my sad little plant not blooming, growing, roots and leaves look bad help!!! - Orchid Board

lunaraven87 · #1 02-15-2012, 12:15 AM

My Paph. Shireen is looking a little sad. it's been having trouble growing and hasn't had any new stems or leaves show up. the roots are shown below...brown no green...it is in miracle-gro orchid potting mix. this is the only surivor from my aunt's house which mysteriously killed my 19 other orchids....it's been out of her home for over 6 months now...they leaves look a lot better then before they were very lined and wilted looking....how can i bring this beautiful orchid back to health?????

Bud · #2 02-15-2012, 12:49 AM

Its very dry. You need to water it...its dehydrated.

lunaraven87 · #3 02-15-2012, 01:10 AM

it been watered once a week with 5 ice cubes....for a bit it was located in my bathroom on the window sill and it gets very steamy in there when you run the shower since it small...that when it got really wilted and sad looking took it and put on my kitchen table but it's still not doing to well

Zoi2 · #4 02-15-2012, 01:25 AM

Paphs like water, 5 ice cubes a week isn't near enough. Run water through the pot until the bark is soaked then let it drain before you put it back on your table or window sill. Water again before it completely dries out.
Paph roots are firm, brown and hairy.
Joann

lunaraven87 · #5 02-15-2012, 01:34 AM

@zoi i will try that see if it works...i know with my other orchids the roots had rotted before from over watering. i don't want to lose this one since it's my fav and most expensive out of the new collection...

on another note: Should i change the substrate it is in? from miracle gro to just regular bark? and leave some of the sad roots out in air or bury them like they were when i got it?

camille1585 · #6 02-15-2012, 03:22 AM

I think it also needs a much much smaller pot than that. Orchids like to be potted a bit snug in a pot that just fits the roots. And yes, you should keep all the roots buried.
No idea about the potting mix question, since I'm not in the US I don't knwo what the miracle grow stuff is like.

Discus · #7 02-15-2012, 04:42 AM

Paphs like being root bound (small pot) and regular repotting (annual or sometimes more frequent).

I hear miracle-gro orchid mix has a lot of fines in it (i.e. it's somewhat 'soil-like') which might be a problem for many orchids, but I suspect paphs will manage it. Paphs seem to quite like a fairly large amount of water on a regular basis, but should not remain sopping wet for any length of time.

RJSquirrel · #8 02-15-2012, 05:36 AM

if you ARE using miracle gro orchid mix its no mystery why they are all dead or dying. Brown roots are fine on paphs. Put it in a bark/charcoal/spongerock mix and give it some water to keep the roots moist.Them roots look like dried out beef jerky.

lunaraven87 · #9 02-15-2012, 04:50 PM

the potting mix is kinda fine i don't like it much it was recomended to me by a friend to try out.....i moved it up to a 6in pot because the 4in pot, i bought it in, the roots were so tightly bound and wrapping around the out side of the plastic pot that i had to cut the pot off of the roots....

i soaked the soil and let it drain out and added some fertilizer last night so well see what happens

@RJ the other orchids that died at my aunt's were all in bark and caught some strange fungus mold that dried them out no matter how much water was used that killed them.

lunaraven87 · #10 02-27-2012, 12:14 AM

ok so i watered it just like ya'll said and i make sure that it's not to dry and if it is i water it again...it's in the same pot and has the same light as all the other thriving ones but i have noticed that the leaves are drooping and limping over the side of the pot...when i took the pictures above the leaves where firm and not touching the pot.... what has happened to my favorite plant???? 0_o