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A maybe dead orchid. Half the stems are green. Some of the leaves are dark green. We're aren't sure if we can save her but we don't want to throw her out, if there's a chance. Any help appreciated!
There's a lady that I follow on YouTube and she did a video about this topic. PlantsWithKrystal. Here's a link to the short. https://youtube.com/shorts/G6_MHx-QjgQ
I'm not an expert but I have five orchids in the house and they're all doing really well, so I just be doing something right - one of them was in worse shape than yours when I got it six months ago, and it's about to bloom for the first time very soon :D
All that to say, caveat this advice with the fact that the watering method/frequency might not be 100% optimal. All the products I use are listed at the end of this post.
All my orchids are potted in orchid bark, with the slitted plastic orchid pots inside of beauty pots.
I use a water bottle and thoroughly spray every orchid once a day, generally in the mornings. I use enough water to start saturating the roots (you can tell when they start to change color from white ish to a darker color). I also make sure to get the potting medium nice and wet, but not so saturated that the pot drains freely, and I want it to be dry 24 hours later so it doesn't mold. It's usually about 25-30 pumps per orchid. I have tried ice cubes in the past but I really don't like that method - very difficult to get water on all the roots.
Once weekly I do the same application method but I use a probiotic&fertilizer spray that I mix instead. I follow the quantum orchid probiotic directions to mix one gallon of liquid, and add about 1/4 teaspoon of better-gro orchid better-bloom (instead of the normal mix ratio that's 1 teaspoon per gallon, because I apply it 4x a month instead of 1x a month as the fertilizer directions state. You can use probiotic daily if you want and it won't hurt the orchids but you can definitely over-fertilize).
Trim the dead/dying parts, get it into some good fresh potting medium, and water regularly. Good chance it'll come back, but it'll look dormant for a while. If you see new leaves start to grow you're in business! Good luck.
Potting medium: https://www.ebstone.org/product/orchid-bark-fine-med/ Pots (something like this): https://www.repotme.com/collections/slotted-orchid-pot Spray bottles: https://camelcamelcamel.com/product/B096LN2NBH Probiotic: https://www.repotme.com/products/quantum-orchid Fertilizer: https://camelcamelcamel.com/product/B004Z8OL12
I'd cut off the flower stalk and stick to misting the leaves and air roots. Eventually it should grow a new flower stem when it's ready. Probably at least a year.
I'd also consider removing that yellow flower, but maybe give it a week and see if it recovers or not
Thank you for your response.
Would you recommend removing the dead leaf..? It seems to be growing new greenery.
The mostly yellow on the left? Probably remove it, but it won't hurt to leave it to see if it recovers. The big thing for them is regular misting or high humidity
It popped off on it's own for my wife 🤦♀️
Thank you for your advice!
I'm not surprised, it was probably going to come off any ways
Definitely not dead yet! Just snip those stalks down. If you decide to remove the dead leaf (probably for the best) don’t tear it off but remove it as close to the base as possible. I’d recommend scissors for trimming, I had my best luck by ensuring the cuts would be single and clean, even on dead leaves. That will leave some little stumps behind from the stalks, but after a while they’ll die and it’ll be easy to pull them out with a little wiggling.
Mhm! The bad leaf popped off without issue for my wife. I snipped the stalks down. Hopefully she can recover... The plant, I mean. Not my wife. We both don't have green thumbs but really want to.
Thank you for the advice!
Absolutely! I found my love for orchids by accident, without realizing what I signed up for lol I was actually surprised at how resilient they were in spite of my mistakes. I’d often get multiple blooms a year though!
My general rules of thumb that kept my 2 grocery store orchids going for almost 3y was to keep watering low (I did ~1-2 tablespoons once a week), prune stalks after the flowers die (don’t rush this since can die before the rest grow in), and use cloth/canvas pots that can breathe.
Cut off the flower stalks but don't chuck them. They are your best hope. There appears to be a little keiki (orchid plantlet) on one of the stalks and you should try and get it to grow roots as it is your best hope for the orchid to live.
We had trimmed at the dead stalk section. I think my wife threw the brown stalks away. I just did some reading on that word, keiki. Seems you are right with the roots and hopefully we can grow something out of this. It's heartbreaking. We are trying really hard to keep her alive but we suck at plants and green thumbing. Thank you for your advice though!
I keep mine near the frosted window in my bathroom, so it benefits from the humidity and filtered light.
We have a weird placement for our apartment. We don't really have the sun direct in the winter. And no window in the restrooms, unfortunately. I've got her at the best window I can try for. Plus, our cat constantly tries to eat her if I place her in any other window. It's so frustrating.
Well, spray bottles to the rescue. Good luck!
Also add some orchid specific dung, it worked with mine..
Noted. We have some orchid food.. is that the same as what you mentioned? Google it's not too helpful with the term 'orchid dung,' sorry.
Sorry, I meant Orchid Fertilizer