Orchid in bloom = healthy?
 

Hey all,

The very first orchid I bought immediately lost all blooms after less than a week. That was a sure sign to me that it was unhappy and made me repot instantly. Now it has lots of new growth, even growing out of its pot.

About a month ago, I bought two mini orchids in one clay pot for my office. Within about 2 weeks, the two mini orchids lost its blooms pretty quickly. I gradually noticed that the leaves on one plant was getting very wrinkled and weak. I couldn't tell if it was dehydration or overwatering. The roots didn't look completely white but since the media was pretty dry on top, I ended up watering more often. I finally decided to bring it home to repot about a week ago. Turns out the roots on the wrinkled plant were pretty dead - there are two very unhealthy looking roots left. The other mini orchid is doing better but not much. I have been misting every day but the visible roots seem to be shriveling up slowly. HOWEVER... each of the orchids still has one healthy full looking flower on the top of their spike and have had no visible change on leaves since repotting. Similarly, I have another orchid at work still, that has been in bloom for 2-3 months and still has 7 blooms left. The blooms don't look their best but seem like they will still last a while. However, theres an earthy smell every time I water and the leaves are a bit wrinkled too. I currently don't feel like repotting it.

My question is, if an orchid is in bloom, does it technically mean its alright/not dying? I don't want to cut the spike until the bloom has finished, but will a flower in spike ever start growing roots?

nope for both your questions.
cut the spike of to help the plant

A blooming orchid does not necessarily mean that it is healthy. If an orchid blooms, it might mean it is healthy. It might also mean it's using its last bit of energy resources to produce flowers in order to reproduce as a last ditch effort. You have to look at this in context, not out of it.

As far as I know, for Phals, a flower spike will not sprout roots unless it is growing a keiki to begin with.

As to newly purchased plants quickly dropping their blooms, it's pretty common. For one you have no idea how lnog that plant had abeen in bloom already so maybe the flowers reached the end of their natural lifespan. The other thing is that the difference in conditions between the warm humid greenhouse they grew in and a home environment can be too much for some plants, and the blooms quickly die. Doesn't mean the plant was unhealthy.


As to your question whether a blooming plant can grow roots, it can, if the plant is healthy. A weak, unhealthy plant won't have the energy to do both.

Is the Phal with ther earthy smell the one you first mention and that you repotted? Either way, it could be that the medium is broken down and you need to repot. If it's the one you already repotted then you need to buy better quality mix. If it's a different Phal, repot it. With the wrinkled leaves as well it sounds as if the mix is really broken down and asphyxiating the roots.

Bother healthy and unhealthy plants can bloom. In the first case you have a happy plant who has more than enough energy to put into blooms, and the plant generally stays healthy. An unhealthy plant will also bloom, but that's often a last ditch attempt to survive by producing flowers (which should = seeds in nature). On a clearly unhealthy plant you should remove the growing spike to get the plant to focus on itself.

What about a phal with wrinkled leaves but has beautiful new roots? I repotted, placed it in plastic bag and mist it. Why would leaves wrinkle with such great roots?

I cut off the two spikes on that "earthy" smelling orchid and repotted it. It looked like it was planted in bark but there was a huge mass of something (maybe moss) around its roots. Honestly I am unsure because parts of it felt and smelled like soil. Some of the roots near the top were green but the majority of the roots were pale yellow. Does that mean they're close to rotting? They were firm though and I would be left with almost no roots if I cut them. I transfered my plant to a plastic clear pot and now think the clay pot is one of the main reasons for the bad smell. I washed it with soap and it is still very smelly. Is there anything I can do with the clay pot or should I just trash it?

firm is good .
the yellow roots just dont have chlorophyll in them from not being exposed to light