HELP, HELP MY CATT.AND NEED I'D

[Optimist]

Originally Posted by MisterOrchidGuy

Oh.its raining here in malaysia.um the potting media is charcoal, cocopeat and phag moss.so how to not over water it and is it ok for me to remove the plant to check the rots and cocopeat wont dry if its raining and I have bad results with cattleya.the cattkeya is very expensive here and the only one in kelantan that I had ever seen so i jeed to save it cause I am scared if my father scolds ame

Yes you are right that they do not like a lot of water. One thing you might do is remove all the coco peat, and just have the big chunks. They can easily live if mounted in only rocks too. I can understand your frustrations. How many other types of orchids do you have experience with?

I have discovered that orchid deaths happen more with too much fussing. Water less than more. If the rain is a potential problem, take the plant out of the pot, put it in a slotted basket with some rocks or large pieces of wood.drainage should be 100% if the plant is getting watered every day.

[MisterOrchidGuy]

Sorry but I am malaysian so some words I cant understand example fussy.ok so can you make it to a better undertanding way and I will remove the cocopeat and I neeed the routine of watering and I wave only rock and charcoal but my rocks are very rough so plz help (I NEED HELP AND I CANT UNDERSGAND ANYTHING CAUSE SOME SAY WATER IT TOO MUCH AND OTHERS NOT TOO MUCH AND IT IS MY MOST FAVOURITE ORCHID AND THE MOST EXPENSIVE AND THE ONLY IN KELANTAN AND I NEED TO SAVE It AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!! I CAN DIE LIKE THIS WITH NO HELP)

[MisterOrchidGuy]

No help what I meant was no want can help me with repotting face to face and thamks guy all of you helped me

[silken]

Originally Posted by MisterOrchidGuy

Oh.its raining here in malaysia.um the potting media is charcoal, cocopeat and phag moss.so how to not over water it and is it ok for me to remove the plant to check the rots and cocopeat wont dry if its raining and I have bad results with cattleya.the cattkeya is very expensive here and the only one in kelantan that I had ever seen so i jeed to save it cause I am scared if my father scolds ame

If it is kept outside in your country I would not use coco chunks or sphagnum moss. Just the charcoal and maybe some lava rocks or leca (clay) balls. The roots like being watered but then need to dry out quickly. As mentioned, a net pot or wooden basket would be good. Or if you have a tree to mount it, that is how these grow in nature. I'm not sure if all your seasons would suit that, but I think so. Once correctly potted, you shouldn't keep disturbing it to check. Use a bamboo kebab skewer inserted and left in the pot. Pull it out and see if its dry and time to water. That is better than disturbing the plant. They like to get established and rooted in. Some seaweed solution with your water would help get roots going also.

---------- Post added at 10:52 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:39 AM ----------

Try and research how these Cattleyas grow in nature. They attach their roots to trees in the tree canopy. They get daily tropical rains and then gentle humid breezes that dry them off. So the best way to grow the orchid is to imitate this as close as you can. In North America we cant grow them on trees or leave them out over winter in much of this part of the world. But in your country, the way we grow them here, doesn't suit your climate as well. So the advise you read on here isn't always correct for you. An open pot with rocks or charcoal or on a tree would be best for you I think.

[MisterOrchidGuy]

But its a very dry season here and we have a shortage of water and our kelantan river had reached the danger level so I cant mountnit cause its hot and canni make my own clay ball using clay and can it be planted in charcoal only and its new rot shoots are getting rot and even when I dont water them and thisia another question, wy my orchid other then dendrobium roots will rot even when not wateered so whats happeneing and i have not watered my orchid for a month now and its roots are still mushy wet and rotting except dendrobium and mokara and vanda and the plant is wilting wiyhout water but ifni water it will rot so (WHATTTTT SHOULD I DO.TAK FAHAM LA NAK BUAT APA BUAT NI SALAH BUAT NI BETUL HEEH MEMANG G LA

[camille1585]

The clay balls she is talking about have been baked, so they are no longer soft clay. They are like clay pots, very hard. If you don't have access to that, it's fine.

What you can do is plant it in a well draining medium as suggested before. That way when it rains a lot, there's no danger of it rotting. When it's the dry season, you have to water it yourself, but because of the airy mix, you will need to water it often.

If you are keeping the plants indoors, your plants are likely rotting because of lack of air movement, and possibly getting the leaves wet. If the roots are rotting even when you water very little, it's a hint that your potting medium is holding way too much water, and you need to repot them into a mix which drains better.

Don't stress so much about your orchids, they're supposed to be fun! I know some are expensive, but the best you can do is use an appropriate medium and listen to the plants-- water when they need it (the skewer idea given before is good).

[MisterOrchidGuy]

No what inmeant was I was drying my plants under full sun outside and the medium is bone dry but roots are wet and I tried burning one of them cause and the roots a still soggh not wet.i stress on my orchids cause not ofbthe mony but the orchid.it is my fav orchid so I dont wanan lose it

[No-Pro-mwa]

MrOrchidGuy, there are plenty of people trying to help you. It is very hard because you keep changing your story. First you say it's raining and then you say it's the dry season. If you can't understand what people are saying is there someone your father or someone whom can understand English better?

[MisterOrchidGuy]

I dint change story.when I say it was raining yes it was raining heavily and the next day it is dry so the wheater is unpredicttable and it is not that I dont understand english but there are some words that I dont undeRstand then I ask my father what that word is and I am a newbie so I dont really know how to mount

[AnonYMouse]

I just looked up Kelantan, Malaysia. Your climate is tropical with intermittent rain year round with a monsoon season between November through January. Today, the forecast for Kota Bharu is cloudy with thunderstorms, 32°C and humidity of 88%. Kelantan is latitudinally similar to parts of Colombia and Venezuela where many Cattleya species originate.

In that or similar climate, I would grow them outside in wooden or plastic baskets with large pieces of lava rock. Water only if there is no rain and humidity drops below 60% for more than two consecutive days. Place the plant in bright shade then gradually move it to a place that gets more direct sunlight (start with 2 hours) to find the light threshold for the plant. Once you know the light requirements, you can even mount it on a piece of wood or even on a living tree.

If you cannot get baskets, I suggest clay pots with charcoal and lava rocks. You can use broken pot pieces in place of LECA (clay balls).

Try not to worry so much, you can damage the plants by handling the plants too much. Cattleya's (and other pseudobulb plants) grow new roots on new growths and use old growth pseudobulbs as energy reserves.