I need help with my new Orchid

[SilviaParamio]

Hi Everyone,
My name is Silvia and I am new in this forum as well as a new grower of Orchids. I recently moved to my own house and bought 2 Orchids (one Phalaenopsis and a Dendrobium) that I set up in an arrangement. After 2 days the flowers start dying and one of the green leaves turned yellow. They are in a clear pot with moss and the day I brought them to my house I lightly misted them and put them together in an arrangement inside of a pot, so the roots are not getting any light. The plants are in the living room where they get indirect sunlight and the room temperature is about 68 F. I am trying to figure out what I have done wrong to be dying that quick. I must be doing something wrong that I do not realize because a month ago a bought a Phalaenopsis and it happened the same.

I have attached a picture so you can see the arrangement. Are might the roots suffering from a lack of light? or the plant might not have enough ventilation?

Thank you for your help.

[JoeW]

Hello, Silvia. Looks like I am the first of many who will welcome you to the club! A new environment often causes orchids to get fussy like that. It is typical. I recommend that you check out the information on your orchid types and care tips at this link.
Orchids - River Valley Orchidworks - Care and Cultivation Guide
Your pictures didn't post. Maybe because they are greater than 700x700. A warning comes up in the pop-up box and I have missed it in the past too. This link may help. Go to BD's post #8 to learn how to resize your pictures
http://www.rv-orchidworks.com/orchid...-everyone.html
Orchids are not typical house plants and may not work well as an arrangement. Also, light is not bad, but the roots need air. To be more helpful, we look forward to seeing the pictures. Best regards, Joe

[Brutal_Dreamer]

Welcome, Silvia. Joe covered my thoughts in his response above. I hope we can help you figure out what is wrong.

Cheers,
BD

[Lambert]

Hello Silvia and welcome to the forum. Looking forward to seeing your pictures and hopefully provide some helpful information!

[SilviaParamio]

Hi Everyone,

Thank you for your welcome messages and for your help. Everyone is so nice in this forum, I really appreciate your time. I am going to try to download the pictures again. I hope it works!!!

You will see how they are inside of a blue pot but they are not plant in the pot. They are just inside with their own clear pots and I just covered with moss the top. You will see 3 different types of Orchids. One is a white Phalaenopsis that has its own clear pot, and the other 2 are one yellow Dendrobium and one white and red that I do not know which type is; both of them are sharing a clear pot.

Thanks again for your help

[Brutal_Dreamer]

Hi Silvia,

The red and white orchid is a miltonia. The yellow orchid appears to be another Phalaenopsis, though I am unable to see the front of the bloom. All three of these orchids will appreciate cooler temps, but still need light and air movement to survive.

Take a look at this article: Growing the Phalaenopsis Orchid (Moth Orchid) This should give you some basic starting information.

Cheers,
BD

[SilviaParamio]

Here, I have attached more pictures of the yellow leaves that I was talking about in the first post. I pulled out the plants from the arrangement so you can see better what I am talking about.

Thank you again,

[Brutal_Dreamer]

That looks to be normal leaf drop on the phal. This happens to the lower leaves of phals as the plant ages. Your plant looks really healthy. I would let the leaf fall naturally.

Cheers,
BD

[SilviaParamio]

Hi BD,

Thank you for your response. After reading your article I realize I might be doing some things wrong like keeping the plant's roots hidden in a large pot without light and air ventilation. I come up with this pot arrangement idea after visiting a orchid Farm down in San Diego, CA.
Regarding to the watering techniques, I am still confused. My orchids are planted with moss and in the orchid farm they told me to mist them once a week if they are planted in the moss or to sumerge them if they are planted with the wood chunks.

With the first Phalaenopsis that I had 2 months ago, I sumerged it in water for 2 hours and then I let it dry in the sink. That was the technique that I used with the ones that I had when I was leaving in Spain and they did great, but they were planted on wood chunks. The one I bought here it was planted with moss didn't work and ended up dying because I over water it.
So, with this ones that are plant on moss, would you recommend to mist them once a week or it will be better so sumerge them for a minute and let them dry?

[Brutal_Dreamer]

I have never had much luck with phals in sphag/moss. I always repot into the 'wood chunks' so that I can be sure of good air circulation as well as I can make sure the roots dry off.

The milt, however, will need to stay damp (not wet). Don't let it completely dry out.

Regarding misting: If the grower where you purchased the orchids suggested the misting, and that is how s/he was growing them, then continue. With the exception of the yellow leaves, the plant looks very good. And again, the lower leaves do die away, so that is normal.

Best of luck!

Cheers,
BD