My new cattleya is sick :'(((

[moonsful]

I got this orchid a few days back and i watered it however i saw that some of the pseudobulbs (the younger ones) were still wrinkled so a day later I watered them again because it came in a foam so I thought maybe its getting too dry ( i didnt want to repot it because i thought it would be too stressed) so today I checked and 3 of the 6 pseudobulbs were wrinkled and purplish in color, the leaves have fallen off and one of them is yellowish with black spots and brown patches towards the pseaudobulb and the other is green but both look wrinkled. There are couple of brown spots on the other two pseaudobulbs but as far as i can see the two pseaudobulbs are still green in color and are not wrinked...when it came it already had a brown leaf which fell of staight away. Is it dying??? (....for some reason i cant upload pictures, Iwill try again.

[tucker85]

It's probably not dying. Cattleyas are very tough plants. It's almost impossible to get the older pseudobulbs to plump up if they're wrinkled and dehydrated. But don't cut the old pseudobulbs off, they add to the overall energy of the orchid. With cattleyas you always use the newest pseudobulbs (lead pseudobulb) as a gauge. If the lead pseudobulb is plump then the plant is getting enough water, if it's wrinkled, the plant needs to be watered more often. Cattleyas should dry out completely before watering. When you do water, put the plant in a sink or outdoors and drench the media really well. Good luck.

[moonsful]

Thanks! do you think i should spray fungicide or something just in case?

[silken]

Tips for posting Photos

The above link might help with up-loading some photos. They need to be smallish files.

A photo would be very helpful to see what this foam is all about and what the plant looks like.

[moonsful]

Flickr: moonsful's Photostream heres the photos hopefully you can open it :/

[silken]

I looked at your pictures. The plant looked perfectly fine initially and normally you wouldn't lose multiple leaves at once. I wonder if you are watering too often. When the roots are green as in the photos, they are moist and don't need water. Cattleyas like to dry out completely between watering. With that foam in there it might be hard to tell. I see you have a new growth starting and the visible roots look fine. Normally you would wait till the new growth develops some roots and re-pot at that time. If it is staying too wet at the bottom or centre, I might be tempted to re-pot it now. A fungicide wouldn't hurt but I don't really see any signs of fungus or bacteria. Try not to get water on the leaves and pseudobulbs where it can be trapped.

When you do re-pot, I would put it into some well soaked bark or coconut chunks in a small well aerated pot. Cut off any hollow or mushy roots.

[moonsful]

Thank you so much! im so relieved its not dying...thanks for your time

[isurus79]

Ya, that plant looks fine. I don't why anyone would mount it on foam like that though! Very wierd!

Quite often, orchids that are shipped to a new home shed an old leaf or two. I wouldn't worry about it. Your plant actually seems very young and probably won't bloom for several years. A little guy like that that is mounted could probably do well with water every other day, depending on the temperature and humidity.

[Leafmite]

Cute little bugger. I actually think the foam is a cool idea--hard to overwater and lightweight. Good luck!

[greengarden]

An orchid grower over here grows all of his staghorn ferns mounted on foam, they love it, he reckons it's a great mounting material because they are happy while they are on it and it doesn't damage the roots much peeling them off it in order to mount them somewhere else.