I knwo there is a section for orchids and I have been in there looking but have not found what I need yet.
I brought home a plant tonight from work. the blooms are spent and gone and all the remains is the stem and the leaves. it is still all green so I figured why not see what will happen if i bring it home and get some help on what to do now LOL
It seems to be in a sawdust type planting mix...for lack of better terms
so anyone that knows what I need to do now it would be greatly appreciated as I would love to be able to take it back in when it is blooming again so they could see it was not dead.
They are teasing me now about being Phyllis' plant rescue since I wouldn't let them throw it away LOL
Anyone in here grow orchids?
Aw, not me, I seem to do so poorly with orchids...Wait until Shari or some of the other guys see this, they are experts!
Islandshari is definately the one you need to talk to!
Thanks then I will check back tomorrow before work and after.
I have never grown one so have no idea how It will do but am hoping to keep it alive to bloom again .
Do you know what type of orchid it is? I think that is where I go so terribly wrong, different orchid types need different babying, I believe some resprout from the spent stalks and some send up new shoots. I can't get it straight! Shari did a wonderful article on orchids, perhaps you can look that up until she comes on line.
Aloha!
have no idea as to the kind or type it is
Here is a picture of it.
the stem was broke so I took a sharp knife and cut it just below the break but it is above a node/joint?
Leaves look really healthy don't they?
Shari, where are you?
Yes they do that is why I don't think it is dead as they said it was and form what I had read so far when I was looking at tropical info it should still be alive and with proper care bloom again...it might e a once a year bloom but that is okay and if it is one that blooms for months at a time that is even better
SSSSSHHHHHAAARRRRRIIIIIIIIII where are ya??????????? LOL
Best advice: go check in with the orchid form.
That said, my suggestion --amateurish, to be sure-- is to replant the orchid, put it in a perfect spot, then give it minimal care, wait 6 -12 months, don't get impatient.
First, get or make some new orchid mix, including some lava rock. Next, remove the plant from its pot, gently shake or wash away the "sawdust" you describe, since that sounds to me like an unsuitable setting, too likely to foster fungus and bacterial rot, or just stay soggy and keep the roots wet, which orchids HATE.
RInse the loose plant in a mild anti-fungal solution, and trim back any floppy, rotten or soggy roots, leaving any that are at all solid, and let it drain and dry a bit. After washing the pot itself thoroughly --use bleach or even run it through the dishwasher-- layer in new orchid mix, with more lava rock toward the bottom, and softer, more organic stuff with smaller lava rock bits toward the top. When you get to the top third of the pot, start "fitting" the plant onto, only a little a bit into, the mix. Gently fit any long downward pointing roots into the mix, and make sure you allow sideways-extending roots to sit on top or put a harder piece of the mix on top/across them. Remember, you don't bury an orchid into soil as you would other plants. Anchor the plant atop the pot and mix using a few carefully chosen harder pieces of mix (charcoal, or rock pieces) on top of horizontal roots, plus velcro tape or wire to the pot as necessary. Moisten the whole thing thoroughly ONCE, let it drain completely, then add some mild orchid food mix, and put it in a warm, bright spot with no more than a few minutes of direct sun exposure.
Go against all of your gardening instincts and DO NOT water the thing except a few drops every couple days. Try as hard as you can to forget about it, distract yourself by working on other plants. If you are obsessed, give it a little spray misting each day, at most, emphasis on the "little". Whatever you do, DO NOT give in to the temptation to water it as you would other plants --if you do, the thing will still appear fine, but will just be slowly deteriorating and never bloom. Good signs will be silver-grey-green tips on roots, slowly-slowly working their way up/out/down --leave them exposed to air. Go work on something else. Let the thing be. If you have the discipline to wait, it should re-bloom for you within a year.
It's a phaleonopsis, also known as phals, and normally blooms in the winter.
JPlunket is right about the repotting, that medium isn't the best for your orchid. Repot as described.
Also, the advise on patience can't be emphasized enough! A great way of describing the way to grow orchids is "benign neglect." As long as they're happy where they are, you shouldn't have many problems. I have mine outside in the summer, under a tree (they can't handle direct summer sun) and in the kitchen window in the winter.
