My Ugly New Orchids Need Help
I bought an orchid on sort of the Mexican version of eBay. Shipping was overnight, so I'm guessing the plants weren't in great shape to start. The good: the plant I bought was cheap & the seller threw in a bonus plant. The bad: I bought some fertiliser as well & the bag split, so both plants got fertiliser burns on their leaves.
The one I knew I was getting is a dendrobium (supposed to be nobile). I'm aware that's not really the best orchid to try to grow in Puerto Vallarta. (It came from Veracruz, though, so it likely is used to un-ideal conditions.)
As you can see, some of the canes are really in bad shape. I have no idea why it is mounted. I'd rather put it in a pot. Can I go ahead & do that now? I was surprised to see that, in spite of many of the roots being a mess, some have nice green growing tips. Let's see if I can get a picture of that.
There's even something new coming.
Even the leaves that weren't burnt by the fertiliser aren't good. There's yellowing & it seems like mould.
So can you recommend soaking it & pulling it off the mount? Can I go ahead & cut off nasty dead roots? What about the yellow crunch cane? Could I trim the gross bits off the canes that are still yellow?
And then there's my mystery orchid. Any guesses as to what it is?
(I think I've maxed out photos, so I'll put the ones of the mystery plant in a comment.)
Comments (11)
ariel7576 (Puerto Vallarta, Mex.)
7 years agoAnd the mystery plant. Can anyone ID it? What can I do to get it in better shape?
suzabanana (6b Boston/N. Shore)
7 years agoRelated Discussions
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7 years agolast modified: 7 years ago
shavedmonkey (Harvey in South Fl.)Z10b
7 years agoariel7576 (Puerto Vallarta, Mex.)
7 years agolast modified: 7 years agoshavedmonkey (Harvey in South Fl.)Z10b
7 years agoBen(8b/9a north FL)
7 years agolast modified: 7 years agobottom plant looks like a stanhopea, when it blooms, we can easily identify the species.
I would soak the stanhopea and ease it off the mount and get a wire basket with coco fiber liner and filled with sphagnum moss. Stanhopea do so much better in baskets. By the size of their leaves they go through a lot of transpiration and need a lot of moisture to compensate for it. Leaving in the mount will require constant watering and not grow nearly as well. A cool thing about stanhopea is that they will bloom pointing downward from bottom of basket, so basket needs to have many openings for flower spike to push through. They are heavy feeders when in active growth and although the flowers last only a few days, a well grown plant (n a basket) can be blooming for quite a while and finally they are incredibly fragrant. I mean knock your socks off 50 feet away fragrant.... in case anyone there is allergic to plants (like I am) Pic is of a stahopea candida in basket with flower spike hanging below it, just to show how much better they do in a basket.
To remove the mount, I would soak it for an hour or so, cut any retaining string or rope, then grab all the bulbs together and gently wiggle them side to side as a unit until the roots loosen off the mount. Then the bulbs can be placed on top of the sphagnum filled basket and tied with a wire through the bottom to keep it steady until it roots into the medium, then wire can be removed as plant is established into new medium.
ariel7576 (Puerto Vallarta, Mex.) thanked Ben(8b/9a north FL)ariel7576 (Puerto Vallarta, Mex.)
7 years agoariel7576 (Puerto Vallarta, Mex.)
7 years agoBen, can you explain a bit more your suggestion of "coco fiber liner" please? Do you mean I should buy one of these (pic taken from a google search)
and cut (are they easy to cut?) to fit the bottom & sides of the basket?
I may have to make my own basket. I'm not seeing any for sale online within Mexico, oddly. I want to say I've seen some being sold by the side of the road, but I could be deluding myself because I cannot for the life of me remember where.
Ben(8b/9a north FL)
7 years agoA round metal basket would be first choice, second option a square orchid basket made of hardwood, lined with coconut fiber and filled with sphagnum moss.
Here is a picture I found on google search, a basket of 8-10 inches diameter would be ideal
jane__ny