I purchased a Phalaenopsis a few years ago and the plant did well for over a
year with plenty of blooms that lasted over 3 months. Then, I had the
bright idea of repotting it in a glass jar with only a small hole at the
bottom. From then on, the plant foliage started to get all soft and a few
leaves turned yellow, same thing with the roots. I believed the pot kept
too much moisture and the orchid had started to rot. I repoted it in its
original container (terracota pot) thinking the orchid would recover... It
did not and now I have only a few healthy roots and no foliage left! Since
the leaves turned all yellow, I decided to cut them all.

My question is: Since I have roots left, will the foliage start to grow
again? I have been waiting for a few months (about 3 months) with no
results. I would welcome your expertise and suggestions, is ti possible to
save this plant?

Thanks for your help!

Helen

Hello!

Can you post a picture of the plant on ABPO!

Claude

"alabbe0405" wrote in message
.cable.rogers.com...
| I purchased a Phalaenopsis a few years ago and the plant did well for over
a
| year with plenty of blooms that lasted over 3 months. Then, I had the
| bright idea of repotting it in a glass jar with only a small hole at the
| bottom. From then on, the plant foliage started to get all soft and a few
| leaves turned yellow, same thing with the roots. I believed the pot kept
| too much moisture and the orchid had started to rot. I repoted it in its
| original container (terracota pot) thinking the orchid would recover...
It
| did not and now I have only a few healthy roots and no foliage left!
Since
| the leaves turned all yellow, I decided to cut them all.
|
| My question is: Since I have roots left, will the foliage start to grow
| again? I have been waiting for a few months (about 3 months) with no
| results. I would welcome your expertise and suggestions, is ti possible
to
| save this plant?
|
| Thanks for your help!
|
| Helen
|
|

Helen,

If you still have strong roots, there is a good chance your plant will put
up leaves again one day.

Mick

Helen,

My wife (she is quite good with orchids, wins awards often) says chuck
the plant...it is likely hopeless. Orchids have roots that generally
need air or at least access to it. The terracota does allow some air
movement but a a glass jar does not and that is why it started fading
away. Don't feel too bad, it is said by some you are not good at
growing orchids until you have killed 100+ of them. One friend of mine
has some 700+ orchids but he killed 200 before he got reall good at
it. My wife has 220 and has a few victims also.

A couple of tips for you:
1-Do not plant in dirt - put in a plastic pot with bark or diatomite
2-Be sure you have good quality water, i.e. if you are not sure, buy
bottled water (it should say purified water, i.e. cleaned via reverse
osmosis). Tap water may well stunt its growth.
3-Orchids need to be fed, i.e. fertlized.

Some other useful tips can be found at
www.pottingsource.com, then click on LINKS and then HOW TO BUILD AN
ORCHID SHELF. There are details on water quality (how to measure),
fertilizer and so on. If you have more questions, email us at
but subtract 10 from that number first
and change the n to m in that email address (I am trying to hide from
spammers). Put ORCHID in as the subject line of your email if you send
one.

Hope that helps and good luck

Joe

On Thu, 15 Apr 2004 01:15:46 GMT, "alabbe0405"
wrote:

I purchased a Phalaenopsis a few years ago and the plant did well for over a
year with plenty of blooms that lasted over 3 months. Then, I had the
bright idea of repotting it in a glass jar with only a small hole at the
bottom. From then on, the plant foliage started to get all soft and a few
leaves turned yellow, same thing with the roots. I believed the pot kept
too much moisture and the orchid had started to rot. I repoted it in its
original container (terracota pot) thinking the orchid would recover... It
did not and now I have only a few healthy roots and no foliage left! Since
the leaves turned all yellow, I decided to cut them all.

My question is: Since I have roots left, will the foliage start to grow
again? I have been waiting for a few months (about 3 months) with no
results. I would welcome your expertise and suggestions, is ti possible to
save this plant?

Thanks for your help!

Helen