I've been making sure the soil is wet enough and I tried trimming all the dry stuff off, and also tried giving them more and less light but nothing has really helped them for the last two weeks and I'm not sure what else I can do with them or what the problem might be :/
by tylorin3
8 Comments
Is there any substrate in the pot?
This orchid is so dehydrated it’s almost beef jerky. Soak the roots in water for 15 min, the alive roots should turn from silvery to greenish when you do. You can see that the top roots are kind of alive and the bottom roots are brown and rotted and can/should be cut away. Orchids enjoy a good soak and then drying up a little, constant moisture will lead to rot.
Research appropriate orchid substrates, they can’t be potted in regular soil but having no substrate doesn’t work in most conditions either. Check out missorchidgirl’s tutorials in youtube.
Edit to add: if I was to guess what happened here it would be that the substrate was too wet and/or compact which caused all the potted roots to rot and die, the surviving roots were all outside of the substrate and didn’t suffer the same fate. Now all roots where there’s access to water are dead and all the roots that are alive are in quite dry air so there’s nowhere the plant is able to absorb the water it needs – leading to the dehydration we see.
I start by cutting all the dead roots. You have some healthy green ones. The leaves might fall off, but I wouldn’t worry too much about that. It’s hard to tell by the pic but the roots look like it could have been over watered. Orchids do like to dry out a little in between waterings. They also love humidity. I am fortunate to have windows in my bathroom. It’s the perfect place for my plants. I water by submerging them fully for 20mins every 1 to 1 and a half weeks. If the soil is still moist, I’ll mist the roots. Also check their pots for left over water. They do not like sitting in water because it causes their bottoms to start to rot. I was Notorious for killing orchids. An app that helped me was called Planta. It sets up a watering schedule for you and tells you which spot in your house is best for the plant. I’m not sure if you have to pay. But it’s definitely worth looking into any plant app. Good luck. I believe in you!
You can try keeping her in [water](https://youtube.com/shorts/7FYokQniO5Y?si=f1DIg4n53WzDx_GA)
Had the same problem.
Placing it in water for 2 hours helped. I felt so stupid when my friend suggested that and it actually was the problem.
The air in my kitchen was so dry that the bark the orchid was sitting in dried out too quickly for “regular waterings” to be sufficient.
This may be controversial but…. My dad has the nicest orchids. These orchids bloom every year and grow well enough to probably need a re-pot. The only thing he does is place 2 ice cubes in the pot (directly on the plant in some cases) once a week. That’s it. For reference he’s a retired brick mason with hands that are somewhere between sandpaper and rusty iron.
It desperately needs water. Also what do you have it planted in? I don’t see any substrate in the pot?
Where the soil?