This one might still be saved...

[orchid_killer]

I don't know what kind of information you need to be able to help me. This looks almost a goner - really skinny, getting brown. But, there are still some green leaves, so I'm hopeful. Ask me questions, I'll provide as much information as you need!



It's in orchid potting mix---. I added sphagnum moss last December when humidity went down to 10%.

What should I do?

[ischel1]

Oh, poor baby! Get it out of the sphag. Cut away all the dead stuff, including dead or broken roots. Then if you still have anything that looks like it might be alive, repot in orchid bark in an unglazed clay pot with a hole in the bottom. My guess is, either it's been overwatered or under watered. If overwatered, let it dry out for a few days before resuming watering. If underwatered soak the roots and media before repotting. Good luck.

[Tednz]

Also keep it in low light till it shows a new groth.
Tednz

[Ron-NY]

I was noticing the hard water stains on the bottom of your pot. I am wondering if your water is to hard leading to root die off.

Personally, I wouldn't bother to try to save it. It is pretty well gone. But let's try to figue out what went wrong.
Tell us how you were culturing it. Light , water, temps ect. How long have you had it?

[Becky15349]

I agree with the above - it would take quite a long time to regrow a plant that far gone. Sphagnum is a very, very difficult medium to work with because it can hold a lot of water...and when you think its dry, it probably is still sopping wet towards the middle of the pot where you can't see. I would not recommend using sphagnum moss for anything unless you are a seasoned orchid grower and have had success with it. Your best option would be to chalk this up to experience, get a new plant, and start over - we can guide you from there.

[orchid_killer]

Oh man...

Okay, I got this plant last May. It had a good spray of flowers then. The flowers lasted about a month after I purchased it and after they died off, I repotted it into this ceramic orchid pot using commercial orchid potting mix. It sits in my screened in patio in Jacksonville, Florida. Summer temperatures go up to the mid 90's. Humidity is about 50-60%. I water it every Saturday letting the water run off the holes leaving water in the "tray" on the bottom. I use just regular city water and yes, it is a bit on the hard side.
In November, the humidity goes down to 10%, so I added spaghnum moss on top, pushing some of it on the sides, hoping to keep moisture. Then in late December, I moved the plant indoors because temperatures went down to the 30's. I changed the watering schedule to every 2 weeks (thinking it gets lesser light now) and added misting of the moss every 2 days or so.

I haven't done any fertilizing or anything like that because I tried that on another orchid a few years back and it died a few weeks after I added the fertilizer!

So, okay, I'll try to save this one knowing it might end up dying anyway. I have a few more problem orchids of different variety that I'm going to post here pretty soon!

I'm sorry for being so helpless! It is my goal to be able to change my name from orchid_killer to orchid_grower...

Thank you very very much!

[cindiras]

Do you run a dehumidifier in the house during the summer? Save the water for your orchids. That is one solution to the excess minerals in your water. Another is rainwater. Set a barrel under a downspout to collect rain water. Right now, with this goner, unpot to see if you have any roots left that are viable and post a photo. We can go from there. Have you looked at the threads for water culture? Or Semi-hydroponics? Both COULD be options as well as a much smaller pot of orchid bark.

[Ron-NY]

I am assuming that the chid looked healthy when you moved it in.

It is quite possible that with lower humidity and decreased watering schedule, it might have gone downhill from lack of water. When my humidity drops, during the winter months and central heating is on, I have to increase my watering schedule even though light levels are lower.

Don't worry about being helpless with these. There is a learning curve. We all have killed out share of chids over the years. Someone once said you can not call yourself an expert grower until you killed your weight in orchids.

It is better to find a source of water that is not hard. As Cindi suggested, collecting rain water is a good option. Most of my plants are watered with rainwater (or melted snow) .

[smwboxer]

I agree with those that say it's a goner.

[Brutal_Dreamer]

How did the roots look? We could probably learn more about what happened by seeing them.

Cheers,
BD