I can tell you what I would do. I would get the plant out of that pot and cut away all off the rot (poet and don't know it) into green. I would dust all of the wounds with cinnamon (just in the fresh cuts). I don't think you are going to find any roots left. It looks like from the pictures that your only hope is to take the still green pblubs and put them in a empty clay pot on top of a small amount of barely moist moss, and hope that the bottom of the pbulb will start a new grow/s and later make new roots. It needs warmth and light. This could take a while, and you will have to keep a close eye out for the rot spreading and cut and treat accordingly. You may find yourself with nothing left. EKKK........

It may be that your plant was the victim of to much water, not enough light. That's what it sounds/looks like to me.

I repot very soon (same day if possible) after I bring a new orchid home. Blooms or no blooms. Long term health of the plant is what I am after. I do this to get new plants into the medium that suits my climate, my light levels, and my watering habits. I've bought plants before with unseen rot underneath the mix and had it creep up and rot the base of the plant - a goner. I've had snails I've never even seen before shipped to me from Hi. It's said that a healthy looking plant has got to have healthy roots. I have not always found this to be the case. I've lost more plants from NOT repotting right away. Others have had the opposite experience. To repot on purchase, or not to, is a personal choice, and something you have to walk through and see which works the best for you. But, the polar icecap won't melt if you repot sooner rather than later. Read, learn all you can, ask questions. In the end your plants themselves are your best teacher.

I'm in Florida, a very different place from CO. Maybe someone closer to you can give you more ideas. But really, if it looks to bad, go buy yourself a new plant and say goodbye to this little guy (poet alert!!).
Pat..........................

Or as Howard would put it, not enough light to use up the water it was given.

Pat gave some good recommendations for your Oncidium and Richard is also probably right. But really, which of us orchid growers has never killed a plant (although yours is not dead yet and with some time and TLC, it could pull it off)? When I was first starting with orchids, I remember a speaker during a beginners' conference say that the only difference between a beginner and an expert was that the beginner had killed less than 10 orchids, while the expert had killed more than 100.

For your repotting needs, I don't know anything about that vendor, but if you go with them, I'd suggest the multi purpose orchid mix. You might also want to pick up some Physan 20 which is a great fungicide.

And as for light, well, you've been reading so you'll know that a great majority of us here have been convinced by Howard that light is very important. I supplement my natural light with CFLs, which gives me great results, but you don't mention any natural light, so I'm thinking that whatever natural light you might have is not usable (correct me if I'm wrong). I'm thinking that you might need more than one 55W CFL in that case. My suggestion to you would be to go to your local Home Depot or Lowes. You can find a plain old shop clamp lamp for maybe just over $10 and a 42W CFl for a bit less than $10. Buy two, and you're still spending less than you would at FarmTek, while getting more light for your buck. Oh, and put your Catts closest to the light and the Oncidiums right behind them. From my experience, all Oncidiums are at least medium light.

Hope this helps, and good luck.

Julie

Thank you Pat, Richard and Julie, I appreciate it! I'll be repotting as soon as the new media gets here. One more question came to mind - these are all growing in a closet (to keep the Catts away from my cats - hardy har har.) I have a space heater on the floor set to keep the temp around 60-65F (since the closet seems to get cooler than the house.) It has a small fan in it but is this enough air circulation or do I need to do something more? How do I know when it's enough? Should the potting medium be drying out in a certain number of days? I'm in Colorado so there's almost no natural humidity here and I've been misting the leaves of the orchids to make up for it, is that ok? I also added a humidity tray under the pots (plastic w/ rocks, water level below the top of the rocks.)
Thanks again!
Tiffany

If you are growing in a closet, what are you using for light??

Jane

Hello Tiffany,
I don't know what others here have experienced, but in terms of these sympodial orchids, I find that each new growth produces a set quanta of roots, ie over a period of a year as the growth matures, and then after that the roots don't really grow much anymore..they do a little bit, but not a lot. In other words, any new roots you will be hoping to get will have to come from a new growth (as Pat mentioned).

As Jane, Julie and Richard mentioned, light is probably the best thing you can do for it now. I had a Sharry Baby which was in a similar situation (over watered it cause I thought the bark was 'dry' when in reality it was sopping wet underneath). I've essentially plopped the plant under relatively intense light...watered it once in a while when I felt like it. I don't think the sphag and bag thing is really effective with these sympodials, since I don't know how important humidity is for eliciting new growths...I could be wrong, but while monopodials like phals grow new roots in response to humidity, I'm not sure whether new growths are stimulated the same way. I do know however that light does work!! My sharry baby produced a new growth (after aborting 3, yes THREE eyes during it's period of perpetual rot) after a year. I thought it had run out of eyes, but it's just started putting out a new growth, and it's 2 inches away from a 65 watt (not equivalent) CFL ...I'm pretty sure all it's roots are rotten, so this is exciting since new growth = new roots!

Misting may not be the best idea. Water in the leaves will lead to rot and fungal growth unless you have airmovement and light, and I personally don't think it really does anything, but that's just me!!! Good luck with your plant! As long as you still have a healthy pbulb, chances are you will be able to salvage an eye and a new growth. Whether you want to spend the trouble doing it is another matter!

Tahoma Glasier is a very high light Intergeneric with very specific temp criteria. This is not a great window sill orchid. I have had 1 in re-hab for 2 years. Full sun all summer yielded 3 small mutant growths. It's under a bank of 85w cfls in a west window and is stalled. Not promising. I put it in s/h last year. My intergens do best in s/h. The bb's always look bad. I would cut nothing on it. It makes this plant worse. Has another bllra re-hab orphan that imploded when I cut the rot off it. I think it is their only nutrition source when they are that far shot. Treat it with phyton 27, a systemic and leave it. If it makes it great. The wrinkled leaf in this situation indicates the plant more than likely had root rot as well. It cannot take up enough water. Cinamon inhibits growth. I would not try that at all. The less you, the better.

