Can an orchid be resuscitated?
Asked by
Jeruba (
56061
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August 19th, 2021
About three weeks ago I was given a small potted orchid. It had creamy off-white blossoms about the diameter of a golf ball and relatively large bladelike leaves. There were several knobby little seedlike things on the stalks.
There was no little card telling me how not to kill my plant, but my hair stylist had a similar one in his shop, and he said to water it about every 7–10 days and let it drain.
I gave it some water about a week later, but couldn’t see how to let it drain.
Then the blossoms started dropping, and now they’re all gone. The knobby pods fell off. The leaves started turning brown, and so did the growing tips of the stems.
Is this little plant past hope, or is there something I could do to salvage this lovely gift? I wouldn’t have said I had a black thumb, but it’s never been particularly green. I have no instinct for this.
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6 Answers
Usually orchids need a small amount of water. Some people use the ice cube method, putting two cubes one to two times a week. The ice melts slowly so the soil doesn’t get soaked and risk root rot.
Your indoor environment (assuming the plant is indoors) can dry out the soil faster or slower. Air conditioning and heat dry the soil. The best is to get answers from people who live in your area, rather than what works for me in Florida, because the humidity would be different here. My orchids have done ok with just afternoon sun through the window. I’m not sure what type of sun is recommended. I water twice a week. I’ve seen recommendations for 7–10 days though.
Plants are trial and error as I’m sure your know. Sometimes you need to move them to a new spot.
Don’t use soft water to water your orchid.. That about covers my knowledge of orchids. I kill them too!
I had an orchid for a couple of years until I moved. Rather than water directly, I used to take it into the bathroom a couple times a week while I took a hot steamy shower. I only watered directly about once every three weeks
It was also in a relatively large pot, so the soil wouldn’t get soaked through
I’ve had success by soaking the pot (with wood chips) in water once a week then letting all the water drain away through the hole at the bottom of the pot. Then I gave it direct sun for a few hours a day, which is more than guidelines suggest.
Orchids usually come with an inner pot (thin plastic) with lots of holes or slits in it for drainage. I would suggest taking the inner pot out of the heavier outer pot, watering it, letting the water fully drain, and then place back in the outer pot. There are great website and youtube resources. I just got a hand-me-down orchid that was bare and it blossomed within a couple of weeks. They are fairly resilient, they just don’t like wet roots.
That’s exactly how mine came – pot within a pot.
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