To the trash they go, some new roots they do grow. Sick psychopsis update!
Hey everyone!
Remember back when I was a big giant grumpus about the rescue orchids I received from a certain ebay seller?
The first division came with 3 bulbs and zero viable roots. This one I named Gwaihir.
The replacement that the seller sent to me came with several viable roots and two little 1-inch tall flower spikes on it. I don't know if those will ever grow, but *shrug* - the plant has a good chance of making it and recovering reasonably soon. This one is named Kaepora Gaebora, or KG for short.
Well, I followed a combination of the advice of Ray, Romeomffn, and others around the net on how to treat these nearly rootless bulbs. I did the following things:
1- I removed all the dry dead roots and sprayed the plants in hydrogen peroxide to sterilize them.
2- I soaked both plants in a solution of superthrive –*thanks, Romeomffn, for sending me little samples of plant nutrients!! Gwaihir, the rootless, got an overnight soak of the entire plant. KG got a soak of his roots and potting media in the superthrive. I sprinkled some of the rooting hormone sample I received on the base of KG at the roots, but I am not sure if it would do much.
3- I potted up KG in regular media and stabilized the plant with bamboo sticks and twisty ties. I placed Gwaihir down in pure wet sphagnum moss, where he's been for 3 weeks, bulbs buried, frequently misted, and soaking.
And now I have results!
They are small, but both plants have begun to develop very tiny little root tips! How exciting!! I have shared pictures below.
However, I'm having some problems as well. I have a miltoniopsis that I divided, and one division died of a rotting infection. I thought the seemingly healthy division would survive, but it is making a very slow and obnoxious march to its death.
Additionally, part of Gwaihir started to yellow and rot, too. So I have to toss that bulb and leave the other two bulbs to try to recover the ridiculous division the seller did to them. It doesn't look promising and you can see the picture below.
Finally, one of the "healthy" rootless psychopsis bulbs had a hole in it when I received it. I noticed it had begun to get a bit mushy around the edges, so I mixed up some cinnamon with some water on my hand using and old makeup brush, and I brushed it into the hole. Hopefully that will put a stop to the rotting!
Did you know that cinnamon on the skin can cause chemical burns?
...I just learned that myself! Whoops!
So yes, two orchids are on their way to the trash, and two other orchids are on their way to recovery. It's thrilling to get new roots to grow!
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