Can this orchid be saved

[CharliesAngel51]

In June I bought an odontioda Margarete Holm. It was in bloom with 5 spikes, very pretty.After the blooms were finished , the leaves became soft and mushy and fell off. Now it looks like the pseudo bulbs are rotting from the bottom. It looks like there are new leaves trying to come out the tops of the pseudo bulbs. This is still in the orig pot it came in,seems to be bark mix. I have it sitting near an east facing window and it gets the morning sun. I have been feeding it Gro More Premium food 20-20-20 mixed 1 teaspoon to 1 gal of water. I only water when it seems to be dry, about every 10 days or more. Is this a lost cause?

[jbigio]

The first thing i would do is pull it out of the pot and check the roots. I'm guessing they will be in bad shape. if they are trim the dead and soft ones then re-pot it. Watch the watering let it stay slightly dryer between watering for a few weeks. you can also remove any rotten bulbs at the same time.
hope this helps

[fred]

are all the psbulbs going like that ?
what about the psbulb on the left back in the second pic ?

Joe if all the psbulbs are rotting there wont be much of a chance to save this one
if one of the bsbulbs is nice and green I would then take it out of the pot and remove the rotting psbulbs and with all the rotten roots
then that would become a job of hoping an eye on the psbulb strikes in sphagnum moss.

[articuno75]

This is serious. What you need to do is depot it and cut all the rotten away, roots bulbs,,,anything mushy or black. This has a either a bacterial or fungal infection. Replace all of the medium and downsize the pot. I suggest washing with the cinnamon recipe, or an antifungal/bacteriocide. Physan20 or Brookn's Recipe. You can also give it a Peroxide dip to kill out any infection. Reduce your watering and give this plenty of air flow with a fan. It looks bad.

Members chime in....

[yonpli]

I don't know if it can be saved. Looking closely at your pics, it looks like at least almost all your psuedobulbs, if not all of them, are rotting. Your roots are probably also in bad shape. If there are no pseudobulbs without rot, I would probably give up on this plant.

If it was my orchid, I would first cut off all the rotten parts, sterilizing my scissors/blade with each cut to minimize the spread of bacteria. With roots I would cut above the rotten part into the healthy part, and I would remove all the rotten pseudobulbs. If any psuedoblulbs (hopefully with some roots) remained, I wash them with some orchid safe disinfectent (like Brookn's recipe) and pot it up in a small terra cotta pot (preferably one with the holes on the side designed for orchids) filled loosely with coconut husk fiber (not coir). I would soak the plant, submerging the pseudobulbs at least half way each day for 1 hour each day in worm tea. Plant tissue other than roots can also uptake water, but not as quickly or as effectively. After the soaking each day, I would drain it thoroughly and sit it on a saucer with pebbles so it will dry from the top and the bottom of the pot. Once the orchid develops a substantial root stystem and starts new growth, I would switch to soaking for only several minutes every 2-3 days (depending on humidity) and only soaking the roots.

Good luck, I hope you can save it!

[CharliesAngel51]

Thanks to all for the help. I am afraid I may lose it. I am already on the look out for a replacement. It is such a pretty orchid. Maybe with the help of this forum I will be able to better care for future plants. I will start today with the suggestions.

[jerrymeola]

Do not blame yourself too much. I had a number of these last year and did not like the way they grew. I think they like it cooler and dryer than other intergenerics. But when I tried to cut the water back they dried and died on me. The next thing I would have tried would have been strong sir circulation.

It is not a plant I will stock in the future.

[CharliesAngel51]

Fred , I'm afraid it doesn't look too good either. There may be a couple of small ones in the center . Can't tell until I start seperating them. Will give it a try.

[fred]

I would try to strike one or two of the psbulbs if they have no signs of rot
just squeeze the psbulb a little to feel that its not soft

lets hope that you will have one or two that are fine

good luck and please keep us posted

[digitalgate]

this look bad. I think it is beyong hope. The roots most likely has rotted, bacteria has already set in. try saving a bulb or two if you can.

[CharliesAngel51]

Actually when I took this out of the pot the roots looked ok. Not soft or black. There sure were a lot of them . They were very tangled and root bound. I did manage to salvage one psbulb. Not great but still firm. I repotted it , will see what happens. I decided it was worth a try . Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Now the waiting and watching game. I raised the pot up out of the saucer so that the air can circulate from the bottom as well as the top.

[kmarch]

I'm not surprised the roots were good, as this isn't a root problem. It looks like the pseudobulbs have a bacterial rot. This advances fast and as some have mentioned can only be stopped by cutting it away. Are there any bulbs not infected?

[fred]

my only hope is that the rot has not started inside the psbulb that you have saved
can you please update us with a pic ?

[markclkk]

Originally Posted by CharliesAngel51

Thanks to all for the help. I am afraid I may lose it. I am already on the look out for a replacement. It is such a pretty orchid. Maybe with the help of this forum I will be able to better care for future plants. I will start today with the suggestions.

Don't giveup too soon. you can try reroot those part that are still healthy. Even if you only manage to salvage the top half of the PB (pseudobulb). You have to cut away the soften part of the PB in slanted fashion, Seal up the wound with cinnamon or sulfate powder.

Once the PB wound is dried and no further sight of deterioration, you wrap it up with moist spaghnum moss and hope for the best.

(I never try that myself but remember saw it somewhere. Well, nothing to loose.) Good luck.

I will post a picture of what happen with mine later. Just to give you a bit of encouragement that that could be done.
I had one with top PB soften/rot away but i notice it soon enough to apply cinnamon powder all over it and manage to save the PB. Now is in its dormancy.

[Orchidementia]

Originally Posted by jerrymeola

Do not blame yourself too much. I had a number of these last year and did not like the way they grew. I think they like it cooler and dryer than other intergenerics. But when I tried to cut the water back they dried and died on me. The next thing I would have tried would have been strong sir circulation.

It is not a plant I will stock in the future.

I have one; it is part of the lot of plants that were rescued from the dumpster by my landscaper friend. It still had some blooms when I got it, but other than that, was in pretty sad shape. That was in July.

Today the pbulbs have filled out and it has a vigorous new growth. I grow it outside, with strong indirect southern light and frequent waterings - in other words, just like any other onc alliance (I am very near the coast here, so while we've have some beastly hot weather, the nights are always cool).

This is anecdotal experience, for anyone who interested and for what it's worth!

[tizzycat]

CharliesAngel, good luck with the one you (hopefully) saved. Please keep us posted.

[CharliesAngel51]

Thanks, as soon as I read your post , I rescued my psbulbs from the trash. I have two of the larger Pbs that are only soft at the bottom. I will try this. Are you talking about cinnamon the spice?

[articuno75]

Yes. It's a great anti-fungal and caurtizer for when you do surgery on orchids. (It helps seal wounds on orchids after cuts.)

[CharliesAngel51]

My Razor blade is sterilized and the box of cinnamon is ready. I have nothing to lose by trying this and I hate to give up on anything . My stubborn nature I guess, or maybe just to dumb to know when to give up. Wish me luck.