HELP MY CYMBIDIUM'S LEAVES ARE FALLING OFF...

[camille1585]

Btw, how long have you had that plant? You say that you only watered once, but if you got the plant a week ago it's one thing, if it's older than that, you may need to water more often. These Onc hybrids like to be watered as soon as they get nearly completely dry. To test that you can leave a wooden skewer in the pot. Pull it out once in a while, and if it feels cool and damp when you put it to your cheek, wait another day or two to water.

As for the product to buy (assuming that we identified the problem) I can't help you much since I'm in the EU!

[siannevo]

Oh you are right, you are in France...I didnt even pay attention to your little signs on your profile.

Well thank you for the helpful hints...I am going later today to the gardner, if they give me an answer I will tell you.

And you were dead on with the assumption of the Eurostar...it looks EXACTLY like my plant. I learned that the beallara is an intergeneric hybrid between brassia x cochlioda x miltonia x odontoglossum.

I dont know how old it is, our local indie grocery store sells orchids from another organic gardner in the state of California...Since it had not bloomed when i received it, I assumed it was still young...

I will definitely put the stick in the soil...do you think the leaves could be falling off from lack of moisture? They are not crispy to the touch, they feel like normal leaves. I think your guys first assumption was right that I have some sort of bacterial or fungal infection.

By the way, should i keep it separated from my other orchids?

[Des]

Yes prevention is always better than cure !

[siannevo]

So I took it to the gardner the next day...and two of the four bulbs were spotty...and it ended up being rot...we had to cut the whole thing down as their was a white fungus on most of the inner shafts of the leaves. It turns out that the way the orchid was held together by plastic in the stores (where it was bought) kept the moisture against the shafts and did cellular damage...by the time i got it, it was already on its downward spiral. I didnt see the damage until it was too late...i have two smaller bulbs still struggling to live...do you guys have any suggestions? I was told to replant it and soak the roots throughly, before putting it back in its pot...I gave it fresh bark...but im worried that the damage might have been too severe...

The real sad thing is that when i complained to the store, they offered to give me a new orchid but only if i traded in my other sick orchid...which i declined...and finally the guy consented into giving me a new one but allowing me to keep the old one...but he told me that he throws out orchids on a weekly basis because people dont buy them or they arent properly taken care of (because they are all left in their plastic sleeves which is what caused my problem)...i am going to try to start a petition in the united states to stop this from happening, or to at least allow those orchids to be saved somehow rather then being trashed...