Unhappy Orchid

[southlondongardener]

Foolishly I kept an Orchid away from direct sunlight.

Now it's leaves have fallen off (possibly it was over watered).

However one stem still looks good. Any ideas on how to rescue it ?

[HeyWayne]

Foolishly I kept an Orchid away from direct sunlight.

Now it's leaves have fallen off (possibly it was over watered).

However one stem still looks good. Any ideas on how to rescue it ?

Ours sits quite happily in water and keeps flowering away - occasionally losing all the flowers but they come back. However, my brother-in-laws girlfriend has the same orchid and she cuts hers right down to the base when the flowers die, and it comes back. Maybe worth trying that?

p.s. I think she says hers has only flowered once or twice though...

[Nicos]

I do quite well with my orchids on one windowsill in the kitchen.
It's an East facing double glazed window with a radiator underneath it. Anywhere else and I seem to kill them off.
Over watering and then allowing to dry up ( ie a bit of neglect )and then occasional ( 3 times a year) feed with baby bio seems to suit my orchids.
I can only grow the Cambrium variety this way.

I'm sure that's not quite right but they do thrive.

[Protea]

Foolishly I kept an Orchid away from direct sunlight.

Now it's leaves have fallen off (possibly it was over watered).

However one stem still looks good. Any ideas on how to rescue it ?

The leaves falling off isn't a good sign. When did you buy it and where from? Keeping our of direct sulight wouldn't have harmed it as they don't like direct sun most of the time. Do you know what type of orchid it is (cambrium, phaleonopsis, lady's slipper ??)

If its been overwatered let it completely dry out, put it somewhere light but without direct sunlight (north facing windowsill ideal) and see what happens.

It might have had a disease that caused its leves to die, so don't be too alarmed. hope it makes a recovery

I treat all my orchids really mean, and they repeat flower without fail - even my slipper orchid is flowering now with another flower on the way and i was convinced it would never flower again (difficult to grow). My phaleonopsis orchids flower several times a year. I keep them on north or west facing windowsills, water them once a week max or less if i forget about them, use flowering food when they are producing spikes or are actually flowering, use growth food ver occasionally (i.e. when i remember) when they are not. My best advice is to ignore them unless they're doing something exciting flowering

[southlondongardener]

Thanks for that.

I do not know what type of orchid it is , I bought it from a stall but the other one I got (which has been watered less) is fine.

[TPeers]

How long have you had it? If you bought it from a trader it might have suffered wind chill.

[Grandpadragon]

ProTea,
What brand of foods do you Use? Just about to buy some as MIL has just given me the one she had for Christmas.The flowers have fallen but rest looks fine I have pruned stems to buds which are shooting, and now need to repot it as in pot with no drainage hole!!! Will place on west facing kitchen window sill then.

[Glasshousevirgin]

I have treated over watered orchids with the drying out as noted by others above but also by using anti fungal agent like copper sulphate after it was drier to ward off other consequences of the over watering.
It comes in satchets of 10 for �4.99 and although you need to dilute a whole litre its useful for other houseplants to prevent fungal problems too. To use it up I just water some on various plants and it settles in their pots and has a long term effect (I hope).

[southlondongardener]

How long have you had it? If you bought it from a trader it might have suffered wind chill.

Since November. I started noticing the problem 2 weeks ago.
Over Christmas it was well away from the sun and we had no heating for 5 days although another one was fine.

[Protea]

ProTea,
What brand of foods do you Use? Just about to buy some as MIL has just given me the one she had for Christmas.The flowers have fallen but rest looks fine I have pruned stems to buds which are shooting, and now need to repot it as in pot with no drainage hole!!! Will place on west facing kitchen window sill then.

erm....without checking (rumaging in the cupboards!) i think the flowering one is a Chempak brand, and the other one i'm not sure but it comes in a little plastic pot and they do lots of variations for 'special' plants, i have one of their cactus feeds too. they were both bought from garden centres.

[southlondongardener]

Here are some fotos :-

[Nicos]

2 sticks??????....I'd bin it- but then again...someone might just have the right answer!

[southlondongardener]

2 sticks??????....I'd bin it- but then again...someone might just have the right answer!

Thanks a lot

[TPeers]

Not that I wish to be pesimistic, and I have rescued several of the orchids my Mum 'abuses' when she has to paint them (professional botanical artist) but I think it may be beyond help......

[terrier]

Sorry, looks pretty dead to me as well