On Wed, 9 Apr 2014 18:38:18 -0700 (PDT), Jane Blatz
wrote:

I have ten orchids. I've had most of them for many years. One, which I've had for 8 years, appears to have a big problem. The bottom of the leaves, where they attach to the main plant, is turning black. So far two leaves have been affected. One leaf fell off. When I pulled the other leaf off, there is a big black mass underneath. It almost looks like a small rotten tree stump. So far the plant has lost two leaves.

It's in full bloom right now. I removed it from the pot and saw there were many rotted roots. I removed all the bad roots. Rinsed the root ball and repotted it in a new pot with clean medium. I always water my plants once a week. I've been doing the same thing for more than 10 years with great luck. I've never had an orchid die and they always rebloom. I am careful not to over water. I use Miracle Grow Orchid Mix.

The reason I'm so upset is this is the last gift my husband gave me before he died and it's also the orchid that blooms the most. I think of it as my "miracle plant" and I'm afraid I'm going to lose it.

Wish I could post some photos, but it doesn't look like I can attach anything here.

You can put a photo into tinypic and post the url to it here, though.
Let's see what it is and it'll be easier to help. There are so many
different orchids that it is hard to generalize.

Meanwhile, look around towards the bottom of the page and see if you
can find a match.

http://www.phelpsfarm.com/OrchidPestsandDiseases.pdf

I'm also worried about my other orchids. They appear to be fine right now, but do I have to worry that this is contagious?

Help please!

thanks

Jane