QuestionHi Jim,
In November, I bought what's known as the white orchid...I think...Phalaenopsis?! It was beautiful and it had flowers until about the end of February when one by one they died off. I haven't cut back the stem because I don't really know what to do. However, I noticed that there are roots growing up out of the pot. What do I do? Also, I want to rescue a dying orchid (the same kind) from my work place. The stem was cut down after the blooms fell off and the leaves are droopy. Help! Thank you so much.
Desperate in NYC :-)
Carolina
AnswerHi Carolina,
After the flowers have all withered and died, take a look at the tip of the stem. If it is still alive, leave it alone as it may produce new flowers when the stem starts to grow again - probably in 6 to 9 months. But, if the tip starts to turn brown that means it is dying back and you can remove the stem by cutting it off down low.
Roots growing out of the pot is not unusual for many orchids, so there is not a lot to worry about. One thing phalaenopsis orchids enjoy is being repotted annually and the best time to do this is soon after the flowers are gone.
Ah, a rescue orchid from work? From your description, it sounds like it is in quite a bit of distress as shown by the droopy leaves. The usual cause for this is either too much or too little water, the symptoms are the same. The only way to tell which is to take it out of the pot and look at the condition of the roots. If they are most soft and rotten that indicates it was watered too much and too often. If they are greyish and somewhat shriveled, that means it had not been watered enough. With either case, the best thing would be to repot it into fresh potting media and removing any soft mushy roots, the shriveled roots can be left alone. Either put it back into the same pot or a pot one size smaller due to the root damage. Untfortunately, once the leaves droop they will probably reamin droopy but new leaves should be fine.
Hope this helped. Good luck.
Jim Kawasaki
San Jose, Ca.
