Help! What am I doing wrong with my mounted orchids?
 

Hi,

I think I'm killing my mounted orchids and I have no idea how. This is my first time growing orchids. I purchased two mounted orchids (I am not sure what kind they are), one was supposed to flower in September and never did and the other is flowering now but the flowers open and fall off rather quickly. I checked online and this forum and it seems to be a product of over watering. However the roots don't look over watered, they look really dry if anything. Also I read that its really hard to over water mounted orchids. The older stems have also shriveled and look really ugly, nothing like the pictures of healthy orchids I've seen. Ok so here is the skinny, I am presently living in Fortaleza, Brazil. The average high is 86* (30), average low is 73* (23*), and the relative humidity is about 70%. They live on the balcony where they get indirect light and constant ventilation (I live a couple of blocks from the beach). I've been spraying the plants daily, mostly in the mornings around 7 am. Sometimes I forget and spray them at night (now I realize that's a no-no). I also trimmed off some funky looking stems that from looking through the forums could be a fungal infection. I have no idea what to do with the poor little things. I don't want to kill them.

Thanks for any help in figuring out how to get them healthy and any ideas on what kind of orchid the flowering one may be :)

Welcome to OB! :)

Your orchids are very dehydrated, they need much more water than they are currently getting. It's hard to tell if there are many live roots left.You may be able to save them.

In warm temperatures misting daily is far from being enough water. The best way to water them is to let them soak in water, so that the roots absorb all the they can. My mounts get soaked 15 minutes every morning during the summer, and some of them get misted in late afternoon as well if they're completely dry. In the winter the soaking frequency depends on how long they take to dry out. Usually they'll get a soak every 2-3 days with misting the other days.

One thing that would help is to put some sphagnum moss over the roots (that you gently tie down with fishing line or a strip of nylon stocking.) The sphag helps maintain moisture around the roots so that they don't dry out so fast. For people who keep their mounts in a terrarium it's usually not necessary since the humidity is so high. Most of the mounted orchids I get are bareroot on the mount, and for some of them even daily soaking wasn't enough and they were getting really dehydrated. I added some sphag and within a few weeks they perked up again.

One of them is an Oncidium of some sort (the one in bloom)...

At least it looks like it.

The other one I can't tell what it is.

The roots are dead.

The pseudobulbs are dehydrated.

This may be an issue of improper mounting procedures and practices.

Without really knowing what they are, it's difficult to tell you what to do.

About the only thing I have to say is maybe next time when you have mounted orchids, to put a thin layer of moss underneath the roots.

There are exceptions to adding moss underneath the roots of a mounted orchid, though. One of those is Chiloschista spp. Don't put any moss underneath the roots at all.

Other than this, it's hard to say where to go from there. I really have a difficult time trying to ID the plants in your pics. Sorry.

Thanks Camille! Everything I'd read about orchids warned not to over water, I didn't take into consideration that the advise was meant for potted and not mounted orchids :/. I have a quick follow up question; when I soak the plants, should I soak just the roots or the whole plant?

Unless your plants have living roots, you may want to start over again.

If the roots are still alive, soak the entire plant.

Thanks for the point in the right direction for the ID Philip.

jmera,

You've had some good advice. To answer your follow up question. I soak the entire plant and mount in the sink. I do this every day in the summer and less in the winter.

I think I recognize the species of Oncidium, but I'm not sure yet...

I think I just ordered this species.

Onc fasciferum?

IOSPE PHOTOS

Wow as fast as I respond there is still another post waiting for me when I return to the screen. That's great!! Phillip the one that is flowering still has some green roots with white velum. The September one I haven't been able to find any good roots on. If I can't find any sphagnum moss is there anything else I can use?

Tree fern?