So I got this orchid from my boyfriend for Valantine's day (he bought it from the grocery store). It was potted in a plastic pot in A LOT of moss. It was fine when he bought it then the next day it started looking bad... Root rot from the look of it.. just wondering if the few roots left are enough for it to live through the repotting... anyway... here are some pictures, please help me! Thanks M
what you need to do is repot it. if there are some healthy looking roots, nice and firm, not the mushy ones then it might be able to survive. repot it in a new media (the same as what it is potted in), the old one might be deteroadting. cut off the mushy dead roots. if it is in flower, cut the spike off, you don't want it to waste all it energy on flowers, you want it to use it for making new roots. if it trys to flower again continue to cut off the spikes
The plant looks strong enough to survive. Do not use moss. Get medium grade fir bark, orchid bark. If you cannot find that then get medium grade landscaping bark or ground cover bark. Presume it will be grown inside the house? Reuse the pot, bottom fill with the bark, set in or hold in the phally and then add more bark. Tap the pot to settle. Do not use tap water. Get a sprayer and use distilled or r/o water and spray the top of the bark only. Not the plant. Spray enough so that water flows off the bark and then stop. Repeat in three days. Recommend a humidity tray. Any pan that will hold a layer of aquarium gravel or any coarse gravel that is clean and fill with water just up to the surface of the gravel. Sit the potted orchid on top. Keep the plant in a warm room, behind an east facing window curtain. See how that does. The main thing it needs is warmth and humidity. Normally around 80% but in a home that is not possible so the humidity tray should at least help. Give it time to recover. If the remaining roots are not infected with rot-sometimes you cannot even tell, the plant will slowly recover and you will know by how it grows. Keep us posted!!!
how close to the flowers should I cut off the spike? the one nearest to them or the nob nearest the base?
okay, so just pop off the current flowers and any that may form... Thank you both for the information!! I will keep you posted...
