Ok finally! Here are the photos. The pbulbs look ok, the one is wrinkled which I assume is the older bulb. One of the smaller, I assume newer, ones is hollow though, but the one next to it seems nice and healthy. Some of the yellow leaves are the small leaves kind of under the pbulb, some are not.

http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w...3/P2272441.jpg

http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w...3/P2272443.jpg

http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w...3/P2272444.jpg

http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w...3/P2272445.jpg

http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w...3/P2272446.jpg

http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w...3/P2272447.jpg

http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w...3/P2272448.jpg

http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w...3/P2272449.jpg

http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w...3/P2272451.jpg

http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w...3/P2272452.jpg

this is the one that's hallow
http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w...3/P2272450.jpg

Now assuming this is cold damage, how do I fix it? I know the yellow leaves will probably just die off, and I assume (I seem to be assuming a lot in this thread!!) that if the green leaves are still green over a week later they'll be fine, yes? So is there really nothing that can be done now? Just normal care from here on out? Should I use a dose of physan 20 on friday just to be safe? Is it ok to do that so late?

Thank you, Tucker!:biggrin:

OK to correct myself, looking at my older photos I got him one day then 4 days later re-potted him. Not the next day. If that matters in the slightest.

For me I use neptune's Harvest organic seaweed. That and the fish emulsion and plant tone are the only organic stuff I use. It's SUUUUPER expensive though! It's like $20 for about 24 oz. but I only use a teaspoon per gallon, less on the orchids. So it does last a long time. It works well for me! Since I've been using it on my orchids their root growth has been pretty good.

I did use it on this guy when watering last weekend. He did seem to slightly perk up, and the yellowing slowed down, but it's still there. I assume he's somewhat settled in and that's why there is no further damage.

Tucker I use seaweed every time I water/fert. Is that too much? I know it's 0-0-1 so it's not too high, and I use it less then full strength. Will this be ok, or should I only do it 1-2 times a month? No one seems to be doing poorly and this has been my routine for about 2 months now. Yes even in winter. All my plants seem to be in some sort of growth aside from one catt, so I have been giving it to them.

I still think your orchid looks pretty good. It's normal to lose a few leaves when you repot an orchid. That pot looks a little too big for that orchid but if you're careful not to overwater it should be fine. One other point, I see that the new growth is up against the pot. It's best if you pot it with the new growth pointed towards the empty part of the pot. But just leave it for now and let it grow and gain strength.

On the seaweed, I really don't know how often to give it. Last year I was using seaweed every time I fertilized, which was once a week. I got very good results. This year I'm experimenting with giving the seaweed every two weeks which would be every other time I fertilize. I just felt I didn't need it every week, but I really don't know for sure.

I am with everyone else. Your orchid looks good. I have an Aliceara Alice and I do find with mine that its a heavy drinker. Perhaps it's the same with yours? But it looks healthy.
Another thing to note is (for some people) the plant will sulk for the first few weeks (months to a year with me) due to climate change, environment change, repotting... All different stressors to the plant. I'd let the plant acclimate before doing much more fussing. Good luck!

:tee:

Yeah I'm hoping the yellowing is due to the cold and it'll do fine with just some normal care. I didn't really think it was anything that would kill the plant, or spread, since it's really just yellow leaves. But I just want to be sure and treat it the best I can.

I've never had a plant go yellow this quickly, but the other plants I had shipped to me all came in about 10-15 degrees warmer or 30 degrees warmer, so that's why I assumed it was the cold.

tucker- I was worried about the pot a bit. When I ordered it, it said it was in a 5" pot, but when it came it was a very root bound 3- 3 1/2" plant put quickly into a 5" container. I bought the pot the weekend before it got here and it is all I had. I will be careful though. I may try to shift it a bit. There is newer growth on the one side, and some slightly older but still very new on the other too, I tried to even it out, but it does look like it needs to shift a bit. Thanks!


None of my other orchids have ever gotten stressed with re-potting, even when I first get them and re-pot right away. I do this because I'm more comfortable in the potting mix I do, and the pots I have. The only orchid I've gotten in the last two years that I didn't re-pot is the phal schillieriana which was in bud and looking scared from the trip here! ha ha! I still have her in the pot even though it's in straight moss, which is still scaring me! but she's in bloom and looking happy! Once she drops her blooms I'll move her straight into the ceramic pot she's in just without all that moss! The only orchid that I think will give me trouble is the psychopsis, he doesn't even show any signs of a new root yet! But I expect that of him. I just can't wait to see that bloom!

