hey yall! sooo this is supposed to be a teacup orchid, and her flowers all died :( the stems look like this but her pot also looks a little weird… can yall help me? cus idk what those white dots all over the plant is, and idk if she’s at the point of no return :(
In my experience the stem will die after the flowers drop. And that’s completely ok. Not sure about the white dots though. You will probably want to remove the stem once they die. And the stems come back every year sometimes with more stems
1 likeOhhhhhh the white dots is mold. You can take the top layer of soil out and sprinkle some cinnamon down and had new soil. I’ve never done this but I’ve Heard people doing and it working.
0 likesAgree with the above statement about your flower spike. It’s just dried off at its time. Go ahead and cut it off. With good care, your orchid will grow another spike. I’m going to guess you’ve never repotted your orchid. This looks like one of the thin plastic pots that orchids come in from the nursery. It’s possible that the white spots are mold since the bark medium is very old and there is not enough drainage/aeration in pots like these. I would NOT just take a layer of bark off and keep using that medium. 1) it’s old and breaking down- it will eventually turn acidic and hurt your roots. And 2- if it IS mold, you’ll have spores throughout the pot. If you plan to repot, post again and we’ll walk you through what you’ll need and what you need to do. The other possibility is that it’s salt deposits on top of your medium from hard water- less worrisome, you’ll want to run water through the pot once a month to sort of wash it away, as salt buildup can also burn roots.
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I’m in the hard water camp. Does your tap water have a lot of dissolved minerals? Flushing the pot with water each time you water will help reduce salt buildup. I also second Jen’s advice about repotting. That media is at the useful end of its life. And all that salt buildup needs to be addressed before it burns the roots.
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