Help with Dehydrated and clamped neofinetia leaves

[jzeigler88]

Hello everyone, this is my first post on this forum. I am new to orchid growing, and even newer to growing neofinetia and sedirea japonica orchids. Anyways, I recently bought a single tamakongo growth/fan, but when it arrived after a few days of being in a dry box, it was pretty dessicated looking. More specifically and concerning, the two uppermost leaves, or the newest leaves, are longer than the previous leaves on the growth, but they dried so much to sort of curl sideways instead of facing upwards. Additionally, the long upper leaves were also closed or clamped shut, as if they were folded and creased along the central vein of the leaf. I saw pictures of the orchid before shipment and this problem was present then, so I believe it occurred during shipping. I am curious if there is anything I can do to help plump the leaf up, or if the leaf will return to normal as the plant begins growing this spring, or if the leaf is probably going to remain as is and remain damaged. I am sure the plant is stable and not dying as I have since watered it several times, as well as planted it in new moss and keep it in a humid room with good lighting. I just am bothered by the weird leaves now and would consider buying a replacement tamakongo if there is no hope. thanks

[aliceinwl]

A picture would help. But if I’m understanding right the leaves are folded. If this is due to long term dehydration they may flatten/open a bit eventually. On the whole, however, if the leaf is relatively mature, don’t expect any big changes. Best case, any new growth in your care will be well formed.

[Shoreguy]

Newest leaves start “clamped” partway shut. Sometimes even remaining shut before attaining full length on some Neof varieties

What about the leaves below them, are they slightly wrinkled or smooth?

Are the roots plump or thin?

From your description it is possible things are ok.

You might try being conservative as to the amount of sunlight provided but give some.

I've had shipping damage but never manifested that way. Predominately leaf yellowing.

[jzeigler88]

Thanks for the responses thus far, they are helpful. Shoreguy, the bottom leaves (7 or 8 total) are not bad, as in they aren't too wrinkly, but they do seem a little "thin" per se. I haven't handled a lot of Tamakongo personally, but based on pictures, the leaves on mine do seem to be less filled out and flattened or broad. But, they don't seem too problematic either. There were several dead and dry roots on it, and I believe there were 3 roots remaining that were still living and greened up when wet. I cannot honestly say if the roots were shriveled or not, they may have been a little bit, but the roots weren much thicker than dried spaghetti/angel hair pasta. Also, I was able to review the picture of the orchid and it clearly in that picture had significantly less leaf clamping in the youngest leaves. Overall, when I opened the package with the orchid my absolute first impression was this orchid somehow managed to dehydrate substantially in 4 days, it looked like death was near or that it had spent a weekend in a dehydrator. I did have hope that it could rehydrate and be salvaged, so I undid the moss ball it was in and than soaked its roots in water for some hours than I placed it in a bag with some damp moss to see if the bag and sphag method would work for neofinetia like mini phals. I would say it worked some, it did hydrate some, looked a little more alive and the roots greened up. The clamped leaves did partially open to an extent, but the tips remained very hard, thin and plastic-like. They remained green however, just very hard and keratinous. I repeated the high humidity bag for a few more days, but improvement stagnated after the first day, and I didn't want it to rot, so I have since potted it up in moss and hope for the best. I believe it will survive, but I am starting to believe the leaves aren't going to fully hydrate and open, and they are going to remain like creased, hard, green plastic. They are an eyesore aesthetically, and I remain uncertain if the plant will have any new growth this year, or if it was stunted. I also hold out hope that maybe it will start some new growth, and in so doing the plant will increase the uptake of water and it will fill out.... I am now conflicted as to whether I should just buy a new one, and just keep this one as a side project.