Help! What to do?

[rowdymagic]

This was a healthy orchid but seems to be dying. How do I save it?
I repotted about 8 months ago due to gnats from a new orchid nearby. The gnats seem to be gone. I repotted in orchid mix with orchid bark at the base. What should I do now?

[estación seca]

It's so close to dead I would throw it away unless it's extremely valuable. It's either been underwatered for a very long time or the roots are dead. It also might have been getting far too much light.

How have you been growing it? So we can prevent this from happening again.

[rowdymagic]

I have 8 orchids; all have been watered every 2-3 weeks and they only get indirect light. Recently I have tried adding a grow-light and a bit of organic miracle-gro. It is only this orchid that is failing, and I very much want to save it if possible. Any suggestions?

[estación seca]

What do you mean by "orchid mix over orchid bark?

The medium looks like potting soil. That will not have enough air spaces and is likely to suffocate orchid roots.

Consider looking through the first few pages of a sticky thread here. From the left yellow menu choose Forums then Beginners. Near the top look for the thread The Phal. abuse stops here.

[Mountaineer370]

I'll just add that, at least from the vantage point of your picture, it looks like the pot may be quite a bit larger than would be optimal. Also, we can't see what, if any, type of air ventilation that pot has. That, along with the potting mixture being too dense, may be contributing to it not getting enough air flow to the roots.

[Dimples]

If you really want to save it, know that it’s going to take many months before it starts to look good/normal again and it may still die regardless of how much TLC you give it.

Take it out of the pot, wash off the potting mix, and post a picture of the plant and roots so we can help you plan what to do next.

[rowdymagic]

Thank you, Dimples, will do that.

[DeaC]

Originally Posted by rowdymagic

This was a healthy orchid but seems to be dying. How do I save it?
I repotted about 8 months ago due to gnats from a new orchid nearby. The gnats seem to be gone. I repotted in orchid mix with orchid bark at the base. What should I do now?

Type of orchid please?

[rowdymagic]

Here it is. Phaleonopsis. Suggestions?
It is a 12-year old orchid that has always been in this pot and has bloomed beautifully many times. It has always been in orchid potting mix, never potting soil. The last time I repotted it (maybe a year ago) I added about 2” of orchid bark at the bottom of the container because a newer orchid nearby had developed gnats. I used the sticky traps and have not seen any gnats for months.

[rowdymagic]

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