Urgent help needed: Dying Lady Slipper

[crnaylor03]

Happy New Year, all! I just got a very happy and healthy lady slipper orchid. When I brought it into work today, though, something happened and it started wilting and turning brown. It was in extreme cold (around 15* Farenheit) for about 2 minutes walking from my house to my car, then had some heat from my car blowing near it for about 20 minutes in my ride to work.

Is there anything at all I can do to save my beautiful flower?

If not, is there anything I should do to reduce any damage for future blooms?

Thank you so much!

[DeaC]

[rbarata]

Probably what caused this was the 20 min in your car.
I would put it in a place with the correct environment.
Do you know what it needs?

This is to save the plant....the flower I think it's gone! Sorry.

[Lucille]

While you are researching, it might be good to make sure of your work environment during non work hours as far as temps and so on.

[Roberta]

The blast of cold probably shortened the life of the flower, but flowers have a finite lifetime, at any rate. I am sure that plant is fine. If the plant is well-cared for, it can produce many more flowers in the future. This appears to be a maudiae-type Paphiopedilum. They grow well under Phalaenopsis conditions of temperature - they like the same temperatures that we do. Fortunately, the do not need a lot of light - a window with good indirect light is fine. Keep it moist but not soggy, and certainly not sitting in water. They do like to stay more moist that Phalaenpsis - small bark is an ideal medium for them. Since they pretty much are growing all the time, they don't have a particular season for potting. Let it acclimate to your house for a week or so, then you can go ahead and repot it. (Almost all newly-acquired blooming orchids are in need of repotting... when the plant has been in its pot for a couple of years is when it is likely to bloom... that's the time to sell it, nobody pays the grower for repotting)