Cattleyas at death’s door.

[Waspdog]

Hi Orchid People,
As I said in my intro, the other day, I am having to deal with a whole range of orchids that my wife has purchased and more or less abandoned after flowering. The pictures below are of what I believe are Cattleyas and have been gradually getting sicker and sicker. They were in terracotta pots with no drainage, no holes and embedded in rotting coconut husk. I have removed the yellow leaves and rotting roots and pulled away the soggy coconut husk. The photos shows what remains. I plan to let them dry out a bit but I would be grateful if anyone can provide any advice on how to rehabilitate these.

[Roberta]

Once they dry a bit (I'm guessing that you gave the roots a good washing under running water to remove loose crud, if you haven't then that would be the fist step) you will be able to see better what is and isn't viable. I'd run fingers through the root ball to pull off what comes off easily. Then see what Don't be too aggressive in trimming roots - you can't always tell what is and isn't bad, and even a bad root can help hydrate a plant. Of course, what you really need is to grow some new roots. Kelpak is definitely useful there. I'll let others, who have had some great success in rescuing plants, jump in here. (Not sure if Kelpak is available where you are...but what you do have going for you is a great climate)

[Louis_W]

They have lost their roots, but they are probably totally salvageable! Getting potted up with drainage is the next step and cross your fingers they start to grow new roots soon.

They don't look like cattleyas exactly though... maybe encyclica or something in the oncidium group. A little hard to tell