Soft squidgy leaves on my new phal orchid

[karinaflowers]

hi

About 10 days ago, I was given a beautiful phalenopsis orchid for my 30th birthday. It is in bloom with lots of beautiful flowers. Now I know nothing about orchids and realise I have a lot of reading to do but I am worried I am running out of time as I am watching it deteriorate day by day, hence this posting begging for help.

The friend who bought it for me suggested that it was probably due a watering. I think she had bought it days before and not watered it. We had a long car journey with the orchid (as had been away for the weekend), and when I got home I watered it, allowing the water to drain through the base of the clear plastic pot before putting it back in the outer ceramic pot.

The day after I watered it, one of leaves became soggy at the tip and this sogginess has since spread across most of the leaf and another leaf has now become a little soggy. When I say soggy, I mean it feels like it is full of water and that if I pressed on the leaf it would leave a dent. The leaf looks a little droopy and is soft, but is definitely soggy too. One of the soggy leaves has split down the middle slightly too over the last 24 hours. They look a good colour green - mid green.

I have had the orchid in a bright room with non-direct light, the temperature in my home is quite warm as we have the heating on most of the time at the moment, but it is not next to any radiators, so I imagine it's within a good range for the orchid?

I looked at the roots, a few of the tips looked a little soggy and grey, but the roots in the pot look green and healthy. I have removed the soggy tips of the roots, not sure if this was the right thing to do. Not sure what medium it is potted in, but I think it is still very very slightly moist, I am struggling to be sure about this! I watered it a week ago now.

The flowers are now looking a little sad too. A few of the buds have dropped of.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated as I've read lots and lots of forum posts, but I'm not sure that any of the leaf descriptions are the same as mine. I really don't want to kill it, but feel I need to take action quickly to save this orchid as things appear to be getting worse.

Sorry if the resolution to my problem is already out there somewhere. I have been searching and searching but feel I am running out of time.

Karina

[kmarch]

It sounds like you have bacterial rot. It is fast moving and turns the plant tissues into watery mush. The best thing to do is to cut away the infected tissues. With a clean (sterile) knife ro scissors, cut about 10mm into good healthy tissue to make sure none of the mushy tissue remains. Dust the cuts with powdered cinnamon but if you don't have any powdered cinnamon, cut anyway as this kind of bacterial rot can take an entire plant in only a week or so. Fingeres crossed. It sounds drastic but it just may save your orchid. Good luck.

[mehitabel]

Good advIce from Kevin. I don't have anything to add to it.

I just want to comment on this one statement of yours, for the sake of any future orchids you may try to grow:

"I have had the orchid in a bright room with non-direct light"

The interior of a bright room usually is not enough light for an orchid to grow in, much less bloom. The human eye adapts to dim light, making it seem brighter than a plant would find it. An orchid being grown in too-dim light is susceptible to all kinds of diseases that wouldn't afflict it in brighter light.

If you do get another orchid, be sure to read up about proper culture for it

AOS | Members Only Area

You can determine what kind of orchid you have by the silhouette on the sheet. What you most likely have is a Phalaenopsis -- check out the culture sheet for that.

[karinaflowers]

Thank you so much for your speedy responses! I have cut the leaves as suggested and dusted with cinnamon. I have also moved it to a bright windowsill in our kitchen facing north east, do you think this would be suitable? My flat possibly doesn't have a perfect location for the orchid as the only south facing window is directly above a radiator which is nearly always on at the moment as it has been so cold, and the east facing windows are not bright as we have huge trees blocking out the light. We do not have any west facing windows.

Thanks again. I hope I've managed to save it. I've only had it about 10 days and I'm already attached to my first orchid. I think this forum is fantastic.

Karina

[flowerpower]

Here is what my book says:

"The plants [phals] will not die if grown at temperatures lower than those recommended, but they will not flourish so well and may be susceptible to leaf or center growth rot. A leaf can collapse and become "watery" overnight."

The book is:
Growing and Displaying Orchids: A Step by Step Guide (Ritterhausen, Oakey & Oakey, Sutherland) published by Smithmark

Could it have been too cold before you received it?

[11Orchid126]

We had a long car journey with the orchid.

In addition to what flowerpower says, it also sounds as if the plant was chilled. During all this long travelling, how was the plant protected? Was it cold out? Was it exposed to cold drafts?

[orchidaddict789]

Orchids with cold damage have leaves that begin to turn brown. Perhaps the dying tissue may have also triggered a bacterial infection (just a speculation).

About the roots...yes, remove the dead roots. I'd guess the phal is potted in either sphagnum moss (looks like soft stringy pieces of moss), or bark. Sphag dries out a lot slower than bark, so if your phal is potted in sphag, be really careful not to water too much. Check out the skewer method for the best watering. It sounds like you're getting the hang of it, so don't worry too much!

[lmartiny]

I had a Phal leaf go soft, darker and squishy very quickly. I cut it and dusted the edge with cinnamon. It went further so I cut again. Pretty much the whole leaf. but it stopped and the plant is OK and now spiking. It wasn't cold then. I don't know what caused it.

