Poor, sick Cattleya Maikai

[Meezer24]

Hello! I'm new here and I would love some help with my new Brassocattleya Maikai.
I've been tending to orchids for about three months now. I purchased a "Just Add Ice" orchid from my local grocery store. I quickly became fascinated by orchids afterwards. I re potted the phal (which already had lovely, green roots and no rot evidence on the roots) in sphagnum moss. All of its 9 blooms have opened and have been ever since! I told myself if I could care for the phal adequately, I could purchase a more expensive orchid from a grower.

So, three months later I brought my phalaenopsis to a place called Little Brook Orchids in Lancaster, PA. They were very knowledgeable and helped me find a good orchid for my growing circumstances (a warm home under a bright growing light. I have an anthurium and bromeliad also thriving under these circumstances). They also told me my first phal was in exceptional shape. They sent me home with something called "liquid ladybug." I told them I never had a problem with insects, but brought it anyways. After smelling the stuff I imagine it is made out of peppermint oil and other natural plant oils. I came home with a large Phalaenopsis lueddemanniana with one keiki, four spikes and a Brassocattleya Maikai which was quite small.

Well, from what I've learned, you ought to take your orchid out of its potting mix and inspect the roots as soon as you get home. I did so and I was very frightened by what I saw!
Within the large pot I found:
A TON of tiny white spots moving within the potting mix all about the size of the head of a pin, no larger. There were also a couple of tiny spiders (not spider mites--definitely spiders) and a large, worm like bug which curled up at the bottom of the pot.
I quickly re potted both.
The potting mix (a decent mix made of barks, charcoals and packing peanuts) was soaking wet and both the phal and cattleya had some serious areas of root rot. However, the phal had some beautiful healthy roots. I cut the rotted roots off and I have been keeping an eye on the roots of the phal. It is doing very well. The keiki seems to keep on growing. I mist it's roots daily and let my new potting mix dry out thoroughly (it is the American Orchid Society mix--bark, charcoal, some type of crunchy plastic material). The mother plant has lovely new root growth and is doing well. (Side note--the keiki has two leaves and two roots about an inch long with active growth--too soon to repot?) \

The poor cattleya was in much poorer shape which brings me to the important part of my post. Though I re potted it in dry mix and let it dry out between waterings, its roots still rotted almost entirely. It has an old spike which has been cut and is about 2.5 inches long, a healthy grass green leaf color (3 leaves). However, today I checked the roots and they were all total mush except for three nubs about half an inch long. I cut off all of the rot, and put it in a quart ziplock bag next to some moist sphagnum moss. The tallest leaf sticks just about an inch out of the top. I have it on the floor propped up next to my anthurium so it is farther from the light than the other two phals. Am I on the right track to trying to save this orchid? Do you have any additional advice based on the information I shared? I had no evidence on either plant of any insects after I re potted the plants in fresh mix. I sprayed both with some of the liquid ladybug right before re potting.
Thank you for any and all advice!

[silken]

So sorry to hear about these plants. Did you contact the vendor when you found them in this condition?

If that cattleya has some new short roots as you mentioned, I would pot it in a very small pot of well soaked bark. Because it has few roots it will wobble around so you need to stake it or use a rhizome clip of some sort to stabilize it. Orchids establish more quickly when they aren't flopping around in their pots.

I'm not sure what the liquid ladybug is composed of but I would be leery of using it on the roots. Peppermint might harm them. If your plant is all cleaned up and ready to pot, I would first give it's roots a good soak in some seaweed water. Seaweed (kelp) is real good for stimulating root production. It is often found at hydroponics stores and some orchid growers add it to their fertilizer water every few weeks. I always soak a new plant's roots in it before re-potting. I also like clear pots as the roots of epiphytes do photosynthesize and seem to really like them. But any pot that just fits the root base will do. If you don't have a rhizome clip or can't stake it well, I really like using masking tape. I use a roll that is approx. an inch wide. Use a length that will go across the top of the pot and attach to both sides. I twist the center of the tape multiple times so that it isn't sticky and is more ropy. I stretch it across the rhizome of the plant and secure it well to the sides of the pot. I sometimes use a second strip crosswise from the first one to really secure the plant so it can't move. Then when the plant is established and solid in the pot, I just cut the tape away.

I don't have a lot of luck with sphag n bag because I seem to get a bit of mold even if I open the bag for air. But it works for some. If you do pot it up, I would then let the bark get dry between watering and use the seaweed in your water for a few times. You can also lightly mist the leaves to help keep it hydrated until it grows more root but don't let water drops sit on it in the sun and do it early in the day so it dries quickly. Cattleyas are tough and have their pseudo bulbs for storage organs. So you have a good chance to pull this one thru.

[Meezer24]

Thank you! Your response is very encouraging. I did not contact the grower because I know I can pull the phalaenopsis through since it has so much other root growth, but I underestimated the condition of the catt. Honestly, I had never bought an orchid from a grower and assumed that since they are in a greenhouse bugs and so forth are pretty common. There is probably less of an excuse for all of the root rot. They ran to the back and gave me the catt for free because I spent $45 on the phal. I thought they were so helpful and pleasant for letting me talk to them and walk through their greenhouses so I never contacted them about the plants. If the plant is responding well to either treatment, how long do you think it will take for new roots to appear?

[silken]

A picture would be helpful. It depends if any of the pseudo bulbs are new or newly matured since new roots don't usually develop on old ones. But the new short roots should continue to grow. I have a Bc. Maikai and it seems to like fairly warm temps and quite bright light. If it gets that, you should see some growth within a few weeks I would think, since those new roots were likely in a growth stage already.

