Question
OK my question is this... In May 2009 I received a orchid plant from my children on Mother's Day.  There were two orchid plants in the same pot.  The blooms were absolutely gorgeous, but as they grew the blooms fell off and have since not come back because the stem they were growing on died off.  Now yesterday I noticed that the most bottom two leaves on one plant were turning yellow & when touched they fell off completely.  I went to the Home Depot today Aug 30, 2009 and purchased Orchid potting mix which contained mostly bark.  While in the process of cleaning off the roots and trimming back the dead & rotted ones the complete top of one plant came off.  So to make a loooong question as short as possible, ((should I try to root the leaf section that came off? & if so how would I do that?  water / soil? also will the stem return in due time?  I'm at a total loss as to what to do with them))  The roots look fairly good, the leafs actually look very good, what's a gal to do in situations like this?    any ideas would be greatly appreciated, Thank You

Answer
Julie, unfortunately orchid leaves, unlike some other houseplant leaves cannot regenerate a plant.  It is possible that you still have meristemmatic tissue where leaves join roots.  If there is still some tissue there it might begin new leaf growth after the plant is repotted.  Be sure this tissue is above the potting mix and does not get wet.  Give it a month to start new growth.  That is the only way you will know if any of this tissue has survived.  Incidentally, the orchid potting mix you purchased was probably fairly dry and should have been soaked for an hour or two before use.  Be sure you use a plastic pot with lots of drainage holes when you repot an orchid.  They should be repotted after each flowering.

It is unfortunate that many people buying orchid plants from mass marketers have no idea that, while the plant looks great, thay have not been well cared for and new owners are getting a plant that either has root rot or is a candidate for root rot. Just this year, I had occassion to take aside the person responsible for orchid plants at a Home Depot in another state.  That person had no idea how to evaluate or maintain their orchids and were following some very bad advice from their supplier. I told him that he might consider another supplier as many of the orchid plants were actually floating in water.  I would advise anyone who purchases orchids from these mass marketers, to repot that plant as soon as possible after it goes out of flower.