Sad little cat...
 

Against my better judgement, a few months ago I decided to get one of those little cheap cattleyas that Lowe's sells in the mesh bags... I thought hey, cheap 'lil plant, I can maintain it, grow it larger, blah, blah, blah...

Yeah, well... It hasn't been doing well... I potted it and it's still looking somewhat withered two months later, but it's still green and not dead... It looked somewhat withdrawn, perhaps dormant from lack of water when I purchased it, but I didn't know any better and I wanted another orchid! LOL... When I water it, I smell a wet dirt odor... What could be causing this when I have it in a bark/charcoal/peanut mixture? Any suggestions?

I have a plant like that and I keep it by my kitchen window out of direct sunlight and mist it 3 or 4 times a day. If the plant doesn't have roots it may rot if you are drenching it. It may grow roots if you keep misting it, especially if it is still green. Not sure what the odor is but it sounds like it may be too wet?

There are other techniques that I am sure the other OB members can tell you about too such as bagging them with moss.

We have all tried to rescue orchids from the box stores. I wish they would just water the poor little things.

Lots of questions to ask here. Did you put it in that mix or was it already in that mix? Have you looked at the roots good? Did you spray the roots with listerine or some type of cleanser?
Pictures would make the world of difference. And sometimes the plant gets overwatered or sits in water so long, that that can be a wrinkling effect as well as being too dry.
What I might try, is check the roots first, and if all is good, I would wrap it in spag and mount it. I once saved a Lowes Catt by doing that. It is thriving as far as new roots goes, but is probably years from blooming. It responded to the good air flow and dampness of the moss, I guess.
Pictures please??? :goodluck:

Oops, sorry, I wasn't paying attention that you had potted it up yourself. :blushing:

This is what I would do. Start water culture for 2-3 weeks until new root system form and then transfer them to a drier media. Water culture will quickly hydrate the plant and force them to grow new root. If you could add in a drop of rooting hormone to the water, that would be great! Here's my story http://www.orchidboard.com/community...r-culture.html

Cool beans... Thanks to all for your replies and I will most certainly entertain each as food for thought... ;)

Okay, so last night I transferred the little cat out of the potting mix and shook away all the loose medium from the roots. The majority of the roots were brown and spotted, so I snipped those off. I dipped the remainder of the plant roots loosely in rooting hormone and dropped her in a jar of water. We'll give this a try and see what happens! I did find a few green roots (which you can see in the white circles below), though not many:

http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/e...Picture008.jpg

http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/e...Picture014.jpg

Call me crazy, but I swear I can already tell a difference in the plant this morning. Her roots that were hanging on for dear life, already look a little more green! Could it be she's really going to make it? Only time will tell... :)

Those roots that you saw, despite that it's still healthy will be gone within a month, however, by that time, it will usually grow a new set of root and is ready to be transplanted into a new media. Make sure sanitize that plant clearly before putting them in water. Once they're in water, you don't have to lower the light, let them get as much light as they want, like where you usually put them. That way, they establish faster. And lower the water level so that it just over the root, make sure that it doesn't go below the root. Algae is your friend. Lots of advices here:
http://www.orchidboard.com/community...culture-2.html

Thank you again for such wonderful information and as I said once before, I shall take all into consideration as food for thought. Since this is my first attempt, I guess the old adage there's a first time for everything would apply, huh?

Well, the hydro bath has done wonders for my little cattleya so far as you can tell from the photo below. The thick green roots you see are totally new and have formed within the last two weeks. There are also plenty of little nodes where other roots are about to bud forth. She's looking good!

http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/e...o/DSC00187.jpg

However, while I was cleaning away some more dead roots last night, I broke a portion of the plant. YIKES!!! It wasn't intentional, but I am going to try to save it. I placed it into another container beside the mother plant to see what occurs. There are several old roots remaining on this part, but no new ones. Wonder what will happen?

http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/e...o/DSC00189.jpg

Here are the two together on the sill where they are now sitting:

http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/e...o/DSC00192.jpg

It's still a wait and see, but I'm aiming for the best! ;)