Help! Yellowing, droopy cym.
 

I got this NOID cym in December '09 from a grocery store when I was new to orchids. At the time, I didn't realize that certain cyms might be a no go in central Florida. It came from Westerlay Orchids in CA so I'm assuming it's a cool grower.

I've struggled with it since its last bloom ended in Jan '10 and it was divided. One of the new spring growths seemed to lose hold. I noticed it got yellow at the base and it just came up when I tugged on a leaf.

Anyways, my cat knocked over the pot and broke it, so I repotted the plant in late May. It was in Repotme's cym classic mix, which is rice hulls and chc. I think it was holding too much moisture in the bottom there was a few spots that looked like the mix was starting to get mold.

The root system was in good shape and almost fills the new pot. It's been a few weeks and the plant's leaves are getting more droopy. Leaves are yellowing too at a rate that concerns me.
The new mix is the Special Orchid bark from Better-Gro that you get at Home Depot & Lowes.

The picture is from yesterday and the plant looks a little worse today. :( I repotted another division of the original plant around the same time and that one seems to be doing better.

We've got a very hot summer that started early. Temps in 90s with lows around 79-80. I mist the leaves almost daily and have a fan going in the afternoons in an effort to keep the plant cool. I've fertilized 1-2 times in the month its been repotted...1/2 tsp DynaGro per gallon. I water every 3 days and grow this plant outside.

Is there anything I can do to help this plant thrive?


PS A few strands of moss were added as topdressing a few days ago.

Doesn't look too bad to me. They don't look great, but they don't look awful either. Some of the newer leads look like they have pretty sturdy leaves and have good turgidity.

I've never done the moss top dressing thing, so I don't really know what to say about that. I lean towards wanting to say to not use that top dressing, idk.

It gets hot here too and mine are doing pretty good and they're NOID Cymidiums too. It can get to be about 113 F at times. It regularly gets to be somewhere in the mid to high 90's F though.

I think you did good by kicking them outdoors. Mine are outdoors too.

A bit of Clarification.

1.The first two photos were taken 6-23 and the third was taken on 6-12. The plant was in better shape on 6-12, in my opinion. The leaves are drooping more and the yellowing has continued in that 11 day period.

2. This week, two leaves were lost that came from the same growth that's barely a year old.

3.The plant is grown outdoors year round unless temps get too low. I think the light levels are okay...morning light and late afternoon light. No direct sun exposure.

4. I mentioned the moss top dressing so no one would think the potting media is loaded with moss. It's a bark, perlite, charcoal mix with hydroton.

5. The only lead with upstanding leaves is a new one from this March. The plant put out 2 new leads and I lost one in April. Like I said, it started with a little yellowing and with a gentle tug it came right out. Might have been rot or some disease, I'm not sure. A tiny section of the old mix looked like it had mold. I did clean up with Physan 20 and trimmed off any bad roots.


Any help is appreciated. I've had this plant for a year and a half and I don't know what to do to get it back on track.

Thank you for the clarification of the time frames of the photos, it is much appreciated. :)

However...

My thoughts have not really changed much.

Were the leaves from the bottom or the top? Bottom ones are older leaves. Top ones are the newest ones.

When the pseudobulb matures, you will only be left with the topmost 2 leaves.

That's fine. I grow mine outdoors year round as well. The temperatures can drop down as low as 36 F at night during the winters here.

Morning light and late afternoon light, and no direct sun exposure are fine. But how bright it is during these times is not so clear. How bright are we talking about?

It's understood.

My thoughts on your moss top dressing remains the same.

I don't use this mix, I can't say much about it.

It is rot. Too much water maybe.

Can you describe how the pseudobulbs are? I don't think I see any of them with any nice looking pseudobulbs for some reason.

I re-read your original post and came up with one other thing to possibly add...

I don't think you need to mist your Cym. I think it's the reason why one of the leads rotted out in Apr. You already live in FL which is very humid.

Note: CA is pretty arid compared to FL, btw, and I don't have to mist them to keep them properly hydrated.

In regards to your lighting, you should be shooting for something along the lines of between 3,000 to 3,500 footcandles. That's very bright indirect light.

The odd thing is that I wasn't misting the plant in April when that new lead rotted out. But I will hold back on misting to see. I was making a point to go light with it, but point taken about there being enough humidity here.

Um, that's hard to say. If you look at photo 1 you'll see a lead with 2 yellowing leaves. One on the right, the other on the left. There's a close-up of them in photo 2. There are gone now.

Light levels. I would say it's fairly bright eastern and western exposure. The plant is below a narrow roof and the trees filter the harsh midday sun. The leaves are a little darker than celery so I think the light is sufficient.

The p'bulbs. Unfortunately, what you see in pic 2 is what I've got going on. They are hard and have grooves. There's no rounded, plump shape. I can take more pics tomorrow but that's pretty much the condition the plant is in.

I'm debating whether to unpot the plant and see what's going on below the surface but I don't want to act too hasty after a recent repot.

As for the media, what do you use for your cyms?

Thanks again for writing back.

The mix I use is potting soil, large bark chips, and perlite or pumice (perlite and pumice are interchangeable ingredients).

I kinda go easy on the potting soil. There's a lot more of the other stuff.

Potting soil that has mycorrhizal fungi or not is fine. You can even use a top soil.

Many of the ones I have in this mix are gigantic!

I have pics, I just don't recall if I uploaded them to my computer yet.


As for yours, I would check on them and see if the roots are still in good order. They may not be. The pseudobulbs shouldn't be shriveled up and wrinkly.

As for the yellowing leaves that fell off of one of the leads; I'm inclined to say it could be a root problem, but it could also be natural, since they are the older leaves that fell off. Maybe, it's a little of both?.

Found my pic!

Newbloom,

You are losing your leaves because the roots are not getting water/nutrients to the bulbs (indicated by the shriveled appearance of the bulbs). The fact the outer leaves are dying first , and not the inner ones tends to indicate this and not a bacterial or fungal bulb rot problem. :twocents:

When you repot/divide, you should remove 1/3 to 1/2 of the root ball and the separated roots should never reach the bottom of the new pot when you pot the division up. You say your pot is full of roots. I suspect you will find most of them broken and now soft, squishy and rotting, especially after all the multiple repotting and watering schedule you have done.

If the roots are broken, rotten and not absorbing water, the more you water the faster they will rot in the wet mix, even in Florida. :(

Cym Ladye