Any light 5' above the plants is the same as having none at all. Shop lights at a distance of 5' is merely a waste of electric. As you can see there are no orchids, oncidiums or otherwise that require "low light". These are tropical and equitorial plants. Low light is a relative term. 2000 fc's. Shop lights alone cannot deleiver that. If you are growing without natural light, you will need more than a couple of cfl's. The light discussions that have been posted are based on the assumption that cfl's are supplimental to a window or natural light source. When you buy lights you will have to acclimate slowly. Your orchids have had no light. You may be able to find 42w cfl's in HD but they have a very low K rating. You will want 5000k or better.

I'm all for giving re-hab a shot but in this case, it may be best to let it go and buy another.

Clara

Phyton 27 is not a systemic. It is copper sulfate - it is topical only. (Hope I have the chemical correct but my chemical engineer husband is out right now.) For a chemical to be systemic, the roots must "take up" the chemical and send it through the plant.

Cinnamon is a good mild topical treatment if you apply it to a cut area because it will repel water and seal the wound. Applying it to the roots is not recommended because it will keep the roots dry and prevent the roots from absorbing water.

I think you are on the right track when you lowered the shoplights and adding some CFL's will make the plants much happier. On the Where Do You Grow thread, there is a picture of someone else growing in a closet. It is possible to grow plants without natural window light - the cash crop boys have been doing it for years.

I've never had to rehab an intergen so cannot offer any advice for it but I wish you luck.

Brooke

Possible to grow anywhere if ya have enough light. No one said it wasn't. Illegal growers use some mighty large light systems. Ventilation, problem in a closet. Virus too. Growers go to lots 'o bother for air exchange. Why would someone want to grow orchids in a closet.

OHG reco's phyton27 as a systemic. Been usin' it for years. Works. Ditto on axing the cinnamon. No need with physan. Inhibits growth. I wouldn't cut the plant up either. Its hangin' by a thin thread
Mike

Is it OK to reuse the clay pot if the roots are rotting? Do I need to sterilize it first?
Thanks,
-T

For sure T, just wash it with detergent and warm water. If you want to be extra careful you can bake it in your oven, but I've never done that before!

Oncidiumgirl, bleach for clay or plastic. No need to bake them

H- I agree with Jane this should have been a seperate thread.

Clara

Trying to get back on track: I have had good luck with using a huge cache pot with pebbles in the bottom. The plant sits down in the cache pot and the water in the bottom lets it have its own atmosphere which should be nice and humid. I don't know whether this would work for a really unhappy oncid, but I have had great success with this method and given your lack of humidity it would help. I totally agree that more light is the real problem but as an expert told me, light, water and media all have to be in balance for the orchid to do well -- I know when I put mine outside for the summer, it is impossible to overwater them. In the wintertime in the PNW, grey skies and inadequate lighting mean watering is at a minimum. However, my oncids do quite well.

Mike, so I read in your post that all others should step back and let the "masters" post? You are only fueling the fire by continuing the labeling and segretation. Maybe you should let others speak for themselves and end your sensless babble-we ALL know where you stand. Why do you think everyone has to choose sides? Because you say so??? You are really doing a dis-service to those you feel you represent. They like the rest of us are only trying to help.

But his bathroom will smell good :>)

Brooke

Too funny Brooke :-)

Clara

"Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night." :)))))

I'm feeling the love :) Speaking of cinnamon I made ginger bread cookies but instead of adding 4 table spoons of ginger, I added 4 tbspoons of cinnamon (yes, I had A LOT of spices after going to bulk barn)...surprisingly they don't taste that bad..just a little grainy lol

Mum didn't say 'I love you' enough? Someone stole their milk money throughout grade school?

Whatever it is, it's kinda entertaining, at this point, to see the same catfight every three days. I think the worst thing is that the original poster probably hasn't had her question answered completely and her email box has been filled with crap.

Now, to the OP:

I am notorious for killing intergenerics, but cutting down on watering is definitely important. I've had one survivor (my first) growing and doing relatively well. I've got it in half very small chunks of lava rock (1/2-1/4" pieces) and half sphag. It's getting a lot of light. I don't know if the lights you intend on getting will do the job or not, but a couple of bleached out, sunburned spots on these guys aren't at bad thing, usually.

As someone who grows in a closet, I'm surprised that you need a space heater to keep it warm. How large is your closet area? It's about 45-50F in our house and the closet stays at a toasty 70~ during the day and it only loses about 10-12 degrees at night. My lights are on 18 hours a day, and the floor is concrete, so that might have something to do with heat retention.

For air circulation, I have an 18" box fan at the end of the closet that blows through the racks of plants. The door is at the opposite end of the closet, with the doorknob removed, and there's an amazing amount of air exchange through that little hole and top and bottom crack of the door. The fan turns off when the lights cut off. Things tend to dry out pretty fast, which is good for me since I overwater. I would definitely consider upping your airflow, because that's a major factor in rot issues.

As to why someone would want to grow in a closet, when you're short on space, have sun that melted down half of your collection in your outdoor grow area, no natural light to speak of indoors, and a desire to prevent plants from taking over the one room that has natural light, it's a great option. I also don't have to worry about dogs, cats, small children causing harm, no problems with small floods, etc.

I think the care for the rot has pretty much been covered.

Stacy

I'm all for empirical experiments - but - if you both leave then how will we know whether it's you or her? and anyway how can you resist the awesomeness of this board for 2 whole months?! I wouldn't be able to!

So what's the solution? Self-flagellation.

"Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night." :)))))

Kinky.

Hmmm. Self-flagellation as a cure for gas? Might work :D