Putting an orchid in full water culture can help with rotting because only the tips are in water and the rest of the orchid is exposed to air. It helps keep water away from the rotting areas and keeps them drier. I have found this extremely helpful.
Hi Jason, keeping orchids in water has proven detrimental for most species, except Phalaenopsis and a few others, you can view my experience here if you'd like ua-cam.com/video/QrH8DhJ3Jiw/v-deo.html from an evolutionary point of view, epiphytic plants cannot be sustained in water on the long run. Though many people keep them in water up to a level, so that half or more of the roots are still exposed to air, does not mean that they can live in water on the long run. The exposed roots will probably be ok due to the air and humidity, the water roots will visibly be distressed and forced to adapt to inappropriate conditions. Although this method can be applied for a very short period of time for a fast hydration, on the long run (a few years) it will most likely not prove to be efficient, unless at least part of the root system is exposed to air. If orchids could truly adapt to water we would find most of them in lakes and swamps, when reality is that only a few can tolerate similar conditions :) These are just my 2 cents combined with the available science of orchid growing provided by AOS articles and not only.
First off; I'm not a very active subscriber and hardly ever comment on anything. But I have watched most of your videos. I wanted to thank you for all your honest and informative videos which revitalised my love for orchids. (My bank account isn't thanking you for it though ;) ) Around Christmas (before I found your channel in my defence) I went to a home and garden centre to buy some plants to spruce up our new appartment. They had a promotion giving a free Phal orchid with your purchase. It was the very standard white phal that didn't have much of a flower display, but it seemed like there were plenty of roots in the pot and healthy looking leaves. So I let it be (big mistake). The blooms didn't last very long, which made sense to me. I had no idea how long it had bloomed and I did not expect a high quality orchid for free. After discovering your channel, I figured I should actually take a look in the pot; as it was done blooming. Well to make an already long story short, I discovered a plug and some expected dead roots (not all of them, hooray), and to my horror suspicious black discolouration on the axis (which was burrowed in media as well). So I started peeling away leaves, to figure out how bad the problem was. Well it was bad :(. But it sparked a determination to try and save the orchid and maybe get it to its full potential down the line. So I went out and bought alcohol 70%, H2O2 3% and did everything I have seen you do: sterilise, cut away the bad, disinfect the wounds, dry with what seemed like copious amounts of cinnamon, and most important of all plant it high enough. This was about 2 weeks ago and I have been monitoring it every day. The blackness seemed to dry and not spread, the leaves seems to stay hydrated and the existing roots seemed to soak up water for the time being, but as you said it needs some new growth points to have a future at all. Lo and behold today: imgur.com/dST4dps and imgur.com/H2a2KGB on either side of the axis. I'm not saying it will survive, but at least it is trying and has a fighting chance because of you. Which I want to thank you for. (sorry for the wall of text)
Mischx how’s your orchid doing a year later? I love your story and feel the same about Miss Dani. I have had a Phal I rescued from the grocery store ($3 for a non-mini Phal? Yes, please) for about a year now... it had very limp leaves, a ton of rotten roots and was in bad need of repotting. I struggled for a few months trying to bring it back with only one truly healthy leaf and a handful of roots. After finding Dani, I started giving it weekly baths and it turned a big corner growing 3 new leaves... but no new roots. Again, Dani to the rescue with her tip of adding sphagnum moss to just the top layer and keeping that moist, but not soaked. I noticed a few new root growths and was so happy. Today, I noticed that the crown has a growing split in it between a leaf and old bloom spike... inside this split... I kid you not... I counted 7 new roots coming. I’m not sure if the split is from a tool cutting the old spike or just nature... Either way, thanks to Dani, my old rescue went from death’s door to growing 3 new leaves and 11 (so far) total new roots in less then a year. I’m looking forward to seeing what the blooms look like next year since I’m pretty sure it’s 😆😁😄😆 and going to make it. She’s a treasure that OrchidGirl!
After months and days searching on what was going on with my orchids, I re-watched all your videos in the look out for answers and this video did clarify everything for me, even if I have 0 hope on recovering my orchids because they suffer from stem rot your videos have enlightened me. Thank you for doing what you do, I promise if I ever have more orchids I will be careful every time I water them :)
I truly doubt you'll see this response, but I have to thank you. I've watched you for years, and I have a couple of hundred (mostly healthy) orchids, but recently I have been losing only my phals like crazy! Heartbroken, I decided to start at the beginning and watched your basics. Apparently, when I repotted them, I placed them too deep and the stems weren't drying properly. Although I have lost a couple dozen phals, at least I believe you solved the problem. Thank you again for all your shared expertise. Signed, Starting over again in Maine.
🥲I wish I came across this video earlier to prevent stem rot on my newly bought orchid as I buried the orchid too deep... Finger crossed for my orchid! I noticed it as the leaf starts to become limpy (like sign of dehydration), although I know that the roots are pretty healthy. Treated it with cinnamon powder for now and let the time heals! Thank you danny for the informative video! 🥰
Hi Dani, thank you for the information, it’s very useful for me. I’ve just dealed with stem rot, and yes as you say, it’s really hard to treat, so yesterday I said goodbye to my (ready to bloom) orchid ☹️ Previously I treated phalaenopsis with infections in the leaves (I don’t know if it’s caused by fungi or bacteria). I sprayed the orchids with garlic + dish detergent + cooking oil solution regularly, and voila, the orchid is now started to grow keiki. Maybe this will help if you don’t favor fungicide to treat your orchids. 😊
Hi Dani I am just starting to grow orchids. My small orchid has a crown rot and I am now going to try your recommendation. I really hope it can be saved. Thankyou for your video. Keep them coming.
