Quick detection of overwatered - now what?

[sbowling429]

I went out of town for a week and left my beautiful orchids and other plants in the care of my son. Came home to find that all my orchids are extremely over-watered. The pots had water in them. I have taken all of them out of the pots and now wondering what else I should do. None of them are soggy roots per say, just really wet right now. He watered them Monday and I pulled them out of the pots today. So they were in lots of water for 3 days.

Should I open up the root area to dry out quicker? Don't want them to die. Help!!!

[jkofferdahl]

Allow them to dry slowly and naturally and keep a watch for root rot. They should be fine.

[LexyBoy]

They'll be fine if you return them to normal care. I have a Phal which I put to soak outdoors in a bucket of water (potted in packed sphagnum) - forgot to take it out until I came back from 10 days holiday. No problem!

Edit: depends what they are of course, but certainly Phals and most of the common 'Cambria' types would recover from this. I don't have experience with Cattleyas though.

[AnonYMouse]

For future reference:
There are many factors that will need consideration but many potted orchid plants will survive without watering for a week or more.

[PaphMadMan]

Agreement on all advice above. They should be fine. As long as they have been unspotted you might as well examine root health, trim as necessary, and in repot in fresh media if any seem to need it.