Leaves Dropping Rapidly!!! HELP!

[ddandy33]

My seemingly healthy orchid is dropping its leaves rapidly. They seem to be browning at the stem and then falling off... though the majority of the fallen leaves appear to be healthy. What on earth?!?! I've had this thing for nearly four years. Please help!

[Gage]

Have you had it growing in that vase the whole time? I would yank 'er out and check the roots.

[ddandy33]

It's prob been in the vase for a year. Good idea.... if I check the roots, what exactly would I be looking for? Sorry, total novice here.

[Gage]

Not knowing your plant like you do, I can only help you try and troubleshoot what is causing it to digress. I'm sure if you let us know what type of orchid you have more people can chime in. That said, check the roots and see if they have begun to rot. A closed environment like a vase can be difficult for orchid roots to breathe, also there is likely damage from salt build up from water and/or fertilizer depending on how you water. Generally speaking, most epiphytic orchids like to be in some kind of bark mix that drains freely and lets air circulate around the roots. Did anything else change in its growing environment over the last few months (light, humidity, watering schedule, fertilizer/schedule, bugs/pests)?

[ddandy33]

Oh good point. It's a cattelya and I did move houses in the past month. So I supposed the light has changed a little, but we just moved 10 miles so it's not a climate change or anything.

[Gage]

Cattleyas like bright, somewhat indirect light, generally. If you moved it to a location that gets significantly less light, the medium in your vase may not be drying as quickly as it was at your old house.

[ddandy33]

Ok, so I yanked 'er out and the roots are not looking good at all! It must not have been getting enough light. Out of about 50 roots, I'd say there are five healthy ones How do I salvage this?

[Gage]

I would wash all media off the roots, remove all dead/unsalvageable roots with sterilized scissors, rinse what's left in peroxide, spray the root area with fungicide, then sphag and bag. The way I would sphag and bag this one is by putting some moist moss down in a vase or jar of appropriate shape/size based on the orchid, and set the orchid in the jar/vase with the plant held up by the rim of the jar/vase and the root area hovering in the center of the jar without touching the moss. Place this setup in a warm place that will not get any direct sunlight, for a couple of weeks until you start to see some root growth. You might even mist the root area once or twice a day, if the moss isn't keeping enough humidity. The key is lots of humidity, but no water standing on the roots constantly. I invite any other ideas or critique of my ideas from some of you more experienced orchid-savers! Good Luck ddandy!

[silken]

Sounds like a good plan offered by Gage. But I would suggest that the root rot was not caused from lack of light. Rather from being in a glass vase with no drainage or air. As Gage mentioned, they need to be in a free draining media and a pot with lots of holes for air and so the media can be flushed periodically to remove salt build up.

Hopefully you can get some more roots growing and then look into a different potting set up. You could also use some K-L-N rooting hormone to help the roots develop. Good luck.