Brs. longissima X ochroleuca advice please!

[denvervet]

I got this orchid at one of the Denver Orchid Society's meetings about 2 years ago. At first it seemed to do well and had blooms quite often. For about the past year it seems to be at a standstill. There is a lot of new growth which takes forever but it has stopped blooming. It does have quite a few air roots, it potted in large bark and because I live in a super dry climate its watered about 2 X a week and I feed with Miracle Grow Plant Food 2 X a month. Does anyone have any tips on growing this orchid that I could use? If I have posted in the wrong forum please let me know, I seem to do that a lot! Oh, its in bright light right now, the leaves are dark green.

[My Green Pets]

It looks severely dry, the leaves look like crumpled paper.

Increase humidity would by my first suggestion.

[denvervet]

Its just the way they grow, they have always been like that, I will put a humidity try underneath it though, thanks!

[escualida]

It's definitely dehydrated, they shouldn't be growing like that, the leaves should be smooth, pleating is a sign that it's not getting enough water as the leaves are growing.

If you're in a really dry environment then coarse bark may not be the best medium for this kind of orchid. I would try the seedling/oncidium mix from repotme or maybe even moss...

[denvervet]

Ok, well I have learned something. I bought it from a judge and that's how the new growth was growing then. So, should this not dry out in-between watering? I have a bag of moss I could do a mix with bark?

[MrHappyRotter]

Just to clarify the point a bit.

It could be a humidity issue, but without knowing your growing conditions and humidity readings, it's hard to say.

But more likely, it's a watering issue. However, that part gets a little tricky. It's definitely dehydrated, but the question becomes why? It might not be getting enough water simply because you aren't watering it enough. It might also be getting dehydrated because it doesn't have sufficient healthy roots. And often times, the reason a plant doesn't have enough healthy roots is actually due to the roots rotting from overwatering. But that may not be the only reason.

Twice a week watering sounds reasonable. That's basically my watering routine for most of my non-phrag orchids. If your humidity is in the 50% - 60% range and you can confirm that the plant's roots are healthy, then it's probably a good idea to increase your watering rate.

[escualida]

They did say they live in a "super dry climate", it's also in a terracotta pot which would make the media dry out even faster.

For now maybe you could try putting a bamboo skewer in the media and checking it every day, this should give you a sense of how quickly it is drying and adjust your watering schedule accordingly.

[denvervet]

Yes, I am in a very dry climate, I took the orchid out of its pot today to repot it in a more moist mixture, here are the roots. Your thoughts? Do Brs. like to be in a smaller pot? I get so much conflicting info on the internet. I have a nice plastic humidity tray I will put under it, I will put back it on top of my 120 gallon turtle tank which is filled with water, which is where it was when it bloomed. It will get bright light there and no sun.

[escualida]

Were the roots firm or hollow? I can't tell from the picture. I think it's probably best to put it in a pot that just fit the roots, not much bigger.

Good luck hopefully it will bloom soon

[denvervet]

After I took this pic I started removing the dead roots. To my surprise they were all dead accept the ones on the top part of the orchid which just get air. So, I am still confused about the watering. There were only a few sick roots which I saved on the bottom out of all of those roots. The bark was broken down and in need of replacement. I guess I will do a new bark and mix it with charcoal, some of those clay balls and sphagnum moss.