I will expand on the watering regime. I have three phals and 10 other orchids. All get watered by being dunked in a 5 gallon bucket of rain water about every 2 weeks. They also get spritzed with water every day, especially in the winter when theyr're in the dry house. There's a saying about watering and fertilizing phals - little and often. Get some orchid fertilizer and use it half strength, but use it every time you water.
Also, you say that the bloom stalk is still green (looks that way in the picture)? Don't cut it off any farther down than just below where the blooms where; you may just get another spray of blooms out of it. I've had this happen a few times.
You've been given a lot of good advise, but there is some more info you should know to have it to rebloom in the Fall. Reading information from several different sources really helped me out when I started growing orchids. I checked out the American Orchid Society's website and got books out of the library.
Word of warning though. I started out with one phal...four years later I have lots more orchids and will certainly get more in the future. Orchids are ADDICTIVE!
Barb
Thanks JP, great step by step directions. I have printed them out, and I am going to re-do my three poor little plants who are (at the moment) buried deep into orchid mix and watered by the sprinkling system every day. I am doing everything wrong!
Aloha,
Jenny
More great advice, thanks Barb. My trouble is that when I tried to read about orchids there was many different directions for different types of orchids - and I don't have a clue what type mine are. Are the above directions a good rule of thumb for all orchids?
This one came back for us after I followed the same advice...
Bought and enjoyed this phal in the cold North, then took it down to Vieques, "planted" it as described, outside in the shade, and applied regular daily doses of Barbie's Rx: Benigneglector.
Tough orchid: they don't really need us, except to wash their faces, and this shot proves they don't even really care about that.
I've found different types need rather different approaches. Phalaenopsis are what we've been talking about --these are usually squat little plants, with broad, oval leaves, of a succulent type.
Cymbidiums generally have long, leaves, almost like a daylily, coming out of egg-shaped "bodies". They can take much more sun, even full sun, and can be planted atop (still not buried!) more of a regular terrestial type potting soil, and need to be staked firmly until they grab ahold of the ground on their own, with more downward (initially) roots. TO get these fellows to "go again", I think they need to form a new "body" and sprout flowers from there. You can break off the new bodies and start new plants. Still experimenting with these, no re-blooming yet...
These can take more water, especially in a true terrestial setting like the one shown.
see pic
This message was edited Jan 12, 2008 12:58 PM
Then there are oncidium (or is it dendrobium???) which have more succulent-type leaves, which form and grow in an ever-extending series, with flower stalks (I hope) occasionally emerging from various points.
These take the same minimal watering as phals. and dpon't seem to mind getting a couple hours of direct sun. I have several of these that have done very well, and the only effort I've exerted has been to transport them down here (in ziplocs, in a carry-on!) and plug them in to the right sort of rocky organic mix.
The star athlete in the pic below was native to the yard, rescued after construction damaged it. It's been dropping roots, not flower stalks, regularly and the earliest of these are already serving as flying buttresses, extra legs, just amazing, while others have wriggled into crevices of the mahogany tree's bark. Defintiely not going anywhere! It's grown almost three feet upward in 12 months.
THose flowering are all among those I've brought down from DC.
A couple points: first, it's nice finally to have found something that rewards a lazy nature, a random, episodic attention span, combined with a few bits of expert advice I've read here and in a couple dauntingly detailed orchid-growing books. Second, after winging it a few times and working with a couple different types of orchids, hands-on, you'll be amazed at how much MORE you then are able to glean from the scholarly works of true experts --it all makes much more sense once you've gotten to know a couple of the plants intimately.
They are really amazing organisms, and the work of orchid experts world-wide is astounding.
Read The Orchid Thief!!
One last post...
...here's a shot of the yard native orchid, before construction. The blooms were as much as 15 feet up in the air, and look at all the stalks!
Lovely native orchid, JP!!!
I just saw this thread but couldn't have done any good before...I know diddly about orchids. I just stick them on trees and ignore them!!! They love that benignneglect!!
I don't grow them cause I can gaurantee that I will kill them no matter what I do. lol. I stick with other plants. :~)
Wonderful pictures of you orchids JP. Thanks for all the tips, I am going to try to ID the ones I have and give them the care you described. I live in the dry area of the island so I have sprinklers going like mad, obviously I haven't been kind to them!
I have to say it again, your orchids are to die for!
