Mushy leaves and possible poisoning of orchid plant?

[Roo73]

In October of 2010 I received an orchid (some type of smaller tiger type) as a sympathy gift when my husband passed. I have a wonderful bathroom with a skylight and although it dropped its blooms relatively quickly and I saw no new growth for a year, it appeared healthy. I only watered it when it felt very dry, made sure it didn't sit in water, etc. and used very very diluted food in each watering. It was sprouting new leaves but at the same time was losing mature ones. I assumed this was normal. Then I hired a cleaning lady and noticed it was not doing well and decided it was probably something she was using to clean the mirror. The leaved turn yellow, fall off, and the bottom large part slowly shrivels and that's it. I have moved it to an east window where it's safe, but I am down to ONE tiny little green shoot. Is there ANY hope of reviving it? I always dreamed of orchids in my bathroom!!!

[Kmac]

With a green shoot, there is good reason to hope it will come back.

It is hard to say without knowing the type, but in general an east window should be good for many orchids (high-light types might need more light to bloom though), and it sounds like you have the hang of fertilizing appropriately.

When you say "mushy leaves" do you really mean mushy (as in rotting) or simply soft/wilting? While you are quite correct that orchids do not want to ever stay soggy, it is possible that you might not be watering enough...some want to dry out completely, and others to the-almost dry stage.

This might help you identify what type of orchid you have: http://aos.org/images/img_content/ne...es/june09.html

And, this is a good place to start on basic orchid care: http://www.rv-orchidworks.com/orchid...low-guide.html

Hope some of this might help you!