i must save this phalaenopsis

[dbarron]

Ah, I see, (and I was wondering that), you're thinking the abuse began long before it got into the current owner's hands. That makes a lot more sense...I couldn't see how that could happen in a month. I gave the upstream the benefit of the doubt :0
Yes, I'm glad they asked for help before it was too late.

[inbetween]

Actually, this plant was in my office and I asked a colleague to water it when I went on an almost 3 week trip, a little over 2 weeks after this came to me as a present. We had instructions from the place the orchid came from, which sounded like very little water, and not so frequently. I do not know how much he followed the instructions but I didn’t want to give him a hard time or start my thread with “someone ruined my plant”... maybe the office being kind of on the cool side, especially at nights and over weekends had something to do it.

---------- Post added at 09:48 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:36 PM ----------

And I should add: the plant was potted in a plastic container w holes at the bottom, and in a solid, heavy outside pot with no holes. Before I left, I put some large pebbles at the bottom so the pot wouldn’t be sitting totally in water if there was water at the bottom, and the amount of water to give was about a third or fourth of those plastic small office water cups, once a week, or something like that... if the instructions were to take it completely out of that outside container, and to water it, hold the plant under running water once a week and let it drain, I bet things would have been better. Right? But who am I, next to the guy who sells these plants for a living.

[aliceinwl]

The care advice on orchid tags ranges from good to horrible. For the most part it’s designed to let you enjoy a single blooming, not keep a plant alive long term. Profit wise it’s better if you turn around and buy a new plant so take the advice on the tag with a grain of salt.