Aloha
Hi folks! Phyllis, Jenny, I'm sorry I am so late coming to the party. There is not much I can add to what has already been said. Lots of great advise here. The main thing is the medium...get that sawdust off! I use more coconut bark than lava rock...its what I have here. The only thing I would add is air flow. Orchids LOVE wind! Mine always do better if I move them from a still spot to an area with more breeze, even some heavy wind - they love it and bloom away. If you are keeping it indoors, maybe set up a fan. I have heard so many people say you have to use this or that special medium...nah - nothing special...lava rock, coconut husks and bark, even clean rocks work fine. I also water mine a bit more than has been suggested. Since the medium drains so quickly with little to no soil, I water them every other day or so during the windy season. During the rainy season, they get rained on nearly every day...and they don't seem to mind. Indoors would be different, I'm sure. Just make sure that the roots you see are white and plump...brown and flat or stringy is NOT good. When you repot you new darlin, check out the roots...if you don't find some that are white and plump - it may not come back.
Yokwe,
Shari
Hi, I am a newbie here. I love my orchids. I had over 200 in Florida and I foolishly tried to move them to North Carolina with me. I died a little with each one that didn't make it. Every last one died. I was ready to never try another when I purchased one phaleonopsis and did great with it, I am told because it was a 'greenhouse' orchid. I am back to over 50, but have limited sucess with anything other than a phaleonopsis. Does anyone have any suggestions for others to try. I do have two ladies slippers, they bloom every year, and one oncidium that boomed again after two years. I put two window greenhouses in, hoping this will increase my luck.
Aloha Heartofglass, welcome!
200 orchids is incredible! That's a farm! Sounds like you are going to get back up to those numbers again, 50 is a HUGE collection!
Are those all Phalies in your picture - they're gorgeous! Do you have them all inside or do you have a greenhouse? What else do you grow?
Hi there Heartofglass! I will add my "Welcome" to Jenny's! Your orchids certainly are beautiful! If you had 200, I can't imagine that there is anything we can tell you that you don't already know! Wowzers! What seems to be the problem that causes them to die...what do they look like? The answers to those questions should tell you how to improve the situation, but without knowing what happened, its hard to suggest anything else that you might have success with. But it sounds as if you are doing great with the ones you have now, so keep up the good work!
Yokwe,
Shari
Evening all I am sorry I wasn't' here today to Thank All of you for the great advise....worked all day :( both waitresses quit today so we had fun cooking and waiting tables and I need to et some black pants and shoes & some shirts to wear so I can wait tables when needed until they get someone new hired in. *sigh*
THANKS THANKS THANKS JP, Barb & Shari I am going to be out Sunday doing a lil bit of shopping so I will pick up new growing materials to re pot it and take care of it or should I say neglect it LOL
and Welcome Heart of Glass Lovely orchids you have there.
In Florida, I had them all over, outside and on the lanai, pots on the patio, and mother nature took care of most of the work. I watched for bugs and during dry times hosed them off. I traded plants with friends, got them at farmers markets, etc. I didn't know at the time that a wild, or outside grown orchid, can't adjust to a inside house situation, the air was to dry and the lighting was wrong.
Since my enthusiasm is back, my husband suggested I get a small greenhouse. It's only 6'X8', still in the box, but I am reading everything I can on how to heat it, without going broke. Any one have any suggestions?
Other than my orchids my other passions are stained glass and my 4 dogs and 4 cats.
heart,
I don't accept the premise that out-ies con't move in and thrive --any real expert here have a view of this?
I'd ask you a couple Qs before accepting that. First, how did you get your dear departed 200 from FL to NC? For example, packed as checked bags they could have been chilled severely, setting up a lingering death. Second, did you treat them with any type of anti-fungal after the trip? Unfamiliar strains of fungus or mold could be present in NC that none of your collection had had to deal with previously. Third, how severe a change in lighting, humidity, temperature did they have to deal with ?
(Sorry if this sounds harsh --I'm just trying to deal with this simplistically, though sure you worked carefully to provide them all a safe transition and a fine new home. But to have all 200 die in short order sure suggests that some single thing, or the same set of fairly serious things, affected the entire group.)
One can consider a most radical set of theoretical circumstances, a.) the orchids may have had their roots frosted, or may have gotten over-heated in a truck, preventing/delaying new growth, b.) with their defenses and capacity to rebound collectively down for some reason, they may all have been subjected to one or more environmental factors which affected all of their viability, and c.) if they all then also went through either/both a temporary lapse in watering, temp or light and a longer term period of being too dry/too cold/too dark. Only in some such case --again, NOT accusing you of anything, but treating this as a pure hypothetical-- does it seem likely that every single one of a 200-plant collection would perish.
