An orchid is a thing of beauty....

[LJA]

...but not always!

We've seen the best; let's see the rest. Post pictures of your orchid failures and frustrations here.

[pretty_bug01]

This will be fun to see. I'm excited to see what the other diseases on real plants, and to hear the recovery story....if it recovered.

[Heather]

YAY

Glad you did this. I will take a pic of my den (in the compost pile already!) and then its slowly deteriorating friend (not yet on the heap.)

[OrchidTraci]

HAH we need this. I wish this thread existed when I bought my first scale infested, mealybug ridden, hoping to be put to death orchid from HD. Everyone would have gotten a good laugh, Not just the fools who sold me the pathetic thing .

[Heather]

You are quite hilarious yourself there, Traci!

[OrchidTraci]

Originally posted by Heather
You are quite hilarious yourself there, Traci!

Thanks

[Tanya]

Booo Hooo !!! ( no crying smiley ). It seems that I am the only one who have a sick plant . This phal was infested with what I now suspect red spider mites. That was last year. No , I didn't used chemicals because 1, I wasn't sure what are the tiny red dots, (spider mites on roses are mobile, the one on the phal were just dots, they don't move.) 2, I wasn't sure which chemical is safe to use on orchid. Instead I mixed few drops of dishwashing detergent with warm water and gave the orchid a good scrubbing using cotton wool. I then drenched the whole plant with the solution and gave it a good flushing using clear water. It worked!!. The plant bloomed again this year and seemed healthy albeit scarred. But after the flowers died, last July, all root growth stopped. And then the lower leaves start turning yellow. There seemed to be new root coming out from the stem at the moment, but it is not the usual round stump. Its wedge shaped, making me think that its the beginning of a spike . I didn't put any medium when I repotted it except for a few pieces of charcoal to hold the roots down and few sphag, but it still taking a longer time to dry than the rest of the phals. This plant is really very sick and I know its my fault. Any comment on this? I appreciate it.

Tanya

[LJA]

Tanya, it looks to me like it's just recovering from its damage. Phals will very often transfer the nutrients out of older, damaged leaves to put into new growth, and those older leaves just die. The leaves at the crown look ok though, so just keep taking care of it. If you're worried that it's still sick, once you're sure it's putting out a spike and not a keiki, you can cut the spike off to keep the plant from "wasting energy" by flowering.

[Tanya]

Thanks for the info, Louis. I guess I have to cut the plant also when it has grown some roots and repot the top half? Gee, I have never done that kind of surgery before. But the plant looks ugly with that bare "trunk" and its top heavy.

Tanya

[prem]

actually, that "trunk" can be the source for new roots...I wouldn't cut it, as extra roots will help speed the recovery of the plant.

---Prem