I will now remove an orchid from the pot in order to see what the roots are doing. The leaves are very dark green and there seems to be no growth or any movement. It is a strange case, and I think it might be stem rot. Thank you for the video!
I have figured a way to prevent crown rot: a put a bit of cinnamon on the crown. Also I avoid getting water in the crown, but in case water gets there, the cinnamon will prevent an infection.
Hi, Dani. I am writing you on behalf of my friend that shares my recently attainted obsession for orchids (just Phals for now). Her first orchid, a gift from me, had very pretty blooms and large green leaves. She didn't repotted right away in fear that she might lose the blooms. For more than a month it was great, but then, in a matter of a week, one of the 2 spikes dried completely, of course all the blooms fell, and the leaves started to turn yellow. She's now repotted the orchid and treated with hydrogen peroxide and cinnamon any black spot, but I think it might be stem rot. 3 leaves fell already and only the 2 newest leaves remain a faint green (no yellowing yet). Is it safe for her to cut off every yellow leaf and maybe treat the possible stem rot underneath or better to leave the plant be (treated roots and visible spots on the stem only)? Thank you very much!
Thank you Miss Orchid for this helpful information. I have been beating my self up since my phal died last March. I had her for 5 years and I know now that it was definitely steam root. It happened too quickly, despite all the care that I was given her.
Hi, don;t be sad about it it can happen to all of us. All it takes is for the right circumstances (lower temperature, a drop of water and poof, stem rot). In the future I'm sure you will pay attention to this more and she will serve as a great learning experience for future orchids :D
Yes it happened to mine so quickly too,1st lost a few leaves and then no stopping it.As I learn more,more things have been going wrong since early this year and last year.Before that I had 3 yrs of only success,so what is happening??
Bought my orchid yesterday got up this morning made some extra holes in the clear plastic pot removed the orchid removed the rotted roots placed it back in the clear pot with the bark now I just have it sitting in the clear pot on my windowsill I also watered it just a small bit gonna leave it and make sure it gets some oxygen back in my zink pot tonight
Thank you for the video my orquid is sick I am so sad and from what you just said it looks like stem rot I will do my very best the help it thank you again girl
Question for treating potential stem rot: So I bought a tiny phal a couple days ago and immediately changed it out of its store medium (absolutely drenched sphagnum moss in a pot with zero light), some roots had to be cut but half were okay, if a full opaque white, but they're fine (no longer photosynthesizes?). However, one of the lowest leaves on the phal was a little dark and mushy at a small spot on its base right along the stem: after a day of adjusting the orchid from its previous wetness, I now realize the small mushy patch is a dead spot of leaf, and appears to have a deadish looking cavity behind it in the stem. Is this stem rot??? How can I treat this? there are no roots above this leaf, should I cut it away to check the stem? appearance-wise the phal looks okay for now (it has a flower spike and a second coming up, I don't think it was waterlogged for too long).
I thought my orchid has crown rot. Just found out that it’s actually stem rot. I used hydrogen peroxide on all of it. Used cinnamon to cover the open wound. It has only one root left.... I really hope it lives
Hi Dani, thank you very much for this video and tips. I have recently lost one of my favourites: oncidium twinkle. And I was just wondering what could have happened to it. It started about 2 month after all flowers fell and their stems dried off. First I noticed some yellowing leaves thought if was normal. Regulated watering as I am aware of rest periods. But the plant would loose more and more leaves every now and then. So I decided to repot it. I believe I texted you about that repotting, as I found that in what I thought would be the original pot, there was another busket like pot and all the roots there going in and out of it totally tangled and very difficult to separate. It was more like that orchid grew into that pot. So I managed to separate them. Of course I must have damaged some roots. It was impossible not to.Also I treated it with hydrogen peroxide. After a while all plant stopped growing, shrunk all bulbs and kept getting brownish-yellowish leaves. It continued like that until it died completely. I will put some pictures to this comment later on as I was "documenting" all the stages of the disease. So here is my question, did anything like this happened to your orchids? I know that there is a lot of work behind every video you make, but would it be possible to have a video on oncidium problems as I watched all you have on oncidium but didn't find and hint for solution on my kind of problem. Thank you very much.
