Save my orchid
#Phalaenopsis
Hi All. I've repotted my orchid and found that the pot was way too moist. Most of her roots had rotten off. I now put her into a plastic pot with ventilation holes and new orchid mix.
What else must I do to create an ICU environment for her?
Hi All. I've repotted my orchid and found that the pot was way too moist. Most of her roots had rotten off. I now put her into a plastic pot with ventilation holes and new orchid mix.
What else must I do to create an ICU environment for her?
2ft to light, direct
5” pot with drainage
Last watered 3 years ago
13
Hi 👋. Sounds like you did a good job with the repot! I echo what Sarah said - it’s best to water around the edges of the pot and soak about 1cm from the top of the pot for 10-15 minutes when watering as that way you don’t get water near the stem or crown. Most orchid problems are curable. But crown and stem rot sadly are not 😢. you could try seeing if you can gently remove some of the dead tissue that came from an old leaf that I can see at the base of the stem - it’ll make it easier when new roots want to come through, but if it doesn’t want to budge, don’t force it. Your orchid looks dehydrated which’ll be the lack of roots, so don’t worry if you lose another leaf or two - that’s normal and happens because there aren’t enough roots to hydrate everything, so it’ll get rid of structures that can be sacrificed (like the oldest leaves). Your job is to try and keep the top leaves in good condition! Make sure the roots get a wet/dry cycle. In winter, it’s perfectly safe to water once every 2-3 weeks in order to get that wet/dry cycle. Give her plenty of light and if it’s winter where you are, try and maintain a stable temperature (most phals need a 10C temperature drop overnight to bloom but producing a flower spike right now is the last thing your orchid needs so maintaining a stable temperature should help prevent this (there’ll be plenty of time for blooms once your orchid is strong enough to support them). Your orchid will be stressed, so don’t worry if it doesn’t do anything for a few weeks - it can take a few weeks to recover from stress. If, after this, things don’t seem to be improving, let us know. There are different methods that you can try!
Thank you so much @MotherOfOrchids!
Can I put her in some sort of terrarium to keep the temp the same?
Can I put her in some sort of terrarium to keep the temp the same?
@MotherOfOrchids
I tried what you said. Please look at the result. One side is black, other side green. One leave came off when I touched it.
I tried what you said. Please look at the result. One side is black, other side green. One leave came off when I touched it.
@PetSilverspa the black and the leaf dropping off is a bit worrying and could be stem rot - either through root rot spreading, or water getting underneath the leaf. Is is the black dry or is it soggy? You can treat it with hydrogen peroxide 3% which you can apply to the black with a q-tip. It’s an anti-fungal and will treat rot. If you don’t have any to hand, while you wait to get some, you can dab cinnamon onto the black - cinnamon dries up the tissue. How far does the green go down the stem? When you soaked the roots when you repotted, did any of the roots green up? The reason why I’m asking is because the lower portion of the stem may no longer be alive (this happens with mature phals), and so the roots may no longer be alive. New roots will grow from the green.
Hi @MotherOfOrchids Ok so I cant really see how far the green goes down. Roots did turn green. But, I can see a root that has formed a new sheave over one of the roots.
The black feels a bit soggy. Will treat it. I'm not giving up just yet!
The black feels a bit soggy. Will treat it. I'm not giving up just yet!
@PetSilverspa the soggy black does sound like stem rot unfortunately, but definitely don’t give up yet! Miss Orchid Girl has a couple of really helpful videos for stem rot https://youtu.be/Ec5FrXQqY9c and https://youtu.be/64FPqaKmueI (she treats one with cinnamon and one with hydrogen peroxide 3%). The fact that the roots did green up means that the lower parts of the stem is still alive, so I would leave it as it is and concentrate on treating the black patch for now - that’s the potentially life threatening problem. The roots can wait. Phals can survive for months without roots!
The curtain caught it when the wind blew. I guess there is no hope anymore. @MotherOfOrchids, your thoughts, please?
@PetSilverspa while there’s green, there’s hope!! It’ll be hard, but it’s still possible. It looks really promising that the black has gone!! I think you caught it just in time because if stem rot had really got going, the plant would be dead by now! This shows that yours is a fighter! The best thing to do now is the water culture method. It’s where you fill a glass with water, prop the orchid up over it and keep the tips of the remaining roots dipped in the water - even the stringy roots can soak up water. Keep it dipped in the water for three or four days, then empty the water out and let the roots dry for a day or two (i’d probably try it for a day at first without water and see how it copes as we don’t want to do anything that could jeopardise those leaves), then repeat the cycle. This way you’re getting the wet/dry cycle the roots need. With any luck, you should hopefully get new roots once it recovers from the shock and stress of what it’s going through. Keep in a warm spot with plenty of sunlight (but not direct sun if it’s spring/summer where you are) and hold off on fertilisation until at least some roots are appearing. Once the new roots are a healthy enough size, then you can repot into orchid bark. I’m really rooting (!) for this plant and for you!!
@PetSilverspa it should look a little like this (not my photo!). Some videos and pages say to put the plant and glass in a bag but please don’t do this! The closed environment encourages mould and mould can damage or even kill the plant. I lost one of mine by doing this 😢
@MotherOfOrchids this is such a relief. I'll try it and let you know. 🙏