They hate my new apartment! (long) - Orchid Board

Sylorna · #1 01-19-2009, 01:25 PM

Hi there,
I have orchid problems and I hope this is the right place to put my request for help.
Over the last year my mom (who is quite successful with her orchids) has given me:
A dracula orchid
A coconut orchid (Maxillaria tenuifolia)
and a cattleya orchid.

The dracula and coconut orchids were doing just fine in my completely non direct sunlight of my old place. The dracula was growing new growth and the coconut orchid bloomed last winter (I've had them both for just under a year). Just before I moved here in July my mom gave me the cattleya.
In August my mom took the Cattleya to cool it for spikes. It had been developing new growth at the time and was doing alright.

This is when things went weird:
I moved, and now I have some good quality sunlight coming into the new place.
Immediately I made the mistake of putting the dracula near the window, and it burned some of it's leaves. It has been moved to another area of the house where it gets medium indirect sunlight. In addition to this, I took off the worst-burned leaves (there weren't many that were burnt) and put it in a plastic strawberry container as the pot it was in dried out faster than I could keep up with. It was fine for a few weeks, but now the leaves are yellowing and dropping off rather quickly. It is watered with distilled water once a week, which leaves it almost fully dry. I submerge it and soak it for 15 minutes during each watering. It gets plenty of air circulation, and we keep the room at around 70 degrees.

My coconut orchid had one of its 4 bulbs blacken one week so I went in to take the diseased bulb out and found there was actually no substrate in the pot it was sold in, it was solid roots. So I removed the dead bulb and repotted in some substrate. I had one bulb which was turning yellow at that point, and lost it last week, however, the rest of the plant is getting darker and healthier over time so I hope the nutrients are helping.

Finally, my cattelya went to my moms house to be chilled in August/September. Her orchid is currently blooming, and mine grew a new spike but it got about 2 inches high and died. Also, it had some sucker bugs on it when she brought it back which my friend who is a greenhouse manager told me to treat with hydrogen peroxide. That seems to have worked. It is in a plastic pot with a mix of moss and bark to retain more moisture. It gets watered with a mild fertilizer every 2-3 weeks depending on how moist it is. It just seems to be getting sicker and sicker. I'm loosing about 2 leaves a week at this rate. Sunlight is about 3 hours direct, indirect for the rest of the day as it is in the window. No burning thus far.

Sorry for the long post, but I think I may loose two of these plants and I've had such good luck in the past.
Thanks for your help
Sylorna

Roly0217 · #2 01-19-2009, 01:40 PM

Hello Sylorma !!! First of all let me

you to the OB !!! Now let's talk orchids. My first concer would be your water regime. I personally wouldn't use distilled water. RO or rainwater works the best. Distilled water doesn't have any nutrients whatsoever in it. The other thing would be the frequency in which you water. I don't keep any draculas but I think that they like to be rather on the moist side. So I would mist it daily early in the morning and let ir dry overnight. Now as for the Maxillaria and the cattleya I do keep this ones. The maxillaria gets watered ever 3 or 4 days and the cattleya once a week. what type of medium do you have them potted in determines how often do you need to water. Mines are in bark. I think that bark might work in your favor without spaghnum moss because spaghnum retains humidity and it might be causing root rot on the cattleya. Check the roots !!! As far as fertilizing now in the winter should be done every other week. Spring through Fall go ahead and do it on a weekly basis. I hope I could be of any help, but I'm sure that more experieced grower will give you some more advise.

Don Perusse · #3 01-19-2009, 04:00 PM

I think Roly has given you some good advice. It's more or less what I would advise. After repotting and getting on a more regular watering, keep us informed how you are doing. Good luck.

Ross · #4 01-19-2009, 04:28 PM

I think I'll disagree with Roly (maybe for the first time ever

) Firstly welcome to the board, My father's family is from St Catherins/Hamilton area (the Frid Family). Now on to orchids. Distilled water is fine to use on orchids, but keep in mind it is considered "pure water" in that there are no nutrients (as Roly states). There is really not much difference between RO water and distilled except purity. And that is not much different, typically. Dracs seem to be pretty intolerant of any additives in the water. So I tend to use RO water exclusively (distilled would be fine here). Maxillaria is pretty much the same, maybe a bit more tolerant, but they really like "pure" water. Sounds like a case of way-over-potbound on the Maxie. I tend to keep both the Dracs and Maxies potbound, but not to the point where there are only roots! That's pretty extreme. Be careful of overpotting a plant that has been so pot-bound. That's pretty easy to do. What I would do is tease the roots out of the mix (if any medium is left) and then work them into a new potting mix. Maxies will like just about anything (sphagnum is fine, or a fine bark mix intended for Paphs is also OK). The Dracs probably are best left in pure sphagnum.