Hi Lana, sorry to hear about your Twinkle, but let's se if we can figure out why it died so we learn for the future :) well first, Oncidium Twinkle doesn't have a rest. No Oncidium has a rest actually, they like to be damp almost all the time, no long droughts. So my first question is, how often did you water it and how did you know it was time to water? I am suspecting a root problem, either suffocation, either desiccation and then death. Also when you repotted did you manage to figure out if the roots were alive or dead? Oncidium roots are pretty tricky, they can look white and nice, but can actually be dead. The way to know is by pressing on them and seeing if they have any substance. Ok so if the watering did not cause damage then we will think of other things, but first let's see if it was a desiccation issue :)
Hi Dani. Thank you for your channel. I’ve learned a lot! One question I have is if I can report my well established orchids in terracota pots. I won’t be able to monitor the roots and they won’t have a lot of air circulating around them, and that is my main concern. However, I see that you have some terracota pots. Do you recommend that I use them? Thank you for making all this knowledge accesible. Gabriela
Hi Dani, thank you for a swift reply. looks like I was mistaken by rest periods. well...now it is really at rest. I always tried to keep it moist but well drained. when I reported it first, I put it in a white pot so I could only guess by the colour of the medium whether it is time to water. Then thought it was wrong and literally took it out without removing the medium, because it was there for a month or so, and put it all in a bit wider but transparent pot. There I could see how dry or wet it was so could better figure out when to water. still, it kept going yellow. I managed to put together some photos on Google+ so you can have a better idea of what I am talking about. in my guess...I've overdone the watering...but that's only a guess. thank you again for your help. link for the final stages of the plant (sorry, not in a sequence, but I hope good enough): plus.google.com/+LanaSorokhan/posts/RqwQKKy3hET link for what it used to be before any repotting: plus.google.com/+LanaSorokhan/posts/1AHxJbH1nYJ
Hi Lana, ok thanks for the pictures :) I suspect this orchid was sick before it got to you, it just didn't show signs. In one of the pictures before repotting you can see the psb shriveling although there seems to be a mass of roots. I suspect the roots weren't alive, even though they looked that way. From there the orchid could not get hydrated anymore and it depleted slowly. Ok I cannot say 100% what happened, but some things are certain: the roots, even though many of them, were not alive, thus the psb kept dehydrating. They desiccated eventually and the whole plant died. Now let's start guessing. When you repotted you left quite a lot of roots because they looked ok, I suspect they were not (it's fine, I used to do it a lot as well until I figured.. I'll just cut the majority off). They started to decompose and created an acid environment in the medium. New roots that grow are sensitive to this too acidic environment, if anything tried to grow it might have died and never reach to a size where they can absorb water. Thus slowly the orchid just depleted. Leaving dead roots on an orchid can also lead to psb infections, due to the high fungal activity in their vicinity, thus they might have lead to a fungal or bacterial infection that affected the psb. Now keep in mind this is only my guess, there might very well be an invisible infection (such as fusarium, if you still have the plant cut the rhizome, look for a purple ring in the section. If it is there things are clear and it's completely nothing you did. Also decomposing roots and medium can lead to fusarium as well). But that would be a very plausible guess at the moment. I actually had another viewer complaining about orchids with big root systems that still shrivel, so I told him I would make a video on it, so I think my next video will be on this matter :) so I hope this helped at least figure what went wrong, maybe this will inspire you to research this further at least. Sorry the orchid died, but don't be discouraged, it happens to all of us and this is how we learn actually :) PS: I would like to ask if I can use these pictures for the video I told you about as a visual example, since at the moment I don;t have any example. it's ok if if you don;t want me to :)
Hi Danni,about the orchid with what I thought was stem rot,well it has crown rot too, as last 2 leaves are yellow and the tiny leaf in middle (crown) rotted too . Anyway I treated it again with the oxygene and cinnamon.Can it loose all its leaves like it did one by one with Crown rot,till there are no leaves?Can a Phal that loose all its leaves but still has some roots survive?With the leaves dropped off and the stem with dried bits of leaf can't see the stem at all.So it could have both stem and crown rot then??Sounds too grim to survive,but I will keep it for awhile and see if all the roots die in the end,then it will be it's end!Thankyou again.
Hi Sandra, sorry to hear :( there is always a chance that parts of the stem are still ok, but as you say, it's a grim situation. Yes orchids can have both stem rot and crow rot, or a stem rot that reaches the top. Don't be sad if it doesn't make it, as you see we all get them from time to time. Keep it a bit more if the roots are viable, you never know :)
Danny, wanna hear something absolutely crazy? Tell me how my one phal had crown rot AND stem rot (ugh) and then I cut the most affected parts.. and then I was left with a tiny tiny tiny part of the crown, and about 4 roots. Then, all of the sudden, a baby emerged!!! From the bottomish side of the 1 cm crown!!!!! Can u believe that??! Crazy right???
Hi Danni,thanks for the video on the 3 kinds of rot,think it is Stem rot ,as leaves up high started to go yellow and drop off.At 1st thought it was normal shedding,but only 2 leaves left now.I don't hold much hope then for it to survive then,as I see another leaf starting to yellow from stem side;the one left is wilty as well.My daughters one has lost all its leaves ,but up the stem is a keikis with 2-3 leaves ,but no roots from it yet.Even if the bottom stem is gone,will the other piece survive with the keikei?Yes it is hard to know where the micro-organs entered in the 1st place,as you said.I am careful when watering and do dry the crown if by accident some water gets in.Not being high enough out of medium could cause it then?When they sell them they are stuffed right up by the bark usually,that is another reason I repot once the flowers drop,plus dead roots that need removing.Someone suggested cutting the stem off and maybe it shoots lower down???
Hi, yes definitely potting too deep favorises stem rot and sadly I did not find a good way to treat this disease :( now about the keiki it all depends on the orchid and how it looks like, a picture would help me have a better idea about it, so if you want just upload a picture to photobucket, flickr, instagram, imgur or g plus and share the link in a comment here, I'll take a look :)
Hi Dani, thank you very much for the advice. I will definitely try to find another seller, so the orchid comes in good conditions. Do you know any trustworthy online shops? And yes, please do use my pictures as it might help someone to get an idea of what is happening, prevent sad situations etc. Please use whichever ones you want.
Hi Lana, thank you very much I appreciate it :D well the stores will depend on your location, I have a video with a list of stores in the description here ua-cam.com/video/WZYW1NRoYZU/v-deo.html check it out and hope it will help!
I have an orchid affected by stem rot. Everything below the leaves was dead. There were no live roots left. I cut away most of the dead tissue but was careful not to cut into live tissue. And have left the plant bare, watering it daily and allowing it to dry overnight. It has begun to produce a new root just above where I cut it and a new leaf is growing as well. My question is what do I do with it from here? How established should the new root be before I plant it in media? Would I risk burning the young root growth if I fertilize it?
