Newbie Help

[fxman]

Hello all,
I’m new to growing Orchids. I have always admired them but never bought one. One day about 3 months ago I was in the local big box hardware store and true to form they had marked down some of the pre-budding orchids 75%. Well I decided to grab a couple. They were in bad shape. But I decide to give them a second chance. They are Cats. I bought moss, bark and fert. then set off to grow some plants. The poor things had no healthy roots. But I repotted them and waited. About 2 weeks later there was a little bud coming from 2 of the plants. 2 made it one did not. They seem to be doing well. Well I went back a few weeks ago and they had some post bloom plants that were no good to them anymore marked down again. A bought 4 of them (one a 2 spike dancing lady that started to bloom 3 days later $12.00) the rest were in pretty bad shape. No roots and shriveled psuedoobulbs. I first bought some clay orchid pots then a few wood boxes. I repotted them in 100% orchid bark medium, some in pots, some in boxes. I guess my main question is is this the right way to approach trying to revitalize these plants. Surprisingly they seem to be some roots starting to form but they are still just little nubs. Also there are new leaves being produced. My bathroom has turned into a orchid refuge. They sit on my garden tube under a 4x4 frosted north facing window. As I mentioned they are coming along but I was wondering if it would be better to put them in moss since the roots are pretty much nubs. Last question. One of them has the little brown spots on the leaves that I now believe is a fungus. The spots are dry not mushy. At first I thought it from just from previous neglect until I saw it on the new leaves. The Dancing Lady also have them but I wasn’t going to do anything to it until the blooms die off. Any suggestions, comments or criticisms will be appreciated

[Brutal_Dreamer]

Hi fxman,

Welcome to the forum. I would move the cattleyas to a spot where they can get much more light. Cattleyas need fairly bright light if you plan for them to rebloom. Oncidiums like 'dancing lady' get little brown sun spots all over their leaves. This is just how they grow. If they get enough light to bloom, they will have a few spots.

To answer you potting question I would have to know your watering schedule. For me, I would leave everything in bark, but that is how I grow. There are others here who do grow in spag and are very successful with it, so I will leave it to them to respond on that point.

Good luck with your new plants & welcome!

Cheers!
BD

[fxman]

Hello BD,
Thanks for the reply. Funny thing when I put them in my south facing kitchen window one started to turn yellow. I actually put a couple outside the other day but we're on our 37th day of 100+. They had about 1 hour of direct morning sun the rest of the day was shaded. Again one of them started to turn yellow and the leaf tip started to burn, so I brought them in. I'm still trying to figure out the watering schedule. I work from home so I can water anytime. I usually mist them once or twice a day. You would still leave them in bark even though there is no real root structure. I soak water and since there are no roots they tend to float up with the bark. should I water the ones in the wood boxes more then once a week. My main goal is to try to get them healthy with some nice healthy leaf and root structure. I figured they probably wouldn't bloom for at least a year or two. Will the lack of bright light harm them? I plan on moving them to a east facing window once the heat goes down some.

[Diane]

Welcome! BD gave you solid advice. Instead of soaking to water, just let water slowly run through the pots. If your temperatures are in the hundreds, you definitely don't want to put sick plants outside. But a brighter window for the catts will definitely help them. The others can stay in the east window for a while to recover. Try putting the catts in a window where they get very bright light all day, but no direct sun on them. Until they are hardy again you need to be careful about sun burn.

I grow all my catts in bark, inside the house.