Question
QUESTION: I received the beautiful flowering Miltonia last July and have enjoyed it so much.  
After the flowers died I continued to water once every week or two during the
winter.  The green leaves are all slowly dying and falling off.  Is this normal?  
What do you advice.  Thanks in advance.

ANSWER: Hello Sue,

Miltonia orchids usually keep their leaves for several years so there may or may not be something wrong with yours.  If there are multiple growths (pseudobulbs) and it is only the biggest (oldest) growth that is losing its leaves, there may not be a problem.  But if there is only one pseudobulb, then you need to check to see what is causing the leaf loss.  

If most of the leaf is still green when they fall off, is there a black sooty looking area at the base of the leaf?  If there is, it could be a fungus infection.  Fungus can appear when you water late in the day and water gets on the leaves which makes for a cool damp environment that fungus spores love.  To prevent this type of infection it is best to do any watering in the morning to allow enough time for any water on the leafs to evaporate.  

Even if all the leafs fall off, as long as the pseudobulb remains green the miltonia is still alive.  Keep it in a warm shady place, remove any dead leaf remnants, water just enough to keep it barely moist and hopefully it will start a new pseudobulb within a couple of months.  If it does, keep in mind that it may take 2-3 years before it will produce flowers.  

Hope this helped.  

Jim Kawasaki
San Jose, Ca.



---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thank you for your comprehensive response Jim.  The leaves fall off
completely green, with about 1/2 " of yellow at the base where they came off.  
It might be a single bulb and I think it probably is.  There are only about 3
leaves remaining of many, many.  The part of the bulb I see, which is where
the stems originated I think, for the flowers, is green and surrounding parts
are brown, like dead leaves.  Any other ideas?  Again, thank you.

Answer
Hi Sue,

With the additional information, it sounds like there may be something wrong inside the pot such as the roots becoming rotten.  To be on the safe side, I'd suggest reducing watering for the next month or so and start getting ready to repot it into fresh orchid mix.  Now is not the best time to repot unless it is in really bad condition.  

To repot, purchase a small bag of orchid small grade potting mix.  In April, unpot it and clean off as much of the old mix as you can from the roots.  Remove any roots that are soft and mushy as they are dead.  Clean the pot and remove as much of the old dead leafs as you can. Place a little mix in the bottom of the pot then lower the roots into the pot until the bottom of the pseudobulb is at pot level then fill the pot with mix.  Gently press down on the mix and add more as needed to fill the pot.  Place the pot in a warm shady place for 2 to 3 weeks, watering sparingly once a week.  After this, put it in bright shade, warm temperatures and some light air movement.  Water and feed it when the potting mix becomes barely moist.  

Hope this helped.  

Jim Kawasaki
San Jose, Ca.