Hi Danni, I received an orchid with a very long stem. It lost all of its bottom leaves and its top three leaves are very dehydrated. I think it wasn't watered in a long time. I'm trying to save it right now. The long stem has no roots. The roots are mostly on the top of the stem. Should i cut the stem or do i risk infection on an already sick orchid? Thank you
Hi, yes you can cut the stem, try to leave 2 centimeters or so beneath the roots, if there is any dieback it will stop bellow the roots. You can treat the cut wound with hydrogen peroxide 3% and then apply cinnamon powder on the cut wound. To further help the stem you can leave the orchid unpotted for a week or so, time in which the cut should dry, but just make sure to water the roots on a daily basis, or soak them for about half an hour or so daily. When the cut in the stem is dry you can pot it, depending on the thickness it might be more than a week, but it depends on the orchid and if the stem is already dry :) Hope this helps!
My baby phal has stem & root rot ☹️ the pot I bought it in had no ventilation & moss & got wayyy to wet no draining. The rest of the plant is green & healthy a beautiful spike which I trimmed a bit to conserve some energy for the plant. The roots on the bottom have green tips and firm but the roots closest to the stem are turning brown:( I recently had an orchid death of a full grown orchid. This 1 is a baby I can’t take another passing ;( please help!
Hi Ms. Dani! I have a question. My radican orchids has 2 long stems on of them actually produce a keiki. But somehow one of the stem in which in put up a keiki started yellowing from the base of the stem. Is that a sign of stem rot? The leaves are turning yellow from bottom leaves going up. Am I going to loose that stem and the keiki? The keike hasn’t start to grow it own roots. :( please help! Thank you!!!
Stem rot.. you can save an orchid by cutting the entire stem upper like Vanda or Phal... i save my phal with it but keeping it dry then roots emerge wait until 3inch then pot it... yeah its really hard to treat
Hi Danni,having problems getting my .photobucket photo of my daughters keikis on the site above here. The plant that has lost its leaves. It has no roots on Keikis,3 leaves,and the stem is browning.Can I save the keikis by putting them in media?Any special things I can do.The main plant has lost all its leaves now(ROOT ROTand can't see green roots in media) is it possible to e-mail photo to you?Thanks.
Can you please help me... i bought a new orchid... my fiance picked it out and i dont think its in good shape... leaves are droopy but not bad or leathery feeling... but the bottom leaves look as if something is eating it.... like nibbling and its white but theyre not spots. I tried repotting it and hydrogen peroxide but im confused if this is an issue or not....
Hi Nancy, as far as I know they really are terminal :) in very rare cases the orchid will still be able to push out leaves. In the vast majority of cases the orchid is pretty much done, but will most probably produce a keiki :)
Hello! What do you think is wrong with this orchid? I have got it from a friend a couple a weeks a go and it looked good. The roots were green and it had lots of flowers and 2 steels and new buts. Sorry for my english, I'm from the Netherlands.. Greetzzz Melissa (I like your video's!
Hi, can I see a picture? just upload a picture to photobucket, flickr, instagram, imgur or g plus and share the link in a comment here, I'll take a look :)
+MissOrchidGirl www.mupload.nl/img/8b7nx6twkrvg0.jpg www.mupload.nl/img/mtu30ebygr6ax.jpg this is what it looked like and there was this white thing in the middle and had some kind of ground in it www.mupload.nl/img/vuqgtgosihauj.jpg this is what it looks now after I cut of all the dead roots www.mupload.nl/img/tezcipqi6byiw.jpg www.mupload.nl/img/5vvutsohjhexv.jpg I hope he will stay alive.. it had 2 steels with lots of small pink flowers!
+MissOrchidGirl I've repotted it now and made holes in the plastic pot.. this is what it looks like now. I hope I did a good Job!😊 www.mupload.nl/img/mo4werqmyue3x.jpg www.mupload.nl/img/ojoilt9vmftmp.jpg
Dani I have a question - do pals like acidic water or PH?? I have been using distilled water but I am getting a new water system that turns your water PH and acidic.
hi Dani! very interesting video :) ! Iwould like to give me some advice about my phalenopsis,it has some black at the begining of the roots/and stem i think.I would like to send you a picture to see the problem.Can i send it to your email?
Hi, a picture would be very helpful :) just upload a picture to photobucket, flickr, instagram, imgur or g plus and share the link in a comment here, I'll take a look :)
Rhizoctonia solani root rot www.aos.org webinars orchid diseases. Also can be caused by Pythium ultimum and phytopthera cactorum. Yes roots can die and will rot, but there are diseases that cause it even on aerial roots. Pathogens can also enter in through the stomata.
I'm just passing on more info you might like. I'm headed to the post office today or Monday. Would you like me to mail you some msu RO formula and is your address on your new videos current? I know you moved recently and when I made new videos the same info in the description box just copies itself. It's something I would forget to change :)
Cool. Heard you mention it in a video, so I thought I'd offer. Also have k lite if you're ever interested in trying some of that. The "small" container size is HUGE lol. I love your videos. You're the sweetest person ever and your channel is beaaautifulll. I think need to say this when I post comments because I say things matter of factly and I think it sounds rude. Anyway, I did more searching about RO membranes. (I only have 40 psi). It looks like there is only one made by hydrologic that is for cold water/low pressure and they are about 70$ And probably only available in the USA :(. But- I also found out that you can turn up the water pressure to your house, but it's best to ask a plumber about this before turning it up because if it's too high, it can cause leaks or problems with the water heater (this is true in my house). But...ok, you know how you hook it up to the cold water in most cases? You apparently can hook both the warm and hot up to it with a Y connector and run a bit of warm water at the same time, and if you can figure out how high to turn on the hot water to make it 70 or 77 degrees, you'll have better performance and possibly higher water pressure as well. Bulk reef supply has tons of good info. Oh....I also....I found this photo I think you will love... I'll just make a video of it so you can see it. It's beautiful.
