Near Death Psychopsis Recovering Nicely

[Junebug]

Received this Psychopsis Mendenhall 'Hildos' from Ebay last summer. When it arrived it's leaves were all contorted,the bulbs were shriveling and it was promptly repotted...but hey, it had a spike. So the spike produced one sad bloom, and then it dried up and died. The leaves died one by one. In February the bulbs were grotesquely shriveled and the last remaining leaf was dry and brittle, but still green. I hate to give up on any Chid., but this one was destined for the trash. I took some close-up photos before resorting to this last drastic measure and was surprised to discover some signs of life peeking out around the pseudos. Now she has 4 developing pseudobulbs and her old shriveled bulbs are much more hydrated and plumped. Here are some before and after photos.

[RosieC]

Just shows it worth never giving up

[Brooke]

A testament to the will of the plant to live. Orchids are very tough!

Brooke

[MuscleGirl'sHobby]

Woohoo! Nice job nurturing it back to life. Never say never!

[Junebug]

My near death Psychopsis is still making progress. In January she was so near death that I almost trashed her. I took a few close-up photos just before her final death sentence to see if by chance there might be some small sign of life that my eyes had missed. Much to my surprise there was. She won't be blooming any time soon, but her comeback has been amazing. The rehydration of her old pseudobulbs astonishes me. I've included some before and after shots taken at similar angles. Note: The rhizome clip was repositioned during her recovery.

[Sandy4453]

June, I wish I had known about what drastic measures you took. Had the same orchid that ended up looking like your 'before' pics and trashed it back in March. (I too, got mine off ebay.)

What measures did you take? (Just in case I give it another shot. )

Great, fantastic, superb job you've done here!

[Junebug]

Originally Posted by Sandy4453

June, I wish I had known about what drastic measures you took. Had the same orchid that ended up looking like your 'before' pics and trashed it back in March. (I too, got mine off ebay.)

What measures did you take? (Just in case I give it another shot. )

Great, fantastic, superb job you've done here!

Thank you. I remember you had bought one too. Mine looked deformed when it was delivered. It had a spike that grew about 6 inches. It produced one ugly bloom before the rapid decline of the plant. Her second bloom busted and the spike got crispy so around October I cut it off to give the plant more strength.

In Jan. I had the garbage can on my back porch and was ready to pitch her. Something told me to take and review some pics before trashing her. I'm so glad I did this and so glad she lived. I honestly haven't made any cultivation changes. She was so fragile I feared risking a repot. She's growing on my back porch and gets a little more sun than a Phal and a little less than a Dend. I don't have a light meter so that's the best way I can describe it. I just water her with tap or rain water when she's approaching dryness and rotate the use of common store bought orchid fertilizers and fish emulsion. I mixed up my own experimental concoction (ground dried banana leaves, crushed egg shell, blood meal, and molasses) a few weeks ago and gave her a very small dose of that. I'm avoiding bloom busters until her bulbs fully develop.

[orchidbingo]

Great rescue! Congratulations.

bingo

[jkofferdahl]

Great rescue! These are amazingly tough and resiliant orchids. I ordered a couple of Psychopsis from Oak Hill back in early February. When I did I gave my work address for shipping, but used the town I live in, which is different than where I work. Needless to say, Oak Hill simply followed my directions and the Post Office completely lost it. The poor plants spent close to three weeks, in February (granted, in Georgia) wandering around in a box. They did finally reach me, and I was amazed by how healthy they still looked. One lost a spike, and the other's spike dropped back. However, the one has since bloomed and has two nice, new growths while the other has two growths as well.

Psychopsis aren't plants to give up on!!!