While I have some of you here, can I pick your brain with a couple other things? I know the few who have answered here are so knowledgeable I hope you can tell me.

1- how long will it normally take to go from a small phal schilleriana with one spike to those monsters I see online? I'm thinking maybe 5 years or so? Is that about right?

2- with summer blooming catt family chids when should I start seeing spikes? I was thinking I'd start seeing them in late march or so? I have only had phals and a VERY stubborn bsdm so all the other orchids are new to me and I'm not sure when to expect them to spike.

Sorry I'm still so new at this! I ordered like three more books from the library to read up. I look all over online. The best info I get is from everyone here! Ask a question, get 6 people giving their opinions, instead of 1 opinion in a book. Sometimes they differ a lot, but for the most part you can figure stuff out through others so much better then what you read.

The dead and dying bract foliage (leaves on the sides of the pbulbs) is nothing to be concerned about - that is the first foliage to die off after new growth starts - it protects any spikes and new growth - so when the new growth is a reasonable size, it's job is done. Yes, cold may have caused it to die prematurely, but I wouldn't be concerned about it. Foliage from the tops of pbulbs - that does die naturally with time, but cold may have caused premature dying. But, the only foliage on tops of pbulbs that seem to be yellowing look like old pbulbs (lack of bract foliage and much smaller than other pbulbs)


If it's only foliage that seems to be affected, I think the plant should be fine. Watch for pbulbs starting to go south, but I don't think they will

Those small pbulbs are old ones (from when the plant was a baby), and the new growths are the large ones with the most foliage. New growth will be coming from those large ones, so you maybe want to pot this with the small pbulbs near the edge of the pot to give new growth room. I can see a new growth, and it's right at the edge of the pot - as that develops, it will end up over the side of the pot. Definitely not something that is urgent, but you will probably need to re-situate this in it's pot sometime this year. :)

Summer bloomers would be likely to spike any time from late winter thru early summer (so March - June/July), but they are living things, and don't always follow the calendar ;)

With some luck and good culture a small phal. schilleriana could become a nice size orchid in about 3-4 years. Maybe a little longer to become one of those huge plants. But they're very attractive even before they get real large.

Most cattleyas bloom in the fall, winter or spring. There are some summer bloomers also but not as many. True summer blooming catts often bloom in late summer, like September. The first sign of blooming would be a thickening of the sheath as the buds grow inside. That would be a month or two before the cattleya actually blooms.

Yeah, I don't really see anything wrong with your plant other than some possibly dead roots.
Those brown roots are all alive so don't cut them off.
You have some new white roots going and I think I see a new shoot on the left side. also good.

the yellowing is on the older pbs and maybe it's due to the stress it went through.
At least it's not happening on the newer pbs.

I wouldn't mess too much with the roots and just slide the whole thing into a larger pot.

best wishes

Oh, ok, so my comment was on the very first photo.
Looking at more recent photos you posted, the yellowing is worsening.
Could be cold stress. give it more time and see how it progresses.

Thank you so much everyone!!! I got a response from the seller, he thinks the same thing, he says sometimes being stuck in the dark boxes in shipping can cause an already yellowing leaf (due to age) to yellow faster. He said the cold may have affected it too.

I tried to shift it around a bit but man this is a stubborn little guy! It kept wanting to shift right back! So I put it in and staked it gently to help keep it steady. I plan on re-potting again maybe this fall or so once it settles in. I'll keep it in the same pot with the same medium. Just try to shift it a bit more.

tucker- yes I LOVE my schilleriana even small! She has 4 leaves and 1 spike with about 5 flowers. She's so cool looking! I can't wait for her to get bigger, but she's still impressive small!

I tried to look up the page of the one catt from where I got it, but I bought the last one so it's gone. I'll have to look it up online, but I thought I remember it saying it blooms in summer. Not sure what summer means, as it could mean June or Sept. The others in the catt family seem to say the same, summer, so I'll have to do research on them. I have one i bought in spike, which was in sheath, the sheath has gotten a little larger but it's not thickening and it hasn't formed anything inside yet, but I think it's still a couple months from blooming.

I was curious about bloom times because some of my phals can start a spike and not blooms for 4 months. So i was wondering how long the catt family take, 2 months is good info thanks!!