Hi Danni, thanks for this video. I wanted to ask your advice if I may. My Phael. bellina has a leaf which looks like it has rot, I am not sure whether I should remove the leaf, or cut the damaged part away and apply cinnamon. Please could you advise? I have uploaded a pic to my dropbox here. dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/44652476/Phal.bellina.JPG thanks in advance!
Hi, ok no worries, it's just a bottom leaf. I would cut the affected portion though so it doesn't spread. You need to cut into good tissue and I think applying some cinnamon powder on the cut wound will prevent it from reinfecting. Ok here is a video where I show how I do things ua-cam.com/video/stG85M3cN60/v-deo.html hope this helps :)
Putting an orchid in full water culture can help with rotting because only the tips are in water and the rest of the orchid is exposed to air. It helps keep water away from the rotting areas and keeps them drier. I have found this extremely helpful.
Hi Jason, keeping orchids in water has proven detrimental for most species, except Phalaenopsis and a few others, you can view my experience here if you'd like ua-cam.com/video/QrH8DhJ3Jiw/v-deo.html from an evolutionary point of view, epiphytic plants cannot be sustained in water on the long run. Though many people keep them in water up to a level, so that half or more of the roots are still exposed to air, does not mean that they can live in water on the long run. The exposed roots will probably be ok due to the air and humidity, the water roots will visibly be distressed and forced to adapt to inappropriate conditions. Although this method can be applied for a very short period of time for a fast hydration, on the long run (a few years) it will most likely not prove to be efficient, unless at least part of the root system is exposed to air. If orchids could truly adapt to water we would find most of them in lakes and swamps, when reality is that only a few can tolerate similar conditions :) These are just my 2 cents combined with the available science of orchid growing provided by AOS articles and not only.
First off; I'm not a very active subscriber and hardly ever comment on anything. But I have watched most of your videos. I wanted to thank you for all your honest and informative videos which revitalised my love for orchids. (My bank account isn't thanking you for it though ;) )
Around Christmas (before I found your channel in my defence) I went to a home and garden centre to buy some plants to spruce up our new appartment. They had a promotion giving a free Phal orchid with your purchase. It was the very standard white phal that didn't have much of a flower display, but it seemed like there were plenty of roots in the pot and healthy looking leaves. So I let it be (big mistake). The blooms didn't last very long, which made sense to me. I had no idea how long it had bloomed and I did not expect a high quality orchid for free.
After discovering your channel, I figured I should actually take a look in the pot; as it was done blooming. Well to make an already long story short, I discovered a plug and some expected dead roots (not all of them, hooray), and to my horror suspicious black discolouration on the axis (which was burrowed in media as well). So I started peeling away leaves, to figure out how bad the problem was. Well it was bad :(. But it sparked a determination to try and save the orchid and maybe get it to its full potential down the line.
So I went out and bought alcohol 70%, H2O2 3% and did everything I have seen you do: sterilise, cut away the bad, disinfect the wounds, dry with what seemed like copious amounts of cinnamon, and most important of all plant it high enough. This was about 2 weeks ago and I have been monitoring it every day. The blackness seemed to dry and not spread, the leaves seems to stay hydrated and the existing roots seemed to soak up water for the time being, but as you said it needs some new growth points to have a future at all.
Lo and behold today: imgur.com/dST4dps and imgur.com/H2a2KGB on either side of the axis.
I'm not saying it will survive, but at least it is trying and has a fighting chance because of you. Which I want to thank you for. (sorry for the wall of text)
Mischx how’s your orchid doing a year later?
I love your story and feel the same about Miss Dani. I have had a Phal I rescued from the grocery store ($3 for a non-mini Phal? Yes, please) for about a year now... it had very limp leaves, a ton of rotten roots and was in bad need of repotting. I struggled for a few months trying to bring it back with only one truly healthy leaf and a handful of roots. After finding Dani, I started giving it weekly baths and it turned a big corner growing 3 new leaves... but no new roots. Again, Dani to the rescue with her tip of adding sphagnum moss to just the top layer and keeping that moist, but not soaked. I noticed a few new root growths and was so happy. Today, I noticed that the crown has a growing split in it between a leaf and old bloom spike... inside this split... I kid you not... I counted 7 new roots coming. I’m not sure if the split is from a tool cutting the old spike or just nature...
Either way, thanks to Dani, my old rescue went from death’s door to growing 3 new leaves and 11 (so far) total new roots in less then a year. I’m looking forward to seeing what the blooms look like next year since I’m pretty sure it’s 😆😁😄😆 and going to make it. She’s a treasure that OrchidGirl!
After months and days searching on what was going on with my orchids, I re-watched all your videos in the look out for answers and this video did clarify everything for me, even if I have 0 hope on recovering my orchids because they suffer from stem rot your videos have enlightened me. Thank you for doing what you do, I promise if I ever have more orchids I will be careful every time I water them :)
I truly doubt you'll see this response, but I have to thank you. I've watched you for years, and I have a couple of hundred (mostly healthy) orchids, but recently I have been losing only my phals like crazy! Heartbroken, I decided to start at the beginning and watched your basics. Apparently, when I repotted them, I placed them too deep and the stems weren't drying properly. Although I have lost a couple dozen phals, at least I believe you solved the problem. Thank you again for all your shared expertise.
Signed, Starting over again in Maine.
🥲I wish I came across this video earlier to prevent stem rot on my newly bought orchid as I buried the orchid too deep... Finger crossed for my orchid! I noticed it as the leaf starts to become limpy (like sign of dehydration), although I know that the roots are pretty healthy. Treated it with cinnamon powder for now and let the time heals! Thank you danny for the informative video! 🥰
Hi Dani, thank you for the information, it’s very useful for me. I’ve just dealed with stem rot, and yes as you say, it’s really hard to treat, so yesterday I said goodbye to my (ready to bloom) orchid ☹️
Previously I treated phalaenopsis with infections in the leaves (I don’t know if it’s caused by fungi or bacteria). I sprayed the orchids with garlic + dish detergent + cooking oil solution regularly, and voila, the orchid is now started to grow keiki.
