whitspears
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Joined: Thu May 07, 2015 3:12 pm

Sick Orchid! Please help!!

Admittedly, I do NOT have a green thumb. I water my plants when I remember (once or twice a week - usually). My mom gave me a small orchid for my desk at work. Being an idiot, I thought that my orchid might like the outside for a couple of days while it was warmer here in Indiana. It ended up being outside for 4 days (got sick) It rained the second day the orchid was outside, but was out in direct sun the remaining 2.5 days. I went to check on it this morning and found that there are black spots on my leaves (below) and some sort of bugs crawling around on the leaves and inside the pot of the orchid (photo below). They are very small, fast, and are a grey/white color. Can anyone help identify what my problem(s) are? are the bugs causing the black spots? how do I remedy this!?!?! If you have any additional care instructions, I am open to all advice.
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imafan26
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Posts: 13962
Joined: Tue Jan 01, 2013 8:32 am
Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

The orchid is a phalaenopsis. It has several issues. One it is not really a full sun plant. It normally grows on trees in pretty dark conditons. We would usually grow them under 67% shade cloth. The actually do well as a house plant with good but indirect light. A sheer curtain on a window with the plant about 18 inches away. The other way to tell if is getting enough light is to use a light meter. You want between 1000-1500 foot candles. You can use the leaves as a guide. They should be green and firm. If they are soft and very dark green they need more light. If they are grey or white, that is sunscald and the leaves will not recover from that.

The roots should be firm and white. Yours look brown, which may mean they 1) got sunburned 2) sat in too much water too long. However you do still have one green root. Hopefully there are more and it can come back but it will take a very long time. The crown needs to be undamaged. It should be firm. The damaged leaves will eventually fall off. If the crown is good, new leaves will grow. What you need to protect are the roots. Phals can do photosynthesis from the roots. Water when the green root turns white. After you water, the root will turn green again. Let the plant drain well and make sure there is no water in the crown by tipping the plant to make sure. Do not water again until the root is again white. Phals should be repotted every 1-2 years. If the bark feels gritty it is breaking down and the media needs to be changed. If it still feels firm and not spongy, it is ok for now. When you repot. You will need to cut off all of the soft brown and black roots that are dead. I prefer no media. I just use blocks of styrofoam, the kind you get as packing material when you buy appliances or a new computer. Break up a couple of pieces and make a sandwich around the roots, without breaking or crushing them. Phals often have a ring of roots on the outside so a little bit of long fiber sphagnum or another block of styrofoam would fit in the space. Use a clean clear pot. If you are reusing your pot, clean it in 10% bleach for at least and hour and rinse it well. The pot should be sized to be just big enough to squeeze the roots into, orchids like to be underpotted and phals have to be quite large before they need a bigger pot. If you have a lot of dead roots, you may have to go into a smaller pot or basket. You can wire the plant to the pot to secure it so it doesn't move, but if you place the styrofoam properly it should be very stable. Sphagnum (long fiber) moss also works and is very easy way to repot an orchid and keep it stable. It does have some special watering considerations. It is hard to wet so you need to wet it first and you need to keep it moist but not soggy. It can hold water for a long time.

The orchid has been really damaged by the sun and the excessive water. It may not survive, but if it does it will take a long time to recover.



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