Phal overwatered by house guest!!!!

[littleunred]

I received a beautiful Phal for my 25th birthday from work. I'm not a plant person but was so touched and loved the plant I vowed to take good care of it and cultivate it.

though it tried to bud a couple of times it failed, but the 4 flowers on it stayed open beautifully. I was careful not to over water it and managed to keep it it great condition for 8 weeks.

Then we had a visitor...who took it upon herself to water all of our plants excessively - including my orchid!!!! I was furious!

this was a couple of weeks ago. I tried to soak up the water and dry the leaves with kitchen tissue, it was absolutely soaked.

It was 10 days ago that she drowned it and now, one plant has withered and the other 3 are beginning to crinkle and curl also.

I'm desperate for any advice, the peat / moss (not sure what it was potted in) still feels damp.

should I removed the withered flowers?

Will it flower again?


Living conditions:
I live in the UK and we have a basement apartment so it doesn't get excessive sunlight, but I have it at our patio doors which gets indirect sunlight all day. we usually have our heating on in the evening and off during the day.

any advice? I really don't know what to do.

thank you!

[littleunred]

sorry, when I've said "one plant has withered" I mean flower

should I repot it?

how would I do this?

[mayres]

There are lots of options for media to plant your phal in, but the most common for newbies is probably bark. Be sure and soak it 24-48 hours before repotting. When you depot your plant you want to remove any poor quality roots - black, stringy, mushy. Good roots should be green, tan or gray - fat, hard, plump. It most likely can go back into the same pot you have it in now - you want to be careful not to overpot. Sometimes when there has been excessive root loss it is actually better to downsize. Good luck!

[Celcat]

Welcome to the forum littleunred,

I think you should wait to do anything especially if it is still in flower..., just water again when it is needed. Maybe you should get one this pot special for orchids (you will find them in most garden centre in uk) that will help to prevent overwatering in case a guest decides to water your plants again.

[Vivienne]

Are you sure that it's not just time for the blooms to fade? If it is just the blooms I think you'll be okay long term. How do the leaves look?

[littleunred]

the leaves look pretty good, strong green and healthy. should I pluck the withered flowers? will they be taking nutrients form the flowers that aren't dead?

[Celcat]

I usually wait until they drop. I dont think it makes any difference...

[BunnytheOrchid]

Hi littleunred. If the mix is still moist, I would repot, even if its still in spike. I wouldn't typically recommend repotting while in spike, but its not guarantee repotting will automatically force the orchid to drop the spike, and it sounds like it needs a drier mix. Since its in moss, this will hold water longer than a bark mixture. Take the orchid out, look at the roots and trim any mushy dead ones, and make sure there isn't any water stuck in the crown. You can repot in fresh moss with a little moisture if you prefer moss, or you can soak some bark and repot in that which will drain faster. Since the leaves still look ok, not all hope is lost But you're right that a lot of energy goes into flowering, so if it needs to drop the spike, it will. But I don't think you need to worry about trimming it yourself. Let us know how it works out! Good luck!

[littleunred]

thanks for all the advice, will research re potting this weekend. and look up terms like "in spike" - am a total beginnger!, thanks for all your help though and Bunny - my orchid looks exactly like the one in your pic (just not as healthy!) - is yours a specific type?

[littleunred]

it got crown rot and all the leaves fell off :-(

[pitik101]

oh dear...

to help heal the pain....may i suggest of getting a new plant to care for? if thats not too much to ask

[jerrymeola]

I want to suggest an alternative to how members recommend re-potting.

Just remove an over watered plant and let it sit out until the roots dry off. Then you can re-pot into the same mix from which it came. If the mix was so wet it did not dry then stick it in the oven for 15 minutes to dry it out (and kill anything that may have been thinking of growing in the medium)

There is no need to run out and spend money on new bark.

[chefatplay]

Thank you for that suggestion, Jerry. What a great way to immediately deal with overwatering. It rained very hard the other night after watering all of my chids. I wondered what the fastest way of dealing with that situation would be. I'll remember this one.

[jerrymeola]

Ellen

If the plants are outside I would not worry. All my orchids grow under shade cloth and get 2-3 hours of heavy rain every day in the summer. Sometimes by 6 PM they look like they need water

[chefatplay]

Okay, thanks. I have one phal NOID with buds and one in spike, my heart would break if I lost them. My first successes in phals, you know.

[Volfenfovef]

Hi bros!
I'm new here. I've accidentally found this wonderful site and took decision to sign up here!
I hope we'll communicate with each other nicely! So this is my first post!

[patticake]

If you go to the section on Introductions, you can introduce yourself to everyone! I'm not sure how many will see this, as it was from an "old" thread. It's good to have you with us. What orchids do you grow?