The Orchid Garden

Newbie question: When (if ever) to "give up" on an orchid….

Question:

Dear Newbie: I couldn’t resist answering this one.  This sounds so familiar, that I think I know the grower to which you refer.  He gets most of them from Mexico and usually sells them before they have been established.  Many are in relatively poor condition.  If I had to guess, you bought some rupiculous (they grow on rocks) laelias, such as cinnibarinum, flava, etc.  These are very slow to reestablish once they have gone down hill.  The trick is to give them plenty of humidity, but little or no water until you see new roots emerging.  One way to do this is to make miniature greenhouses out of cutoff clear pop bottles.  Invert the bottle over the pot (assuming you haven’t mounted the plant).  You might want to mount vertically on cork bark or treefern fiber with a little bit of moss. Remember that rupiculous laelias like to dry out between waterings. Good luck and be patient, Brian Hench, Seattle

Response:

One technique is to place your sick plant on TOP of a moist layer of live sphagnum moss inside a plastic bag. Close the bag and place it in a shady, low light spot. You don’t need to water it since the moisture never evaporates and the sphagnum acts as an antifungal agent and helps prevent disease (Assuming it isn’t diseases when you put it in the bag). Within a year it should either recover or start to rot. We’ve had some orchids that started to produce a growth which then aborted, but the next year it sent out a small but healthy growth. Marg. "Orchid Species Culture" – Timber Press. Vol.1, Pescatorea, Phaius, Phalaenopsis, Pholidota, Phragmipedium, Pleione – ISBN 0-88192-208-0 Vol. 2, in press, Dendrobium

Response:

I have a general question for anyone who can answer it…. I’m a beginner with about a dozen plants that I’ve been acquiring since last spring.  Some are doing quite well (growing, but not blooming yet) and others aren’t. I purchased about half tha plants from a grower in Thousand Oaks, CA, and, almost without exception, these are the plants that aren’t doing well.  It turns out that these plants had practically no live roots (a friend who bought plants from the same source at the same time had the same experience).  The leaves have fallen off 3 or 4 of these plants, which brings me to my question: WHen, if ever, has an orchid in poor health "passed the point of no return"?  Can it recover if ALL the leaves have fallen off?  Should I assume it’s too late if there are no leaves AND no new roots?  Or can plants in this condition revive? I hate to give up on any orchid, but I also don’t want to waste my time on a plant with NO chance of recovery. Apologies if this is an elementary question, but I need to know. Renee (Manhattan Beach, CA)

Response:

Filed under: Dendrobium Orchid

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