Newbie - help me save my plant

[Dalton21]

I just got into plants a couple of years ago and have picked it up suprisingly well seeing as how my mother has a black thumb. I just did trial and error with plants that I liked and it turned out all right and I can now get a variety of plants to flourish. I was in wal-mart and saw an orchid plant. It had a picture of what the plant was supposed to look like when in bloom and it was really pretty. I have never tried orchids before, but thought that it looked to pretty to pass up. It was basically a long bag with holes in it and the plant inside. The plant was in a pot that I think was approprate size and it was wrapped in plastic and had a rubber band holding the plastic around the base. I bought a book and some Orchid fertalizer and orchid bark. The pot was too small from what I read on the internet and I got another pot and repotted it with the orchid bark. I put the recomended amount of fertalizer every fourth watering. I thought I might have been waiting too long between waterings, but it was around 4 to five days. I'm not sure, but I think that the cardboard that had the picture on it said it's a militonia/brassia mix. Not sure if I got the spelling right there. Anyway, the repotting was in october. It didn't have very good light, but the plant didn't get worse or better. I moved to college in january and it had better light though not spectacular. It actually started to go down hill slowly. The top of the tallest leaf started to turn yellow. I had to cut off about three inches. There are a few black spots on the leaves. I finally found a flourescent desk light that is pretty long. I set it up about six inches over the plant. I cut off another half inch that had turned yellow. I leave the light on from the time I get up till the time I go to bed, which is usually about 14 to 16 hours. Since then it hasn't gotten any worse which I take as a good sign, but I don't think it's gotten any better. I know not to expect much since it's my first and it's a walmart plant, but I would really like it if you could help me save it. I also heard that you should be able to turn the pot upside down with out the bark or plant falling out, which you can't do with mine, but I also heard that my plant likes air around it's roots. These seem to conflict. My only worry is that it doesn't seem to retain water. I thank you for bearing with me and this long explenation. Any help is appreciated and if you have any questions that I didn't answer the feel free to ask them. Thanks.

PS - I did have urls to pics of my plants here, but they said that since I hadn't posted at least fives times that I couldn't ad e-mails or urls to other sites. To get around that, you can e-mail me at [ Email address Edited ]

[articuno75]

First off I want to give a big hello and welcome to the forum

Second, can you just make 4 more posts so that you can upload pics of your plant?

Third if you could so kindly update your profile on your location, this will be a big help. Different locations=different advice.
Members here will be more than glad to help you!!!

Oncidium Alliance of some sort is what you got, right? Of course Now as for the bark that you put it in, did you soak your bark before potting? This can be an issue as the bark might not be retaining enough moisture.

These plants like to be root bound. This is where a picture would come in handy. As for the yellowing of the leaves. It could be several things. Again a pic would be great.

Post some more and then post your pics. We'll do what we can to save your orchid

[Dalton21]

Okay I will

[Dalton21]

try and hopefully

[Dalton21]

it will count these

[Dalton21]

as my four other posts, so

[Dalton21]

That I can post the pics for you. Well here goes a try. Ps - e-mail is joel.dalton@yahoo.com

My plant was a little root bound but I trimed off the roots that were brown and squishy and put it in a slightly bigger pot.

http://i228.photobucket.com/albums/e...atter/Pic6.jpg
http://i228.photobucket.com/albums/e...atter/Pic5.jpg
http://i228.photobucket.com/albums/e...atter/Pic4.jpg
http://i228.photobucket.com/albums/e...atter/Pic3.jpg
http://i228.photobucket.com/albums/e...atter/Pic2.jpg
http://i228.photobucket.com/albums/e...atter/Pic1.jpg

[janet_a]

personally i think it's potted a little too large, but otherwise it looks fine to me. the leaf tips stuff happens periodically; could be a fertilizer or water issue. also, a plant can take up to a year to acclimate after repotting, so give it a little more time. as the days lengthen it may start growing more actively.

the plant wants to be stable in the pot, which is why the growers suggest tamping the bark around the roots firmly; that still leaves plenty of air spaces so the roots won't stay too wet too long.

[articuno75]

Hang on Dalton, I'm looking at your pics

[articuno75]

You have a Miltassia Shelob 'The Weed' It's going to be a nice spider orchid and will look something very similar to the bloom in the first pic provided. That one is Mtssa. Shelob 'Tolkien', which is what I have. Both are the same, just different cultivars.

As for the plant. The black spotting is common, especially with Oncidium Alliance plants. Air circulation (lots of it) will reduce this. This is cause by fungus from wet leaves not drying fast enough (misting or standing water).

The pot is WAY TOO BIG!!! These babies like to be very root bound. What size pot is that, a 5" or 6"? I'd take it to a 4" pot, Like the second pic provided. (That's mine before I decided to experiment on it and put it into S/H ) When you repot you should be able to pick the plant up pot and all and the pot will not fall off. Be careful with the roots when doing this. Soaking in water with Superthrive and soaking the medium will help. Use a spoon to tamp/stuff the medium into place.

Your plant looks great and very healthy. It does look a wee bit dehydrated, as the Psbulbs should be fat and plump. What is your watering schedule? If you're watering once a week, increase to twice a week.

Hope this helps And if you have any more questions, ask!

[jerrymeola]

I would like to point out for anyone buying from WalMart, Home Depot, Lowes etc with these bagged orchids, that the photo is only representative of the family of orchids not what is actually in the bag.

The photo Jenny posted is what you have it may or may not match the photo on the bag with you mistakenly thought you were getting. These do grow like weeds and can fill that pot in one summer.

The black spots are a harmless virus that is impossible to eliminate on Oncidium alliance orchids. Ignore them. The light blue spots are minerals from water drying on the leaves. You can wipe them off if you desire. The yellowing leaves are going to keep happening forever. As long as you get new growth the older growth will dye away.

[berkeleysgr8]

I agree with the advice to increase your watering. The plant doesn't look unhealthy, it just looks a little thirsty. My Oncidium alliance orchids tend to need more water than most of my other orchids. I would place the pot in a large bowl of tepid water and a weak solution of fertilizer and let it sit for about 20 minutes... try to get the bark to absorb some extra moisture.

[Dalton21]

Thanks for all of the good advice. I just wanted to give everyone an update. I'll try to get a smaller pot in the next couple of weeks. I had been watering it too little. I've taken to letting it soak for 10 to 20 minutes every 4 to 5 days with every fourth watering containing an orchid fertilizer. I've also moved it from the bathroom window to under a flourescent desk lamp for 12 to 15 hours a day. The leaf stopped yellowing when I watered more and put under more light. It started to put up some growth that I noticed last thursday before I went home for the weekend. Right before I left, I watered it and left the light on all weeked. When I got back on saturday night the growth had grow about a centimeter. The growth hasn't been that significant since. I included a pick of the growth. When I potted the plant in the first place, I centered the plant with the large growth close to the edge and the smaller growth closer to the center, because I thought it was growing in that direction, but the new shoot is coming up behind the biggest growth and the smallest old growth turned completly yellow. I think that means that one of the small bulbs died. I plan on getting a smaller pot, and repotting it in the center with a finner grade bark, I'm also going to trim off the bulb with the dead growth if it looks fairly seperate. I'm just wondering how this will affect my new growth?

http://i228.photobucket.com/albums/e.../NewGrowth.jpg
http://i228.photobucket.com/albums/e...NewGrowth2.jpg