Maybe this will help if you don’t favor fungicide to treat your orchids. 😊
Hi Dani
I am just starting to grow orchids. My small orchid has a crown rot and I am now going to try your recommendation. I really hope it can be saved. Thankyou for your video. Keep them coming.
Good luck I hope you manage to save it :D glad to help!
I will now remove an orchid from the pot in order to see what the roots are doing. The leaves are very dark green and there seems to be no growth or any movement. It is a strange case, and I think it might be stem rot. Thank you for the video!
Hi Dani,
thank you for sharing your vast knowledge on orchids
I have figured a way to prevent crown rot: a put a bit of cinnamon on the crown. Also I avoid getting water in the crown, but in case water gets there, the cinnamon will prevent an infection.
What is your natural fungicide called.
Hi, Dani. I am writing you on behalf of my friend that shares my recently attainted obsession for orchids (just Phals for now). Her first orchid, a gift from me, had very pretty blooms and large green leaves. She didn't repotted right away in fear that she might lose the blooms. For more than a month it was great, but then, in a matter of a week, one of the 2 spikes dried completely, of course all the blooms fell, and the leaves started to turn yellow. She's now repotted the orchid and treated with hydrogen peroxide and cinnamon any black spot, but I think it might be stem rot. 3 leaves fell already and only the 2 newest leaves remain a faint green (no yellowing yet). Is it safe for her to cut off every yellow leaf and maybe treat the possible stem rot underneath or better to leave the plant be (treated roots and visible spots on the stem only)? Thank you very much!
Thank you Miss Orchid for this helpful information. I have been beating my self up since my phal died last March. I had her for 5 years and I know now that it was definitely steam root. It happened too quickly, despite all the care that I was given her.
Hi, don;t be sad about it it can happen to all of us. All it takes is for the right circumstances (lower temperature, a drop of water and poof, stem rot). In the future I'm sure you will pay attention to this more and she will serve as a great learning experience for future orchids :D
Yes it happened to mine so quickly too,1st lost a few leaves and then no stopping it.As I learn more,more things have been going wrong since early this year and last year.Before that I had 3 yrs of only success,so what is happening??
Bought my orchid yesterday got up this morning made some extra holes in the clear plastic pot removed the orchid removed the rotted roots placed it back in the clear pot with the bark now I just have it sitting in the clear pot on my windowsill I also watered it just a small bit gonna leave it and make sure it gets some oxygen back in my zink pot tonight
Thank you for the video my orquid is sick I am so sad and from what you just said it looks like stem rot I will do my very best the help it thank you again girl
Question for treating potential stem rot:
So I bought a tiny phal a couple days ago and immediately changed it out of its store medium (absolutely drenched sphagnum moss in a pot with zero light), some roots had to be cut but half were okay, if a full opaque white, but they're fine (no longer photosynthesizes?).
However, one of the lowest leaves on the phal was a little dark and mushy at a small spot on its base right along the stem: after a day of adjusting the orchid from its previous wetness, I now realize the small mushy patch is a dead spot of leaf, and appears to have a deadish looking cavity behind it in the stem. Is this stem rot??? How can I treat this? there are no roots above this leaf, should I cut it away to check the stem? appearance-wise the phal looks okay for now (it has a flower spike and a second coming up, I don't think it was waterlogged for too long).
I thought my orchid has crown rot. Just found out that it’s actually stem rot. I used hydrogen peroxide on all of it. Used cinnamon to cover the open wound. It has only one root left.... I really hope it lives
Hi Dani, thank you very much for this video and tips. I have recently lost one of my favourites: oncidium twinkle. And I was just wondering what could have happened to it. It started about 2 month after all flowers fell and their stems dried off. First I noticed some yellowing leaves thought if was normal. Regulated watering as I am aware of rest periods. But the plant would loose more and more leaves every now and then. So I decided to repot it. I believe I texted you about that repotting, as I found that in what I thought would be the original pot, there was another busket like pot and all the roots there going in and out of it totally tangled and very difficult to separate. It was more like that orchid grew into that pot. So I managed to separate them. Of course I must have damaged some roots. It was impossible not to.Also I treated it with hydrogen peroxide. After a while all plant stopped growing, shrunk all bulbs and kept getting brownish-yellowish leaves. It continued like that until it died completely. I will put some pictures to this comment later on as I was "documenting" all the stages of the disease. So here is my question, did anything like this happened to your orchids? I know that there is a lot of work behind every video you make, but would it be possible to have a video on oncidium problems as I watched all you have on oncidium but didn't find and hint for solution on my kind of problem. Thank you very much.
