so… obviously she’s not in the best of health. i got some advice to cut off the dead roots and try to grow new ones in water to monitor health. what are some of your best tips to keep them healthy? i have chronic leafers that go without blooms for most their life and all the tips i’ve tried before haven’t worked. orchid bark, well draining pot aside, what is the best lighting? distance from windows?
I don’t know anything about water culture and orchids. It it was mine, I would remove the dead roots and pot it up in sphagnum and possibly tent it. That would keep the humidity up and help hydrate the plant while it works on new roots. If you can salvage it, you will probably be looking a a couple of years setback so don’t sweat if you don’t see blooms. Work on managing the moisture. Clear orchid pots are very helpful with this. You can tell when they are ready for water - green roots don’t water / silver roots it’s water time. My phals are in a west window that is heavily shaded by landscaping. They don’t get any direct sunlight but still their leaves turn a little red, meaning they are getting as much as they can handle safely.
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I recently bought a dried up mini orchid from lowe’s. It has taken on as of now. I would suggest, make sure you clean the roots. This looks lik root rot. So if you see mush roots cut then n if you had this orchid on moss or bark make sure that medium is not stuck on the roots anymore. Then give the roots a 3% Hydrogen peroxide rinse. Let it dry out completely for half a day or so. Later put it in a size appropriate container, so if your roots are sparse opt for a smaller container. Some transparent will help the roots with photosynthesis n you would be able to keep an eye on its roots for further rot or mold. Fill the container with 1/3 water that is soft water- so either rain water, Reverse osmosis water or distilled water. Then find a shady window. So a window that has a shade on it so direct sun does not harm it. Leave it water for a week or so if it’s dehydrated. If not, I would give it 5 days in water n a break before I change it. There are tutorials on YouTube in case if you want to make distilled water at home. Now if your local weather is dry, then you might want to keep it in water for most times give it half day of drying time n then put it back in water before it dries out again. If you are in humid weather, you can go with 1 to 2 days of dry period. What I just explained is semi culture based orchid growing. You can do more research on this if you like. Once you are confident that the orchid is doing well, I would then provide it with fertiliser to ensure blooms. But let’s just take one step at a time. I would love to hear from you if this helped! Do keep me posted!
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