Sick Pot. AhChung Yo Yo 'Little Goldfish'

[Kassie]

I think I figured out why my big box of budded mini-catts were such a great deal--they started budding before the grower could get them repotted out of their seedling mix.

They are in 2 inch pots with small (rotten) bark and live moss growing on most of them, and a few are suffering from too much water. I've repotted two with severe root loss already and today discovered this Pot. AhChung Yo Yo 'Little Goldfish' dumping its blooms.





Most of the roots are toast. The two shorter p-bulbs are funny colored-shows more in pictures than IRL--but they are firm feeling, not at all mushy. I have it soaking in superthrive right now, will treat it with physan 20 (that's the only antifungal I have) and plan to pot it in the smallest pot they'll fit in with chc mix.

Any idea why the p-bulbs look that way? Should I trim them off? Is there anything else I should be doing for them? I'm watching the rest carefully and repotting as soon as they're done blooming.

[madphrag]

Wow, what a shame! Please don't mention the sellers name but I'm just curious if these were purchased on ebay?

[Kassie]

They were, but in fairness, I've had them over a month. They were all in awesome condition when they arrived. I was the one who overwatered them. I could tell the bark was broken down when I got them, but I thought the buds would be better off if I waited to repot until they were finished blooming. Most are doing fine. Some are thriving--throwing out multiple new growths and still blooming. I have backed off watering--trying to keep the relative humidity high, but not get the mix wet until they are done blooming.

What concerns me is the color on those pseudobulbs--they gotten a reddish brown tinge with sort of a translucency to it. I'm not sure if it's just typical overwatering damage, the cattleya version of crown rot or something more sinister. If it is not a sign of some pervasive disease, I think most of these orchids will be fine. Even if I lose a couple, I am still happy with my purchase.

[cindiras]

Sun damage? The sun shining through glass will heat things considerably.

[Halloamey]

Trish that is a sign of over watering. Do not give the plant long soaks. Treat using a powdered topical fungicide like cardendazim or sulphur powder. I will just mist it every day, so that it dries out within an hour or so. I wouldn't even pot it, just put it inside an empty pot and put this pot in a slightly bigger clay pot, you can wet this clay pot to just increase the humidity around the plant. When you see the beginning of new roots, pot it up in fresh bark or any other suitable potting mix.

[Kmac]

Trish--

Sorry you are having trouble. The three I have from that batch all seem healthy, but:

Little Marmaid 'Janet' flowers are much lighter than in any pic I have seen. I'm wondering if that is a sign of it being a "young" first-time bloomer, or maybe of stress due to the shipping and all? It looks healthy though, and I am trying not to overwater. Any idea why it would bloom so much lighter?

Eplc Don Herman 'Emi' looks good, but a lot of roots are dead. It had a lot of air roots wrapped around and around themselves above the pot, but in handling it, it pretty much fell out of the pot, as the roots inside were mostly dead, and the media old. I think it is Ok for now with all the above-pot roots, and will repot it when it finishes blooming, or sooner if it looks stressed.

The real puzzler: Pot. Love Avenue 'Serenade' had 3 buds, which appeared not to develop for a while. They finally started to enlarge. One day the lowest(& least fat one) just shriveled & dropped off. I had been keeping it on the dry side, but maybe too much? So, went back to watering just a bit more often. The two remaining buds got fatter and fatter & never opened. At this point, they have been just barely open at the tip for like 2+ weeks, with little change. Not sure what is up with that.

All 3 will be repotted as soon as they finish blooming, but I am hoping that they will stay healthy.

Kathi