[NancyG]

Stop all watering until it looks like it is coming back.

[karinaflowers]

Thank you so much for your support! I have a good feeling that my plant is feeling better already. I have cut off one large leaf and two little ones completely and a chunk of another leaf. Feels drastic but I think my plant is happier for it. I will try and post some photos too.

It is quite possible that the plant was too cold. It was given to me on holiday (in England) where it was kept at a moderate house temperature. It travelled for 6 hours in the car, but we made sure we didn't have the heating on and I held it the whole journey so that it was protected as much as possible. When I got home I put it on my bathroom windowsill which is probably the coldest room in the flat - no heating at all, but nice and humid (I thought it would like this).

I have only watered it the once, a week ago. I think it is planted in bark - well it looks more like bark to me than moss.

I think I have cut off all the damaged root bits, but there may be more damaged roots in the pot, but I am a bit scared to remove it from it's pot as I don't want to upset it anymore. From what I can see through the plastic pot, most of the roots look good.

[karinaflowers]

Extra info: The friends who gave the orchid to me live on a houseboat. I'm not sure if they had it inside or outside of the boat, but quite possibly it would have been cold as it's been snowy with temps of under 5 degrees C here in England over the last few months.

I can't post photos unfortunately, only via a URL and I don't have one I can use.

[kmarch]

Originally Posted by karinaflowers

When I got home I put it on my bathroom windowsill which is probably the coldest room in the flat - no heating at all, but nice and humid (I thought it would like this).

Originally Posted by karinaflowers

...temps of under 5 degrees C here in England over the last few months.

Given these details, I suspect the others are right and your orchid got too cold. 5C is far too cold for a phalaenopsis. I wouldnt' let a phal get below 15C or so. Get a good culture sheet on phals form this forum or from AOS | Members Only Area. Gie it a good read and let us know if you have any questions. Its unfortunate that you didn't get a culture sheet for your phal right away. If you had you would have seen that phals do not like to be cold and that the combination of cold and humid is detrimental to a phalaenopsis.

But lesson learned. Get that culture sheet and give it a read. Fortunately the treatment for this kind of cold damage is the same as for the bacterial rot, so you've done no harm there. And get your phalaenopsis out of the cold.

Oh and I disagree with Nancy's advice to completely stop watering the phal until it begins to revive itself. IMHO the last thing you want to do to a cold-stressed plant is stress it further by dehydrating it. Instead get that culture sheet, do what it says, get your phal out fo the cold and give it excellent culture.

Good liuck!

[karinaflowers]

Thanks. I read the label on the plant which said to keep it at 16-20 degrees C, which I thought would possibly be most achievable in the bathroom as the house is generally quite warm, but perhaps it is actually slightly cooler than 16C next to the bathroom window (given external temps of 2 C at the moment).

My orchid is now in the kitchen which is much warmer than the bathroom.

[karinaflowers]

I've put pictures on my profile of the poorly plant.

[orchidaddict789]

To post pictures you can register an account on an image hosting website and then post the link here. Can be a bit of extra hassle though. Well, your phal sounds like it's recovering--losing 1 or 2 leaves shouldn't hurt too badly.

I am a bit scared to remove it from it's pot as I don't want to upset it anymore. From what I can see through the plastic pot, most of the roots look good.

Yeah, you're right, no need to unpot the phal. Just removing any dead matter on the surface for now. You will need to completely repot in the future, but not for now--give your phal some time to rest and adapt.

[lmartiny]

I need a cheat sheet for C vs F as I'll never have that down pat. (or I could take some time to look it up and learn it) Anyway, I've left my Phals out in the 40's F and while they might have not been happy with me, they showed no ill effects.

[karinaflowers]

4c = 40f

16c = 60 f

20c = 68 f

[kmarch]

Here's a temperature conversion formula:

C converted to F
(C/5 x 9) + 32 = F
ex. Convert 5C to F:
(5/5 x 9) + 32 = 41
5C = 41F

or

F converted to C
[(F-32)/9] x 5 = C
ex. Convert 65F to C:
[(65-32)/9] x 5 = 8 2/3C (8.66C)
65F = 8 2/3C (8.66C)

or

Do what I do and use a C to F conversion widget (Mac users only).

[fred]

this online temp converter might help some geeks Temperature conversion online.

[karinaflowers]

Just to let you guys know, my orchid appears to be doing well now and there is no more leaf sogginess. I actually had a dream last night that I woke up and the whole orchid had collapsed, but luckily it was just a dream and the plant actually appears to have a couple of new healthy buds today (though all the old flowers have fallen off). Thanks again for your help.

[karinaflowers]

Today, my orchid opened one of it's buds into a beautiful flower.

[karinaflowers]

Snapfish: Share:Registration

The last photo on the link is my orchid today, the others were all taken when it was very sick prior to taking your advice.