I guess if the grower threw it in for free, you can't complain much. But for a $45.00 Phal I would not be happy if it was full of bugs and bad roots. It sounds like they will both survive tho.

[SJF]

Originally Posted by Meezer24

Hello! I'm new here and I would love some help with my new Brassocattleya Maikai.
I've been tending to orchids for about three months now. I purchased a "Just Add Ice" orchid from my local grocery store. I quickly became fascinated by orchids afterwards. I re potted the phal (which already had lovely, green roots and no rot evidence on the roots) in sphagnum moss. All of its 9 blooms have opened and have been ever since! I told myself if I could care for the phal adequately, I could purchase a more expensive orchid from a grower.

So, three months later I brought my phalaenopsis to a place called Little Brook Orchids in Lancaster, PA. They were very knowledgeable and helped me find a good orchid for my growing circumstances (a warm home under a bright growing light. I have an anthurium and bromeliad also thriving under these circumstances). They also told me my first phal was in exceptional shape. They sent me home with something called "liquid ladybug." I told them I never had a problem with insects, but brought it anyways. After smelling the stuff I imagine it is made out of peppermint oil and other natural plant oils. I came home with a large Phalaenopsis lueddemanniana with one keiki, four spikes and a Brassocattleya Maikai which was quite small.

Well, from what I've learned, you ought to take your orchid out of its potting mix and inspect the roots as soon as you get home. I did so and I was very frightened by what I saw!
Within the large pot I found:
A TON of tiny white spots moving within the potting mix all about the size of the head of a pin, no larger. There were also a couple of tiny spiders (not spider mites--definitely spiders) and a large, worm like bug which curled up at the bottom of the pot.
I quickly re potted both.
The potting mix (a decent mix made of barks, charcoals and packing peanuts) was soaking wet and both the phal and cattleya had some serious areas of root rot. However, the phal had some beautiful healthy roots. I cut the rotted roots off and I have been keeping an eye on the roots of the phal. It is doing very well. The keiki seems to keep on growing. I mist it's roots daily and let my new potting mix dry out thoroughly (it is the American Orchid Society mix--bark, charcoal, some type of crunchy plastic material). The mother plant has lovely new root growth and is doing well. (Side note--the keiki has two leaves and two roots about an inch long with active growth--too soon to repot?) \

The poor cattleya was in much poorer shape which brings me to the important part of my post. Though I re potted it in dry mix and let it dry out between waterings, its roots still rotted almost entirely. It has an old spike which has been cut and is about 2.5 inches long, a healthy grass green leaf color (3 leaves). However, today I checked the roots and they were all total mush except for three nubs about half an inch long. I cut off all of the rot, and put it in a quart ziplock bag next to some moist sphagnum moss. The tallest leaf sticks just about an inch out of the top. I have it on the floor propped up next to my anthurium so it is farther from the light than the other two phals. Am I on the right track to trying to save this orchid? Do you have any additional advice based on the information I shared? I had no evidence on either plant of any insects after I re potted the plants in fresh mix. I sprayed both with some of the liquid ladybug right before re potting.
Thank you for any and all advice!

How are your phal. and cattleya doing?

[Meezer24]

Hey! Thank you so much for asking! The Cattleya is still in the sphagnum bag and has sprouted 3 pseudobulbs that are quite large now! Unfortunately, I think it developed these pseudobulbs because I kept it in very good light so it focused more on greenery rather than rooting. It tried to sprout one root since that post which I must have accidentally broken off. It never lost a single leaf and all three are a lovely green color. Currently, it has a single, lovely root which is about half an inch long. Growth seems to be slow, but the plant looks very, very healthy other than the lack of roots. I will post a picture! Is there anything I can do to encourage more root growth other than a rooting hormone?
I took the phal out of its substrate earlier this week and unfortunately it was rotting on some of the lower roots. For some reason, its humidity tray never seems to evaporate but all of the other trays do. I changed the substrate and I am abstaining from using the humidity tray for now.

[SJF]

Originally Posted by Meezer24

Hey! Thank you so much for asking! The Cattleya is still in the sphagnum bag and has sprouted 3 pseudobulbs that are quite large now! Unfortunately, I think it developed these pseudobulbs because I kept it in very good light so it focused more on greenery rather than rooting. It tried to sprout one root since that post which I must have accidentally broken off. It never lost a single leaf and all three are a lovely green color. Currently, it has a single, lovely root which is about half an inch long. Growth seems to be slow, but the plant looks very, very healthy other than the lack of roots. I will post a picture! Is there anything I can do to encourage more root growth other than a rooting hormone?
I took the phal out of its substrate earlier this week and unfortunately it was rotting on some of the lower roots. For some reason, its humidity tray never seems to evaporate but all of the other trays do. I changed the substrate and I am abstaining from using the humidity tray for now.

By rooting hormone, are you referring to the powder? You could water with a seaweed or kelp product. Something like Kelpmax.

The roots may have been like that when you got it. I bought a bunch of plants from them and the roots and health of some of them had a lot to be desired. A lot of fungus gnats and unfortunately spider mites too. The sent a bottle of that spray with my order too. I asked if I should be concerned about mites and they said no. Most of the phals had lower leaves drooping (still do and some lost) and I learned about using a tissue to check for mites...sure enough, covered. Disappointing for $30-$45 phals in 3 to 4" pots (smaller pot size than listed was another issue). I am glad to hear that yours are surviving. It gives me hope. Please post pictures. I hope they continue to recover for you