Mini Orchid

[LoveOscar]

I have a "mini" orchid ---- vendor information removed -see faqs on posting----
that I bought last year. It was doing fine for the longest time. I left it in its little plastic cup with the moss, I never directly watered it, just put a small amount of water at the bottom of the ceramic cup it was in and let it soak it up as it needed. My roots never went bad, it never seemed soggy, I thought I was doing good. Then I noticed the leaves getting a strange color to them and not thinking anything of it (we had a good freeze going on and my plant room got down right chilly) I stuck it in my grow tank (I'm using a 20 gal fish tank with two 6500k grow lights to start seeds for my vege garden). It has a heat mat, and is generally warmer in the tank than the rest of the room. And a few days later, when we warmed up out of the random icey freeze we got, I pulled it out of the tank. And my leaves fell off. All of them. :'-(

I have no idea why, but I later saw some tiny white fuzz, probably mold. It wasn't there before I put it in the tank, so maybe it came from in it? I sterilized my soil and have no other mold growing in the tank so I am at a loss.

Now my question is, can I save it? I haven't thrown it away yet, and reading up on orchid care left me curious. I checked the roots, still green, fat, firm, and I'm hoping healthy? Can I save it if it has NO leaves and decent roots? Or is it a lost cause?

HELP!
LO
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[pavel]

Without knowing what your orchid is, there isn't much anyone will be able to tell you. Post the name if you know it, if not, a photo of the plant as it is now (including close-ups of the stem) as well as the way it was before (?in bloom?) would be very helpful.

There is a good chance it is a lost cause but it might be salvageable. Nothing more can be said until we know more about the plant.

Also, what is "down right chilly"? What may be chilly to you might not seem so to me or might seem downright frigid to me.

[LoveOscar]

"Down right chilly" is below freezing outside, probably floating around 45-50 degrees in the plant room because it has three exterior walls and poor insulation. I will take pictures of what is left of the plant and see if I can find one with its greenery still. It never had a name or label, but it had small white flowers, five petals, small grouping of maybe six buds. I'm thinkin it is phal. but I can't say for sure.

LO
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[78Terp]

Without pictures I am just grasping at straws and hope the below description helps in the future.

For phalaenopsis', crown rot is a common ailment that needs to be avoided. Otherwise you will kill the orchid. Crown rot is not hard to avoid.

When you water or mist your orchids, make sure water does not collect and pool in the crevice at the top of the leaves where they join to stem. There is room for water to collect there and that can cause the crown to rot. So after watering your phals, check to see if there is a pool of water at the top of the stem and if there is, use toilet paper, a tissue, napkin, paper towel or anything absorbent and suck up that pool of water. When the water is removed, the crown can dry and not get rotten.

[maggs]

Hi, why not try spraying the plant with a mild fungicide, keeping it a bit warm not hot, I do not live where you are and here in the west Indies it is warm, wet at times too, I have had a similar problem and wet is just as bad as cold, so try anything to get the plant to be comfortable, but, like someone else said a picture would be nice to be able to tell you more, I don't know but maybe water is helping the problem to increase

---------- Post Merged at 11:32 AM ----------

I forgot to say I put all of my phalaenopsis on pieces of tree branches, even one that had absolutely no root because of rot and it was all shriveled up, there is now a beautiful long spike with about six to eight lovery flowers:-) so if yours is a phalaenopsis try even that, it is worth trying if you love plants

[OrchisAmor]

I've heard that Physan 20 or a similar product is good to use as a fungicide, bactericide, virucide, algaecide, disinfectant and it's okay to use on orchids.

[LoveOscar]

[cakedaddy]

Ouch...There is a possibility of the plant throwing a keiki. Unless it is an important plant, I'd toss it.
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[pavel]

Definitely looks like a phal. I'd pitch it. Looks like the stem has died (and it is not uncommon, IME, for the roots to take some time "get the message" and follow suit).

Stem death like that is usually crown rot -- wherein some moisture was in the crown of the plant (whether from watering, dripping from ceiling above, splashing, or condensation) and a fungus or bacteria ran amok. Another possibility is a fungal infection that entered through a root and entered the stem.

[LoveOscar]

Is stem death supposed to occur when the blooms fall off? The stems have been like that for a while and I never looked on how to remove them, if they should be removed. I could see my not removing the stem to cause crown rot if the stem rotted at the base. I never got it wet as I always removed the orchid from the pot and poured water directly to the bottom of the pot before replacing the orchid. We've had a colder winter than usual, and a very, very wet one. We deal with a constant high humidity where I am because I am right off the Mississippi River.
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