Hi Lana, sorry to hear about your Twinkle, but let's se if we can figure out why it died so we learn for the future :) well first, Oncidium Twinkle doesn't have a rest. No Oncidium has a rest actually, they like to be damp almost all the time, no long droughts. So my first question is, how often did you water it and how did you know it was time to water? I am suspecting a root problem, either suffocation, either desiccation and then death. Also when you repotted did you manage to figure out if the roots were alive or dead? Oncidium roots are pretty tricky, they can look white and nice, but can actually be dead. The way to know is by pressing on them and seeing if they have any substance. Ok so if the watering did not cause damage then we will think of other things, but first let's see if it was a desiccation issue :)
Helpful video. My Vanda has yellow leaves maybe stem rot? Please show video about stem rot on Vanda orchids. Thanks
Hi Dani. Thank you for your channel. I’ve learned a lot! One question I have is if I can report my well established orchids in terracota pots. I won’t be able to monitor the roots and they won’t have a lot of air circulating around them, and that is my main concern. However, I see that you have some terracota pots. Do you recommend that I use them? Thank you for making all this knowledge accesible. Gabriela
Hi Dani, thank you for a swift reply. looks like I was mistaken by rest periods. well...now it is really at rest. I always tried to keep it moist but well drained. when I reported it first, I put it in a white pot so I could only guess by the colour of the medium whether it is time to water. Then thought it was wrong and literally took it out without removing the medium, because it was there for a month or so, and put it all in a bit wider but transparent pot. There I could see how dry or wet it was so could better figure out when to water. still, it kept going yellow. I managed to put together some photos on Google+ so you can have a better idea of what I am talking about. in my guess...I've overdone the watering...but that's only a guess. thank you again for your help.
link for the final stages of the plant (sorry, not in a sequence, but I hope good enough):
plus.google.com/+LanaSorokhan/posts/RqwQKKy3hET
link for what it used to be before any repotting:
plus.google.com/+LanaSorokhan/posts/1AHxJbH1nYJ
Hi Lana, ok thanks for the pictures :) I suspect this orchid was sick before it got to you, it just didn't show signs. In one of the pictures before repotting you can see the psb shriveling although there seems to be a mass of roots. I suspect the roots weren't alive, even though they looked that way. From there the orchid could not get hydrated anymore and it depleted slowly. Ok I cannot say 100% what happened, but some things are certain: the roots, even though many of them, were not alive, thus the psb kept dehydrating. They desiccated eventually and the whole plant died. Now let's start guessing. When you repotted you left quite a lot of roots because they looked ok, I suspect they were not (it's fine, I used to do it a lot as well until I figured.. I'll just cut the majority off). They started to decompose and created an acid environment in the medium. New roots that grow are sensitive to this too acidic environment, if anything tried to grow it might have died and never reach to a size where they can absorb water. Thus slowly the orchid just depleted. Leaving dead roots on an orchid can also lead to psb infections, due to the high fungal activity in their vicinity, thus they might have lead to a fungal or bacterial infection that affected the psb. Now keep in mind this is only my guess, there might very well be an invisible infection (such as fusarium, if you still have the plant cut the rhizome, look for a purple ring in the section. If it is there things are clear and it's completely nothing you did. Also decomposing roots and medium can lead to fusarium as well). But that would be a very plausible guess at the moment. I actually had another viewer complaining about orchids with big root systems that still shrivel, so I told him I would make a video on it, so I think my next video will be on this matter :) so I hope this helped at least figure what went wrong, maybe this will inspire you to research this further at least. Sorry the orchid died, but don't be discouraged, it happens to all of us and this is how we learn actually :) PS: I would like to ask if I can use these pictures for the video I told you about as a visual example, since at the moment I don;t have any example. it's ok if if you don;t want me to :)
Hi Danni,about the orchid with what I thought was stem rot,well it has crown rot too, as last 2 leaves are yellow and the tiny leaf in middle (crown) rotted too . Anyway I treated it again with the oxygene and cinnamon.Can it loose all its leaves like it did one by one with Crown rot,till there are no leaves?Can a Phal that loose all its leaves but still has some roots survive?With the leaves dropped off and the stem with dried bits of leaf can't see the stem at all.So it could have both stem and crown rot then??Sounds too grim to survive,but I will keep it for awhile and see if all the roots die in the end,then it will be it's end!Thankyou again.
Hi Sandra, sorry to hear :( there is always a chance that parts of the stem are still ok, but as you say, it's a grim situation. Yes orchids can have both stem rot and crow rot, or a stem rot that reaches the top. Don't be sad if it doesn't make it, as you see we all get them from time to time. Keep it a bit more if the roots are viable, you never know :)
Danny, wanna hear something absolutely crazy? Tell me how my one phal had crown rot AND stem rot (ugh) and then I cut the most affected parts.. and then I was left with a tiny tiny tiny part of the crown, and about 4 roots. Then, all of the sudden, a baby emerged!!! From the bottomish side of the 1 cm crown!!!!! Can u believe that??! Crazy right???
Part of the stem***
Is there an update for the orchid with stem rot with green leaves
Hi Danni,thanks for the video on the 3 kinds of rot,think it is Stem rot ,as leaves up high started to go yellow and drop off.At 1st thought it was normal shedding,but only 2 leaves left now.I don't hold much hope then for it to survive then,as I see another leaf starting to yellow from stem side;the one left is wilty as well.My daughters one has lost all its leaves ,but up the stem is a keikis with 2-3 leaves ,but no roots from it yet.Even if the bottom stem is gone,will the other piece survive with the keikei?Yes it is hard to know where the micro-organs entered in the 1st place,as you said.I am careful when watering and do dry the crown if by accident some water gets in.Not being high enough out of medium could cause it then?When they sell them they are stuffed right up by the bark usually,that is another reason I repot once the flowers drop,plus dead roots that need removing.Someone suggested cutting the stem off and maybe it shoots lower down???
Hi, yes definitely potting too deep favorises stem rot and sadly I did not find a good way to treat this disease :( now about the keiki it all depends on the orchid and how it looks like, a picture would help me have a better idea about it, so if you want just upload a picture to photobucket, flickr, instagram, imgur or g plus and share the link in a comment here, I'll take a look :)
Haven't got my daughters plant yet ,thanks
Hi Dani, thank you very much for the advice. I will definitely try to find another seller, so the orchid comes in good conditions. Do you know any trustworthy online shops? And yes, please do use my pictures as it might help someone to get an idea of what is happening, prevent sad situations etc. Please use whichever ones you want.
