Vanilla Orchid dying from roots up

[SouthPark]

Originally Posted by Fran20

Thanks, SouthPark,
I was thinking of setting my plants on such grates over a humidity tray. Would something like this fit the bill?

Most welcome Fran. The egg-crate style mentioned by kruger will be quite suitable for most pots - including flat-bottom pots. The less chance of the grate material covering holes on the pot underside, the better.

Some pots might be concave in shape (for the bottom), with lots of holes distributed around the bottom perimeter of the pot. In that case, the grate you showed could still work just fine.

The egg-crate style will be the preferred style. But anything that works well to keep the pot above drained water (and still allows good air-flow through the pot) will be ok.

[aliceinwl]

What are your temperatures like? I’ve had similar issues with plants kept too cool and wet. I don’t think my V. planifolia cutting sees temperatures below 70 and it’s in a room that heats up considerably on sunny days.

If you do try to cut a healthy section, I would dust the cut with cinnamon and try to keep the main stem and cut dry. The stringy things are roots. I got mine as a one node cutting with one leaf and one root. The root on mine was pretty long and growing downwards, after I secured the plant to the mount, I loosely wrapped just the root in a thin layer of sphagnum which I mist. The root eventually grew down into the potting mix below the mount (I used repotme.com’s terrestrial orchid blend). I’ve only had mine a few months and I’m hoping spring spurs some vegetative growth.

[Kruger]

ccarlson, your plant wants to live. It's in the DNA of it. Something you are doing to it seems to harm it. If you can correct it, you might be able to save the plant.

What did you decide to do? Good luck. While it would be easier to buy a new plant, maybe this can be a good case to practice your rescue skills on. You can always buy a new plant in a future date.

[ccarlson]

Thanks Kruger, Southpark, Leafmite and Aliceinwl:

I repotted what's left of this plant. By the time I cut off the dead part, there's one leaf and a couple roots remaining. I potted in bark. At the rate I was losing leaves, I worried about waiting another day to get scoria. No need to worry about a trellis at this time.

Interestingly enough, when I pulled the dead vine out, I found it had some small but bright green roots left. I potted those in another pot - just couldn't bring myself to throw away something that has a sliver of life left.

As far as climate. I'm keeping the orchid in the house where it's between 70-75 in the winter and will be warmer in the summer. I'm in the desert so it's dry (hence the initial shower treatments!). I started it in a south facing window but it wasn't happy there - but then again, it hasn't been happy in general. Any thoughts on best placement for light and how to give it proper humidity are appreciated.

Thanks for all your help - I feel like a first-time mother here!

[Kruger]

Do you have an evaporative cooler? You could boost the humidity and get temps down if you live in hot, arid conditions. Either that or use sphagnum moss for the roots - OR - a quick draining media and keep moist with plenty of airflow. The leaves don't need water or misting (or if they get it, make sure they dry off quickly).

You don't need bright light right now, you need more vegetative growth. I'd recommend medium/lower light levels until you build a good root system.

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[ccarlson]

Got it. One day down and no browning yet

[ccarlson]

Almost a week down and the last leaf still looks good. It might be my imagination but I believe a root is starting to grow at the very top. It's really trying.

[Leafmite]

Just needs one root and one section of green vine to recover...good luck!

[SouthPark]

Originally Posted by ccarlson

Almost a week down and the last leaf still looks good. It might be my imagination but I believe a root is starting to grow at the very top. It's really trying.

Growth activity like that is a good sign.

Just to provide one indication of the good rate that a vanilla orchid can grow ... I attached a photo taken an hour or so ago - showing pieces of vanilla orchid that were only about 5 cm long last year (when I received them from ebay shipping within Australia) can grow pretty fast and get out of control .... sticking or glueing their roots to surfaces, flooring etc.

The three orchids are growing in little pots of scoria and are going to remain in these pots. They were originally growing in flexible tubs filled with a bit of spaghnum (which is how they arrived in the mail - maybe early last year - and I eventually repotted them all last year into these small pots of scoria).

It sounds like your vanilla orchid is recovering - very promising signs. Looking forward to the next positive update!

[Fran20]

Originally Posted by SouthPark

Just to provide one indication of the good rate that a vanilla orchid can grow ... I attached a photo taken an hour or so ago - showing pieces of vanilla orchid that were only about 5 cm long last year

I would say that going from 5cm last year to their size in the present picture is amazing growth!