Help! Brassia leaves turning yellow

[Nausicaa_*]

Hello everyone,

I have a problem with my Brassia, I don't understand what's going on.
Usually, she receives no direct light but in this period is quite dark during the day in the Netherlands.

Temperature at home

Tday: 18-20 °C

Tnight: 16-18 ° C

Repotted on the 16th of June because roots were too wet.
I used specific fertilizer.
She was a happy and healthy plant. My sympodial orchid forms a new pseudobulb.
But now..something is happening.

Could be something related to the amount of light?
I have read the opposite, leaves turning yellow when they received too much light.
Or a disease?

I don't have any clue.

I hope someone can help me.

Thank you in advance!

[Orchidtinkerer]

Hi Nausica,
I don't like Brassia types that much - all of mine are in a depressing state like yours.
The problem I find is that the shops that sell Brassia (not usually the orchid specialists) always destroy the roots first.
Other orchids can recover from no roots but 50% of the time I end up throwing away these badly looked after brassia types, it is frustrating because it can take months for the plant to die and most of the time what the shop did during the year will only show properly 6 months later when the plant has to get itself through winter, which it then struggles with.

So option 1 is keep it warmer. I know they can tolerate the cold but yours is in no condition to do so all winter long. Saying that I am letting one of mine take it this year, leaves are dropping - no roots - I have used Kelpmax but the plant is struggling and not even Kelpmax can change that. If it survives the winter it might make it but it is so weak I have my doubts.

If you lift your plant out of the susbtrate again I will be 99% certain the roots will have ended up as mush - you say they had been in bad shape when you got it in June - chances are they will have deteriorated further.
Changing the media was a good move but often I find if you don't sterlize the roots then the problem just secretely carries on spreading underneath the surface.
Mushy roots should be removed. I know people say avoid repotting - that is just scaremongering from inexperienced people, a repot should be beneficial, if you leave a repot too long, roots become rootbound and then causes a lot of damage but a repot should never be avoided if it is needed.

When I first started with orchids I was still learning. If I had decided "not" to repot substrates I could see were not working my orchids would have died. I was repotting some every 2 months and getting better results with every repot as I was improving my methods!

Most my orchids get waterered automatically so if a substrate is not working it needs to get repotted. It's as simple as that...

Now on to the problem. It is actually not as bad as you might expect but I have not seen the state of the roots so it is a bit of guessing from me - I also still don't know if a completely rootless brassia can recover through winter - something I still have to accomplish myself!

The yellow leaves are nothing to worry about, they drop older leaves in winter - but the older bulb going yellow is a bad sign.
That should not be happening and is a sign it ispossibly rotting.
You can either cut off the yellow bulb or let it dry out by itself but it needs to be kept dry or it could spread.

The new growth is the most important, the older bulbs are energy reserves that get used up when the plant needs the energy.

I don't think I have eneded up helping that much, I know others will give you some one sentence advice and call it a day which you might prefer but I like to give a more detailed answer even if it confuses you more.

Don't expect anything to happen in winter unless you give it more light and heat.

If it helps - yours is looking in far better shape than the one I am trying to save and chances are it is just using up energy from the old bulb to support the new growth which looks quite healthy!

[Dollythehun]

I'll try to make this longer than a sentence. My heat in the plant room seldom dips below 68f (20c.) You might be running it a touch cold. My plant has good roots, and blooms every year. However, it grows a pbulb, flowers, and loses the leaves, much as yours is doing. The only difference as OT states, is that your pbulbs are going yellow. These need lots of water and good light, I grow mine with the catts. If the roots are good, you may, like me, have to "live with it." Or without it, if it makes you unhappy.

[rbarata]

I think they are warm growing plants.

[rbarata]

I think they are warm growing plants.

[Dollythehun]

Depending on the sun, the sun room runs between 68-80f.