Hey peeps.
Since my mother passed away late last year I've been taking care of her orchids.
I've been watering them once a week and keeping them out of too much direct sunlight.
Today I noticed that my white flower lost all its leaves, however the flowers themselves look relatively healthy.
All my other plants aren't having this issue.
Am I doing something wrong or is this a normal thing?
Thanks so much for any help you can provide ❤️
by JONAS-RATO
17 Comments
Ahh no that’s dead. Flowers don’t have much to do with the health of the plant, it’s the leaves and roots. It will have had stem rot which is caused by water getting into the crown/cracks between leaf and stem
oh my, definitely not good. and from the photo, you have some other orchids with leaves that don’t look very healthy. when you water them, are you getting water on the leaves? i’m worried this might be crown rot.
Wow that’s really strange.
My guess is you are watering them by pouring water over them like a typical houseplant?
That’s not how you are supposed to water orchids. Orchids live up high in trees and never really sit in soil and water. You take the plastic inner pot out and put that in a bowl of water for a period of time (10mins to 1hr) then take it out and let it drip before putting it back in the decorative pot. That simulates rainfall pooling in the crook of a tree branch, which is how they get water in nature.
Pouring water over them can get into the seams of the leaves and they will rot right off. Orchids are sensitive to rot.
This one has lost its leaves due to crown rot. Enjoy the blooms then toss it.
[removed]
Water definitely got trapped in the crown and/or stem. RIP 🕊️. If you are lucky, there might be a decent chance it’ll produce a spike and/or basal keiki (baby orchid) if the roots are healthy.
Im so sorry for your loss. Truly.
Are these at your place? Orchids also don’t love being moved and I’ll assume your mother kept them in the same spot for a long time. Looks like some are suffering. Ease up on the watering. I’m sorry for your loss.
The best orchid growers have a lot of dead orchids in their past. This is one of yours.
I’m sorry, but the plant lost its crown and can’t grow any leaves unless it develops a new crown from either a side bud or from a keiki. Search for keiki paste and how to use it, you might get lucky if there are good sleeping buds.
Don’t cut the stem unless it’s all brown and dried. If the plant chose to recover it won’t be quick, it’ll take months. And don’t overwater orchids, it’s better to keep them on drier side than wet.
How do you water them?
Very. It should never be leafless. And I agree a couple other look worrying as well.
What are you gonna do is you’re gonna pray to whatever deity you worship that your plan will recover and send out a new leaf
There’s healthy roots so here’s hope 🙂 It might need some type surgery though
This one is sadly to long gone, leafs and roots are the parts this plant needs in best condition.
Watch some missorchidgirl videos to learn how you can take better care for the other ones!
Enjoy the blooms, the plant is dead, it just doesn’t know it yet.
Nobody has mentioned that watering blindly once a week isn’t the way. During colder months you probably only need to water once every two weeks but it all depends on how dry the media is. Orchids roots get silvery light green when ready for a drink. Once a week blindly and you’ll probably deal with root rot soon.
When the leaves fall off, are they dry, mushy, or do they still have structure like the green leaves with maybe a little wrinkling? The roots don’t look rotten and neither does the stem.
I’m wondering if it’s pests. When I had thrips, it was always the bottom leaves that started yellowing from the tips, and then they would fall off at the seam near the stem. They would still having a somewhat normal feeling structure to them. To confirm, take a close look at the stem and between the leaves to see if you spot any black lines moving around.