Is it really still alive and not dead?!! Pics
 

Hi, I'm new. My sister bought me an orchid last year, July. I thought it died last year and was just lazy to throw it out. The leaves are completely dry and look dead.

Yesterday I was looking at it and saw something bright green growing on it.

The last time I watered this was last year around August. But I did water a little last night when I saw this

Is it really dead or still alive? Is that a new leaf? If it is alive still, how can I recover this plant to help it grow and come back?


This orchid is in my kitchen, in the window Next to the hallway.

This plant is a survivor! Yes that looks like new growth, and some new roots. Give the plant a good drenching under the kitchen faucet, and resolve to water it at least once a week... when the media (moss?) is just approaching dryness. It is truly amazing that it has survived such abuse and neglect.

It's alive! :)

Wow wow. Guess this is one time my laziness actually paid off! This must be a special one :) my sister got this for me to help "living up" my house after my dad died, change it up.

This truly is amazing that it's actually coming back to life. As you clearly see, this looks dead! and no watering for almost one year!

I wonder how it really survived and decided to come back?

If that pot that it is in has no drainage, you'll need to fix that... if so it might have saved the plant, but once you start watering, the roots need air. When you drench the pot under the faucet (let the water run through it) you pull air into the root zone. While I suspect that there's not much in the way of live roots in the pot, after the stress that this plant has undergone, I would be inclined to not disturb it by repotting until those new roots get going. Keep us posted... once that happens, there is plenty of good advice on this forum to help you through longer-term care of this plant. But first, give it a chance to revive.

The pot does have drainage. When I gave it some water last night, it poured out onto my counter.

Should I give it more sunlight?

Put a bag over it to create humidity?

Watering - I will do this once a week. Should I continue to drench or ice cube amount?

Dead leaves and dead stem - should I cut them away?
Or just really let it be so it doesn't go into too much shock

Anything else I should do?

I'm determined to treat this baby well now. I never understood an Orchid before and just assumed once the blooms fell off, the plant was done and over.

Thanks everyone

I would keep it in the same place as it had enough humidity and maybe light to survive for so long.

Start watering it every 7-10 days, maybe longer at the beginning since it might get shocked :)

It should come back. It has at least 3-4 nice green roots.

Thank you for the info. How much water every 7-10 days? I know they don't like lots of water, but maybe this situation is different.

Don't give it more light. Let it relax with the amount of light it now gets.

DO NOT USE ICE CUBES TO WATER AN ORCHID. PUTTING ICE ON A TROPICAL PLANT IS ABSURD. Whomever came up with that idea/method is responsible for the deaths of many, many orchids, and should be frozen alive in a block of ice. Always water an orchid using water that is room temperature or slightly warmer.

Don't bag it. The plant survived this long without it, so dont' change the conditions.

Don't try to schedule the plant's watering. Orchids follow their own schedule. Water the plant once the medium is completely dry.

Allow dead leaves to naturally fall off. Don't mess with the plant's stem at all.

Welcome to the board. I don't know how your orchid survived, either, but in light of the fact that it was a gift after the passing of your father, and the fact that this little plant sprouted new life after being neglected for almost a year and being presumed dead, I would want to do everything I could to make it happy and healthy from this point on. Just sayin'........;)

When you water, water it well - so that the water pours out the bottom of the pot. Then, don't water again until the moss is almost dry (but not crispy) You can use a wood skewer to find out about moisture a couple of inches down - if it comes out damp, wait a couple more days and test again. If it comes out dry, it's time to water One could prescribe some number of days, but it would be only pure luck if it were correct (because it depends on the pot, the media, the humidity in your house, light, temperature... any number of factors that will be different at your house than at mine) But other than giving it some water, keep all the other conditions the same - wait to change anything until after it revives.

But as far as water goes, the plant wants a wet-dry cycle - and air around the roots. When the water pours of of the bottom of the pot, it pulls air into the root zone. Then as the water evaporates, it is replaced by air (which is still nice and humid) So that's why you want to water well, then let it dry out.

YES! exactly how I feel and think right now. It sounds silly, but it's a little emotional for me in happiness right now. The orchid is in the kitchen, next to the bathroom where he passed. His one year of passing is next month in July and this little Orchid has come back to life before his anniversary.

I'm going to do whatever I can to treat it right and help it grow back.

Wow, amazing. Congrats, and good luck!

This is actually typical of Phals to do this.

This is why for a very long time already, I have recommended people not throw out their Phals if the plant has no leaves but still has plenty of living roots.

All Phals have this ability. In fact, some Phal species are considered "leafless", (they're not truly leafless, it's just that the leaves are pretty small and they can go deciduous).

It's situations like this that make the photosynthetic roots a benefit for the plant.

Good lord. I am starting to believe that phals are the Keith Richards of the orchid world.
That is amazing, though! Wishing you much success and if you haven't already-- read through the sticky post in this section callled The Phal abuse ends here. Some really great info on how to keep these types of orchids happy

Welcome to the Orchid Board!

Yes, very definitely read the thread SaraJean linked to in the message above this one.

I'm new at this too, but I just wanted to let you know I have my fingers crossed. Listen to the good advice these folks are giving, and you'll learn a lot.

Elaine