| I agree with Oak Hill - the plant looks basically OK. Miltonia and Miltoniopsis leaves are normally a grayish green color and always look like they're slightly dried out, so they will never be thick and green like a phal or catt. The pleated leaves on the new growths mean that it was not getting enough water and/or the humidity was very low at the time that those leaves were growing. I don't know if this happened at Oak Hill, or in your care, but it could be due to repotting into dry bark chips. At first glance, I would say that your plant is way overpotted, and that the chips are too large. A good medium for growing Milts is a mix of pure sphag and perlite, in a pot just barely large enough to hold the roots. The sphag mixture will hold moisture and give the plant what it needs. And milts need an amazing amount of moisture. Moreover, they like it fairly cool, humid and breezy, with high light. They are not the easiest orchids to grow in the house, but they are extremely resilient. Even if the plant has no roots, it will grow new ones in no time if you give it enough moisture. My suggestion would be to put it back in the size pot it came in, in a sphag-perlite mixture, keep the medium moist at all times, and keep the humidity around the plant as high as you can. In SC, this should be easy if the plant is outside! Just keep it in the shade to avoid sunburn. Good luck.  |