Everything is wrong with my orchid... HELP!

[Xinjia23]

I bought and orchid a mont ago and everything seems to be going wrong...

1) the roots on the surface were turning white! Some of them seemed dead and rotten so i cut them. Now they still keep rotting and it is mainly the ones on the surface. The roots at the bottom actually seem healthy

2) the flowers started falling off gradually (nothing alarming) and then even the new buds fell off!! My orchid now has no flowers, no buds.

3) i started noticing a layer of white on the top of the soil.. i'm assuming snow mold... every other day, the soil would be covered with it, especially the areas of the soil under the leaves where they don't get as much sun

4) i found a dead spider on the top of my orchid and also a live one at the bottom of the pot; it crawled out when i wattered my orchid.

5) i saw what looked like fungus gnats (a little bug with wings) and well killed 2-3 and then did not see any again

6) i however keep seeming TINY white bugs in the soil. At first i thought it was mealybugs but I did not seean antenna and did not strike me as being these type of bugs..

7) The leaves of my orchid seem healthy (thick, nice green color) but i noticed a fre tiny tears.. as if an insect chew it!!

Can someone please help me with what's wrong with my orchid!!!

[rbarata]

Hello and welcome to the board.

We need some information first.

1 - What kind of orchid do you have. Different orchids have different requirements. If you gon't know, post a photo.

2 - Did you repot it after you bought it?

3 - What is your watering frequency?

4 - A photo is worth a thousand words. As soon as you've reached 5 posts you'll be allowed to post photos.

[silken]

Welcome to Orchid Board. As rbarata mentioned, we need info before anyone can help. And a photo IS very helpful. after you make 5 posts, you can upload photos. It is likely a Phal growing in moss and being over watered, but that is only an assumption and not enough to go by.

[estación seca]

Welcome to the Orchid Board!

You can reach 5 messages if you look at somebody else's message, click the Quote button at the lower right, and just write something quick like "Nice!", then post the message. After you write 5 messages you can post photos.

For example, you could reply to all of our messages here and you would be at 4 messages.

Most normal orchid roots are white when they are dry and greenish when they are wet.

[Lanasmil]

Oh, what a pity. I also bought orchid 2 months ago and it is growing well.

[Orchid Whisperer]

Assuming your orchid is a moth orchid (= Phalaenopsis, the most common kind in most shops):

Mold, fungus gnats, etc suggests your orchid needs repotting and less frequent watering. However, please verify to us the type of orchid and how you water, especially how OFTEN you water, or the clue that tells you when it is time to water again.

Pictures showing how your orchid is potted (pot type, whether it is potted in bark, moss, etc.) Will help.

Tears in leaves could be pest damage but could also be mechanical damage.

[Ray]

The fact that you refer to the "soil" its potted in is worrisome. What, specifically, is that made up of?

[Tindomul]

Originally Posted by Xinjia23

1) the roots on the surface were turning white!

White roots are good roots, just dry. They turn green when moist. You should check to see if they look shriveled or brown-black.





---------- Post added at 11:41 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:40 AM ----------

Originally Posted by Xinjia23

3) i started noticing a layer of white on the top of the soil.. i'm assuming snow mold... every other day, the soil would be covered with it, especially the areas of the soil under the leaves where they don't get as much sun

I would like to see a picture of that for sure. At first I was going to say a build up of salts, but salts don't build up that fast.




---------- Post added at 11:42 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:41 AM ----------

Originally Posted by Xinjia23

4) i found a dead spider on the top of my orchid and also a live one at the bottom of the pot; it crawled out when i wattered my orchid.

Hey, what can you do? Spiders have minds of their own.




---------- Post added at 11:42 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:42 AM ----------

Originally Posted by Xinjia23

5) i saw what looked like fungus gnats (a little bug with wings) and well killed 2-3 and then did not see any again

They usually appear when the substrate (soil or otherwise is too wet).




---------- Post added at 11:46 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:42 AM ----------

Originally Posted by Xinjia23

6) i however keep seeming TINY white bugs in the soil. At first i thought it was mealybugs but I did not seean antenna and did not strike me as being these type of bugs..

Soil???? I hope don't actually mean soil unless you have a terrestrial orchid. Please let us know what kind of orchid you have.
Also, the little white bugs, if they are smaller than a pin-tip then you probably are seeing springtails (Collembola). The will appear to jump if you blow on them. They are nothing to worry about, except that they are there because they eat dead plant matter, which can be found in soil or old sphagnum moss is good to the them too. Do you have this plant in soil?