as FINE as humidity. You have to generate some humidity around the plant. Humidity is water vapor. You can use a humidifier or vaporizer in some cases where a small area needs some control. Its messy.
2nd option: others have had good success with this.
Get a tray with some pebbles in it and cover the pebbles with water. Place the mount in the tray on top of the pebbles. Place the tray in a nice warm sunny window. If you dont give it enough light to use the moisture and water your just drowning the plant anyway. good luck



Each molecule of water that evaporates into a particular parcel of air as vapor will replace a molecule of either nitrogen or oxygen, which account for roughly 99 percent of the air’s gasses.
Water vapor molecules, which are one oxygen atom with a weight of 16 and two hydrogen atoms each with a weight of 1, add up to a molecular weight of 18, which is much lighter than the nitrogen and oxygen they displace when they evaporate into air. Humidity actually replaces the molecular structure of the air around the plant. Otherwise its still wet air.

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