HELP!! What's happening to my orchid

[Alefti42]

Oh god. That doesn't sound good. I looked up pictures of stem rot online. They all had these black, sooty looking wounds. Didn't look good. Is that a more advanced stage?

Thanks for the help.

[articuno75]

You can care for it, but it's more difficult and time consuming. Plant survival is, well, slim. Since you only had the plant for little over a week, I'd take it back to the vendor and get a replacement. Tis better to start off with a nice healthy plant than to try and work with something sick and end up with a disaster.

[Alefti42]

I went to the vendor and he insists it is suffering from frostbite. Does anyone know anything about this? Is that possible, and what can I do to help it. He sees frostbite as not his problem i.e. he won't replace it.

[jfrizz743]

How does he claim it has frostbite? As long as you didn't leave it out in the cold then I would insist on a replacement or refund, and if they still refuse then they would lose my business, but that's just me... Frostbite???

[Alefti42]

I spoke with my uncle (another florist in NYC), and he too told me this frostbite business was bullshit. So I went back in to the florist and told him so. He said to bring the flower in tomorrow and that he might be able to replace it with a smaller one (fine by me as long as he replaces it). I told him to not do so would be disreputable, and that's not the way to run a business.

The only time it was outside in the cold was on the trip from the florist to my apartment, and it had been double wrapped.

I guess I gotta wrap it up well though to take it back out of my apartment and to the florist. Any suggestions on a good household item to wrap with that'll keep heat in.

[GiovannaD]

The exact same thing happened to me, as well. My hubby bought me this beautiful big phal, but it had barely spent 2 days in my house along with my other phals and the two bottom leaves yellowed and wrinkled, then on the third day they fell off! The flowers were great, however thanks to this forum, I knew the plant had suffered major damage. It had probably been left in the shop with no heating... The florists keep their plants cool so as to preserve them longer but the tropicals, especially phals, suffer from this practice. I should mention though that damage of this level is does not happen within minutes...it is probably the result of one to three days of very cold temps. Maybe even a week of very cold nights followed by adequate temps during the day.
I returned the phal to the shop within 3 days and told them that this was cold damage due to their negligence and they immediately agreed to replace it. However I did not exchange it with another phal, as it was certain that all of the shop's stock of phals would meet the garbage bin pretty soon, so I bought a cymbidium which is cold tolerant. I would strongly advise you to do the same.

[cindiras]

Alefti, Got any bubble wrap? It has good insulating properties.

[Alefti42]

Nope. No bubble wrap. BTW I came home today and another leaf had fallen off. Also, the area where the leaves broke of is now black. I guess that seals the deal, huh? It must be a kind of fungus or rot. They better take it back!

[Alefti42]

I found this online....Pests and Diseases. The picture of black rot looks exactly like the leaf on my orchid. So basically, if my plant has this, which it seems it does, it's highly likely it was infected when I took it home?

[articuno75]

I would say so. Actually the cold chills as explained before would haved stressed and weakened the plant. Then the transport to your house did it in. Phals in bloom don't like to move as it is. But when something like this occurs. They should know better. I'm glad that they're going to replace the plant for you, but they should have been more courteous about it. When you get a replacement and you do get a Phal, double check the crown of the plant and the overall appearance of the plant. If the vendor gives you a smaller plant like they intend to, then they need to compensate for the price too.