New to site and NEED HELP!

[stvnjns]

I am attempting to grow a Cymbidium erythrostylum, that was purchased about 3 months ago. Apperently I am not doing it well, as the plant is more dead than alive. Picture is attached.
I am new to this and I am not sure what I have done wrong - I believe the damage is due to either too hot or too cold. Watering has been about 1 per week, with bark type soil. It does not dry out nor does it sit in water. Drainage is good. Any suggestions (short of throwing it out! ) would be appreciated.

Steve

[kid a]

Hello and welcome to the forum! I am not that familiar with Cym. but there are several here are that would be answer you question. When you say soil are you talking about potting soil with some bark? It may not be getting enough air to the roots causing it to smother. It looks a little baby seedling. Poor thing! I hope it gets better. You might take out the dead parts that are brown so it doesn't encourage rot. Also you can do some searches on the forum and probably come up some helpful info too :-) Nice to meet you!

[stvnjns]

Hi
Thanks for quick reply. The soil is an orchid bark mix, no dirt. The plant was a bare root miniature. I am not sure you can see it, but the plant is actually potted in a 3" to 4" 'zip' storage container, with 1/2" holes cut in the bottom for drainage. The storage container is then placed in the pot that you can see in the photo. When I water, I can see the bark drains and there appears to be a lot of spaces for 'breathing'.

The area I live in does get rather hot during the day. I do not think that the temp ever got lower than 36 degrees(night) or higher than about 95 degrees (day), according to min-max thermometer. Those extremes were not on the same day, by the way!

I am moving plant to my office window to see if I can revive it.
I will take advice and clean off dead parts, but wanted pictures (finally) to show what was happening - it has been a fairly slow process. :-(

Thanks again.
Steve

[Rocinante]

Originally Posted by stvnjns

I am attempting to grow a Cymbidium erythrostylum, that was purchased about 3 months ago. Apperently I am not doing it well, as the plant is more dead than alive. Picture is attached.
I am new to this and I am not sure what I have done wrong - I believe the damage is due to either too hot or too cold. Watering has been about 1 per week, with bark type soil. It does not dry out nor does it sit in water. Drainage is good. Any suggestions (short of throwing it out! ) would be appreciated.

Steve

Welcome, Steve! I know you say you water once a week, but judging from the little bit I can see from your picture, the plant looks kinda soggy to me. Clip out the dead leaves and let it dry out some. It looks like it is still trying to grow. Why don't you take it out of it's outer pot, so it can more fully dry out and breathe?

[solay]

Looks like it might have rot. Does the leaves come loose when you gently pull on them? I think you might want to take the whole plant out and check the roots for any soft and rotten roots. Cut them off and re-pot in medium size bark that's been soaked in water and super thrive. Then I would only water when the bark is almost dry. The mix you have may be holding too much moisture. Good Luck!

[brookn]

Hi, I agree with John, looks soggy. I like having a nice pot, but I don't put pots in pots, not enough air. Try this:

Skewer use for watering of orchids

AOS | Cymbidium

[fred]

I would like to see a better pic of your cym as what I could make our in your pic the cym also looks like it is also planted a little to deep as well that could be the cause of the rot. but please give us a better pic

what do you think brookn ?

[brookn]

I concur! Mine stay a little drier, and I pot em high. The downside is that they are not as stable until the roots start to hold them in the pot.

[Rocinante]

Originally Posted by solay

Looks like it might have rot. Does the leaves come loose when you gently pull on them? I think you might want to take the whole plant out and check the roots for any soft and rotten roots. Cut them off and re-pot in medium size bark that's been soaked in water and super thrive. Then I would only water when the bark is almost dry. The mix you have may be holding too much moisture. Good Luck!

Not wishing to disagree with you solay, but the plant is in dire straits right now. It probably has little or no root system to speak of. Re-potting would probably just finish it off for good. In my humble opinion, it would not stand the stress of being re-potted just now. If it is going to comeback, it has to do it in it's present mix. Just let it dry out real good and then start watering gently. I would water it with a small dose of Superthrive in the water. Double pots are usually only for plants that are top heavy and may fall over.

[fred]

is there any new growths on the back of the pic where the nice green growth is ?
in my own opinion that plant will die if left like that.
my own opinion again I would not have a cym in a pot like that either as I said thats my opinion.


I also agree that the plant is in dire straits right now if there is any new growths I would re pot. other wise the whole plant will rot away.

no offence John

[solay]

I find that it's better to remove the rotted roots and try to get new roots to form. The plant will surely die it left in that pot. The rot will grow up into even the green leaves that are still there even it you let the medium dry up. The re-potting will work if it still has any good roots (even one). I would also soak the good roots in Physen 20 first and let it air dry before re-potting. That's my humble advice. The plant does look bad so even this may not save it. Sorry.

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

I would say that if there are no living roots, as one could suspect with a plant looking like that, leaving it in the original mix and not disturbing serves no useful purpose. Think I'd take it out of the pot and inspect the roots. If there are living roots, put it into a mix of bark of mixed sizes, so that you can maintain moisture on the roots. I do not let Cyms dry out completely. I used to, and had terrible looking Cyms. I somehow got the idea to water much more freely, and wound up with huge Cymbidium bulbs like I use to see at the Santa Barbara Orchid Estates. If all roots are dead, it would be time for sphag & bag. S&B isn't usually used for Cyms because they usually have substantial bulbs to regrow from, but a seedling has little reserves.

It would probably be good to use a systemic fungicide from the looks of the plant. Have you used any horticultural oils on it like neem?

I have a couple of seedlings of erythrostylum, and I can't say I have done very well with them. They just don't seem to be making any progress. It may have been because of my bad experience with bad neem oil that held them up. My past research seems to indicate typical standard Cym treatment.

[Rocinante]

Originally Posted by fred

I also agree that the plant is in dire straits right now if there is any new growths I would re pot. other wise the whole plant will rot away.

no offence John

None taken, Fred! I don't stake any claim to expertise. I have no doubt you & Solay probably know better than I. I was just trying to help with my gut feelings about that plant. This is why we discuss...

[fred]

yep discussion is what makes geeks such a good place

[solay]

I agree there is no right or wrong sometimes. Just have to do what you think is best for plant and pray. I'm no expert either.
I do grow lots of Cyms. and I find rot is horrible. Kills a lot of new growth on my backbulbs when it rains. Sucks!

[stvnjns]

I have moved the plant to my office. I am letting the mix dry out. Actually I typically do let it get pretty dry before watering - I had JUST watered the plant in the picture I took. I am also removing some of the top soil so the plant is up a little higher in the mix.

Note - It does stay damp for in excess of a week, so the mixture may be holding too much water. I will try to get more pictures early next week.

I will keep you filled in on the continuing story!

Thanks for you help all!
Steve

[Rocinante]

Dry on top doesn't necessarily mean dry in the middle. I think your best bet is to follow solay's and fred's advice and re-pot in bark. It's a tricky situation; 1) if you re-pot you may send what's left of the root system into shock, but 2) if you leave it in the present mix, surely there is an abundance of decompositional bacteria that will kill your plant off. The best bet is to re-pot in fresh bark, eliminate the bacteria factor and hope for the best. Be prepared for a loooooong time to pass before it ever reblooms. None of us like to give up on a plant, but sometimes it's best to just start over! Good luck...

[fred]

I agree with John.
to be blunt if you want to save this plant you need to repot and get the rotting growth off before the whole plant is affected.( once that happens the plant is done for )
just removing some of the top soil is not going to help the plant at all.