Orchid Help

[AEKass]

Hi Everyone:

I'm hoping to get some input about the health of my orchid. I've had it for two years and it has never produced a new spike. Recently a new leaf sprouted, but also nearly all of its leaves have gone limp! I've checked its roots and there is no sign of root rot. All of the roots seem to be at the top, above the growing medium, and it is producing a lot of new roots (hopefully this can be seen in the photos). I think I've been under-watering it and gave it a good amount of water yesterday, but I'm unsure how often I should be watering and low long it will take to get it back to being healthy. I have it on top of a humidity tray and it gets southeast facing light. It is in a plastic pot with drainage holes, and it is in Miracle-Gro's Orchid Mix Soil. I have another orchid on the same tray next to it that seems to be thriving (it produced a new spike and has buds that, hopefully, are about to bloom).

Thanks for any input! I really don't want to kill the orchid!!

[Optimist]

I think you have been underwatering too. Just start a regular watering pattern, like every 5 days. Also spray mist those roots every 2 days or so. Don't overdo watering even if you feel like you are making up for lost time. If you should loose your older leaves it is okay because phals often drop bottom leaves yearly.

[No-Pro-mwa]

I agree with the advice, so welcome to the board.

[Ray]

That mix is coarse enough that a "double drench" might be a good idea:

Get the water temperature somewhere in the 75-85F arena, put the plant in the sink and run water through the pot until it's saturated. Wait 30 minutes, then repeat.

The first watering, coupled with the wait, will "open up" the bark structure a bit, allowing it to absorb more water going forward.

[Helene]

What Ray said👍🏻

And on sunny days, when the bark is "hot" (atleast pretty warm from the sun) I like to give it a watering just to make humidity higher in the heat. It cools the roots a bit, and the warm bark makes it evaporate and give a little humidity. (Must add, I have about 50-100 holes in the pot).

With the media you seem to have, you can water more. If you dont like watering that much you can add some moss to the mix. Or more water.

New leaf seems better looking, so if you already change the watering, have that in mind.

On one of the pictures I can see you experience the same as I have done: the smaller dust from the bark starting to collect in the bottom part of the pot. That is why I dont like the bark-mix sold here. I have started to separate it into more even size bark, and throw the dust away.

After a while it makes watering harder- the roots in the bottom staying wet, or it takes forever to dry in the bottom.
But: I dont know if its like that in the whole bottom, or only on the side.
I melted holes. And it helped.

Lol, anyway- it does look nice- new leaf looks good, new roots growing, and a nice silvery color on the other roots.

😊

[AEKass]

Thank you all so much for the advice! I've been trying very hard to keep my orchids alive and healthy! I killed one orchid a few years ago by overwatering (it got root rot), so I'm trying hard not to repeat that mistake. Reading through this website has been very helpful.

Ray--I just watered it yesterday, should I do your double drench suggestion still?

Helene--yes, the bark at the bottom is dusty and stays moist way longer. The roots of the orchid are very shallow and don't reach that point (I took the orchid out a few weeks ago to make sure there was no root rot). I re-potted within the past year, so I'm hesitant to re-pot again.