New Encyclia Tampensis Dying Pseudobulbs

[billcd]

Hello! First post here. I’m pretty new to orchids but having some success so I’ve gotten a few Encyclia Tampensis. I live in south Florida, they are almost weeds here. I’ve been having decent results so far with growth.

I got one off eBay a few weeks ago, and at a premium. It was supposed to be the one in the photo but it was not and I should have sent back. At the time, something didn’t look right about it, but today I can see that it is going downhill. The older pseudo bulbs are drying and a few of the leaves have dropped. I’ve got it on the same every-other-day water cycle as the others. It looks newly mounted from what I can tell.

If you have any thoughts about it I’m all ears. Thanks much!

Link to high res photos here: Sick Encyclia Tampensis by Bill Dailey Jr.

[estación seca]

Welcome.

It might have become too hot in transit. It might not have been watered enough, or kept in too much sun, before you got it.

It might have been grown in much more shady conditions than you're giving it.

[billcd]

Originally Posted by estación seca

Welcome.

It might have become too hot in transit. It might not have been watered enough, or kept in too much sun, before you got it.

It might have been grown in much more shady conditions than you're giving it.

So more water and more shade for now. That makes sense to me.

[estación seca]

They grow on tree trunks in the shade of the canopy. Look up habitat photos. There are some posted here on OB.

[Ray]

A LOT more water! Until it starts growing new roots, I’d immerse the entire plant and mount for about an hour a day. (Adding Kelpak to the soak can help, too.)

[Keysguy]

Ray's advice can help you bring back a lot of plants from the brink. I know it works for me about 75% of the times I've done it which is almost 100% better than every other trick I've ever tried.

[billcd]

I’ve made sure was out of direct light and soaked for 30 minutes and will do until I see change, then back to heavy misting every morning. Do you all think I should remove the dead pseudobulbs and remount?

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[Roberta]

Originally Posted by billcd

I’ve made sure was out of direct light and soaked for 30 minutes and will do until I see change, then back to heavy misting every morning. Do you all think I should remove the dead pseudobulbs and remount?

I wouldn't remove anything. Too hard to tell what is really dead and what isn't, the plant is stressed enough already. (A leafless psudobulb still provides resources). And if the p-bulbs are dry they aren't hurting anything, the rhizome is still needed to connect the good parts of the plant. As long as the mount is not rotten (and it looks fine), leave it alone. If you want to add a bit of sphagnum over the roots to help hold moisture, that might help. (You don't want sphag under the roots anyway... that discourages the plant from establishing on a mount) At this point, I think just give it some tender loving care and give it a chance to recover.

[billcd]

Originally Posted by Roberta

I wouldn't remove anything. Too hard to tell what is really dead and what isn't, the plant is stressed enough already. (A leafless psudobulb still provides resources) As long as the mount is not rotten (and it looks fine), leave it alone. If you want to add a bit of sphagnum over the roots to help hold moisture, that might help. (You don't want sphag under the roots anyway... that discourages the plant from establishing on a mount) At this point, I think just give it some tender loving care and give it a chance to recover.

Thank you. I was feeling similar. I’ll add some spag to the outside, that sounds like a good idea. Should I cover the old root-ball with it? It looks like it was in a pot or something previously?

[Ben_in_North_FLA]

that is a rough looking tampensis, and yes they do grow like weeds in South Florida. They're also magnets for scale and can be acclimated to FULL sun as they naturally live attached on bald cypress trees and some other hardwood trees in areas from Tampa and south florida. I would not detach plant from mount IF any roots are actually attached but I would carefully remove all dead material (roots included) by soaking plant for few minutes and then evaluating what is live and what is not. If it is not attached to mount then now is as good time as any to set it on a fresh mount of plaque. Lock it in place and give it moderate light until it recovers and new roots lock in place. If you see any sign of scale also a good time SOAK plant in systemic insecticide for scale and repeat weekly for 2 cycles. Water daily and make sure plant is very dry in between and feed lightly weekly. best of luck. It should be growing like a weed, hopefully you'll get it there soon. see some of my tampensis plants when i lived in SoFla mounted on trees in yard. last pic just added was another tampensis mounted on a boulder,