The Cat I'd do in pure coarse bark. I would dump the moss if it were mine. The roots are delicate, but need moisture. They also need to totally dry out overnight. That won't happen with moss unless you are in Tucson, Az. Once the plant is in the new bark mix, resort to simply spraying the top of the bark with RO or distilled water daily. Just enough to wet the bark - don't soak it. The idea is to get the green root tips to elongate and grow into the bark. The white portion of the roots should turn greenish. Once that (the root elongation) happens, then you can resume normal watering for your climate. It's rare for older roots to spring out with new root tips but it sometimes happens. You normally are looking for new roots near the base of the new growths.

Sylorna · #5 01-20-2009, 01:37 AM

Ok, so I'll start with the misting regime again. My concern when I used to do it was that the core of the moss (on the drac) wasn't getting water, and that's where the roots are. However, the plant was much happier when I misted once a day, its true.
I actually use distilled for the dracula because it was suggested to me on this board when I first got it. RO was also suggested, but considered equal and distilled is much easier to get ahold of here. Rain water is not available...no balcony.
We put the moss in the cat because it was drying out so quickly that I couldn't keep up with it. Now I think it may be too effective.
As for the coconut orchid, that's pretty much what I did. The new pot is about half again as big as the old one and has lots of bark/charcoal (why do all the mixes have charcoal in them?) in it. Again, seems to be liking the adjustment with the exception of the one bulb which was already going.

Thanks guys

Magnus A · #6 01-20-2009, 03:39 AM

Sylorna, did youmove resently?
The black rot on the Maxilaria could come from freeze damage during the move. (IF you moved during the winter.)

For the Dracula I would say that the move and the new enviroment combined with the sunburn hit it hard. They usually tend to react with losing leafs if they are disturbed to much. Also here a cold freezing move could play a major role.

For the cattleya it sounds like you have lost the roots..... How consentrated peroxide solution did you use? When was the last time you replanted that plant?

Sylorna · #7 01-20-2009, 11:36 AM

I did not move during the winter, but it was a good thought. It was a comfortably warm, slightly rainy August day that I moved.
I lost another leaf on the dracula yesterday. It's down to 12 now. They're browning/yellowing at the base and falling off...green tops.
The cattleya had bad roots when mom repotted it. From the reactions I got when I posted pictures when I first got it the potting job done on the plant was a bad one to begin with. She removed the rotted roots and put some rooting compound on it. Perhaps it didn't take as well as we thought?
The Peroxide as only used on the externals, so leaves and a couple spots on the bulbs themselves. It was used at the drugstore mix, but none got into the roots at all and the plant seems to be fairing better since I did it. I just poured some onto a paper towel and wiped the leaves with that.

Sylorna · #8 01-26-2009, 01:09 PM

Ok, so it's been almost a week now with the misting.
The cat has stopped yellowing all together, which I think means that either it got out of whatever shock it was in or it really likes being misted.
The max is also good. No changes there.
The drac is still loosing leaves. I'm starting to give up, it's just getting worse and worse, even with misting and the humidifier going. I have a lizard tank that would fit it if you think I should try that. Maybe I should try re potting it back into the smaller pot again? I don't know *shrugs*
Glad my cat stopped yellowing and my max seems to be liking its new pot though.

Sylorna · #9 01-26-2009, 01:12 PM

I need to make an adjustment to this post. Upon reading my profile I realized I do not have a cattleya but rather a cymbidium. DUH on my part.

beanluc · #10 01-27-2009, 01:25 AM

From the sound of things, I think your Dracula might be too warm. Do you have a cooler part of the place to put it? Like, 60º or cooler? Also, consider mildly reducing the light level it's exposed to while it finds its happy place.

Good luck,
BL