No one here would want to deal with that sort of disaster --few COULD deal with it, and still participate socially in casual gardening, so good on ya. But if this is a chance for all of us to avoid it, it might be worth the experts assembled here (I exclude myself from that category --I am just listening in) batting this case around a bit more, for everyone's benefit.
Thanks
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This message was edited Jan 13, 2008 11:43 AM
I "dug" deeper this morning so to speak looking at the roots and the "soil" this is in and it is not sawdust it is a moss ...it isn't green but it is a moss none the less. I am still going to get new stuff to re pot it in today though as I do nto know how long it has been in the pot to start wtih
Aloha Heart, am I reading that sudden change to central heat inside the house is what did them in? Hope the greenhouse works out for you, it sounds lovely. Nothing quite like a greenhouse in winter - have you seen Tropicmans?
JP, how is it going with your lovely island home? I was wondering if you ever chose a vine for your pergoda? I love vines but find most are difficult to control here in Hawaii, most of them become rampant in short order! I am the proud new owner of a Mucuna bennettii, also called flame of the forest or red jade vine (although I believe it's not a jade at all). Carol gave me good advice about growing it, seems like I am going to need a very strong pergoda, a sharp pair of clippers and space - hers grows right up and through a large tree! Man, this impulse buying does me in everytime, luckily my SIL is coming next week and I can pick his brains on how to put the pegoda up without it causing the house to fall down. If you ever have time to post some pics, I would love to see them.
Aloha,
Jen
Mibus2,
That's spagnum moss. Not uncommon for phals to be potted in it. It does hold more moisture than your typical "orchid mix". I don't keep my phals in it, I worry about root rot which will happen if they're not allowed to dry out enough between waterings.
Barb
Your orchid is an epiphyte, which means in nature it grows in trees. That's why the roots are large and fleshy. In nature the roots attach to the host plant and are therefore a little more flat. Imagine your orchid growing in a tree with water running off rather than staying in soil and it will help you with watering.
I usually grow my phalanopsis outdoors in shade, attached to a large seagrape in the backyard. I stick them in a crevice and mist every few days with a tiny bit of orchid food. Phalanopsis orchids like to be planted on an angle rather than straight up. If planted straight up, they tend to rot.
You can attach your orchid to a piece of driftwood and let it grow indoors. I've got one on the coffee table and it's quite a conversation piece! Just mist it every few days with the little bit of orchid food et voila! Every six months or so you'll have blooms.
JPlunket,
The loss was not recent, we moved over 15 years ago. Believe me, with the monies I had invested in some of my plants, I did everything that was available to me to save my plants, at that time. This was a time before I had internet, and I am sure if faced with the same delema now, the outcome would have been totally different. I was working with a small time greenhouse, trying to pick their brains and the local library, which gave me less info than I had at home. Since, I moved again in NC, to a much bigger town, where three years ago, I went to a orchid show and started my affection for orchids again. I believe it was the move in December from Florida and 70's in the day to below zero temps within days, the moisture out of the air with forced air heat. Believe me, I beat myself up at that time, but that was then.
I picked up some orchid mix by Schultz I couldn't find any lava rock and I have a half a coconut shell I thought I would use as the "pot"
A coconut sounds dangerous as a pot. Make sure it drains well --it shouldn't hold any water at all. Orchids hate that. Note tamathab's comment above.
I think Shari recommended Coconut bark.....not an actual coconut shell. It would have to drain.....They don't like wet feet. I'm no expert....I only have one that I rescued from Lowe's late last year. I've never repotted it. So far it is happy, it is actually budding. The pictures aren't very good ones....but here goes....
The Phal buds......at an angle......and a glare.....
Actually, many people here grow them in coconuts...they are "planted" in the coconut, and then the coconut is attached to a tree with wire or whatever. Some grow quite large: here's a picture of one down the street from me.
How Neat!
I am trying something new...I opened a seed pod and spread the powder on the moss of a large palm in my front yard...who knows, something may happen!
Sure might! They were talking over on another thread about putting seeds in spagnum moss, or on a tree with moss.....Keep us "posted" about your progress!
Orchids are a fave of mine as well!