Hi Lana, thank you very much I appreciate it :D well the stores will depend on your location, I have a video with a list of stores in the description here ua-cam.com/video/WZYW1NRoYZU/v-deo.html check it out and hope it will help!
I have an orchid affected by stem rot. Everything below the leaves was dead. There were no live roots left. I cut away most of the dead tissue but was careful not to cut into live tissue. And have left the plant bare, watering it daily and allowing it to dry overnight. It has begun to produce a new root just above where I cut it and a new leaf is growing as well. My question is what do I do with it from here? How established should the new root be before I plant it in media? Would I risk burning the young root growth if I fertilize it?
Haven't really had any issues thankfully with these diseases, except when I bought an orchid that had a mushy spot on the stem, but it was treatable
Good to hear :D I had some bad luck with the tetraspis, both of them got stem rot, not sure how I'm gonna find another one :((
Hi Danni,
I received an orchid with a very long stem. It lost all of its bottom leaves and its top three leaves are very dehydrated. I think it wasn't watered in a long time. I'm trying to save it right now. The long stem has no roots. The roots are mostly on the top of the stem. Should i cut the stem or do i risk infection on an already sick orchid?
Thank you
Hi, yes you can cut the stem, try to leave 2 centimeters or so beneath the roots, if there is any dieback it will stop bellow the roots. You can treat the cut wound with hydrogen peroxide 3% and then apply cinnamon powder on the cut wound. To further help the stem you can leave the orchid unpotted for a week or so, time in which the cut should dry, but just make sure to water the roots on a daily basis, or soak them for about half an hour or so daily. When the cut in the stem is dry you can pot it, depending on the thickness it might be more than a week, but it depends on the orchid and if the stem is already dry :) Hope this helps!
Yes thank you, you are always a great help!
I switched over yesterday but i will keep holes in containers for air. Thank you so much for all your experience.
Hope it will work great for you :D
Tina's ORCHIDS i
My baby phal has stem & root rot ☹️ the pot I bought it in had no ventilation & moss & got wayyy to wet no draining. The rest of the plant is green & healthy a beautiful spike which I trimmed a bit to conserve some energy for the plant. The roots on the bottom have green tips and firm but the roots closest to the stem are turning brown:( I recently had an orchid death of a full grown orchid. This 1 is a baby I can’t take another passing ;( please help!
My orchid lost its crown! It was small but now I just have all roots. Will it survive?
Hi Ms. Dani! I have a question. My radican orchids has 2 long stems on of them actually produce a keiki. But somehow one of the stem in which in put up a keiki started yellowing from the base of the stem. Is that a sign of stem rot? The leaves are turning yellow from bottom leaves going up. Am I going to loose that stem and the keiki? The keike hasn’t start to grow it own roots. :( please help! Thank you!!!
Stem rot.. you can save an orchid by cutting the entire stem upper like Vanda or Phal... i save my phal with it but keeping it dry then roots emerge wait until 3inch then pot it... yeah its really hard to treat
:)))) Not so easy when you have 1.5 cm stem to work with though, infection smack in the middle and hidden inbetween the leaf joints somewhere :P
My axis is rotten.. leaves are limp, roots look dried and dead.. crown looks fine. Flower spike n flower look okay. What can I do?
Hi Danni,having problems getting my .photobucket photo of my daughters keikis on the site above here. The plant that has lost its leaves. It has no roots on Keikis,3 leaves,and the stem is browning.Can I save the keikis by putting them in media?Any special things I can do.The main plant has lost all its leaves now(ROOT ROTand can't see green roots in media) is it possible to e-mail photo to you?Thanks.
Seeing a keiki on an orchid is just as or even better than seeing a flower spike; oh of course if they both appear, amazing.....
I think I'd go for keiki any day rather than a spike in the case of a sick orchid.. I would actually cut the spike the moment I'd see it ;)
Can you please help me... i bought a new orchid... my fiance picked it out and i dont think its in good shape... leaves are droopy but not bad or leathery feeling... but the bottom leaves look as if something is eating it.... like nibbling and its white but theyre not spots. I tried repotting it and hydrogen peroxide but im confused if this is an issue or not....
You're a genius.
Thank you for your videos Danni!
question what do you know about terminal spikes? are they actually terminal or is there another reason for them?
Hi Nancy, as far as I know they really are terminal :) in very rare cases the orchid will still be able to push out leaves. In the vast majority of cases the orchid is pretty much done, but will most probably produce a keiki :)
+MissOrchidGirl interesting.... do you know what can cause it? how can we prevent them?
No I have no idea what causes it, it might be a genetic problem due to hybridization, in which case there is nothing we can do :(
Thank you Dani, and have a great weekend!!!!
Thanks Lana, you too :D
omg....this was so helpful. ..thanks
My pleasure :)
Hello! What do you think is wrong with this orchid? I have got it from a friend a couple a weeks a go and it looked good. The roots were green and it had lots of flowers and 2 steels and new buts. Sorry for my english, I'm from the Netherlands.. Greetzzz Melissa (I like your video's!
Hi, can I see a picture? just upload a picture to photobucket, flickr, instagram, imgur or g plus and share the link in a comment here, I'll take a look :)
+MissOrchidGirl Hi, I've send you a link in a comment.. I'm now gonna repot it and see what will happen. Greetzzz
+MissOrchidGirl www.mupload.nl/img/8b7nx6twkrvg0.jpg
www.mupload.nl/img/mtu30ebygr6ax.jpg
this is what it looked like and there was this white thing in the middle and had some kind of ground in it
www.mupload.nl/img/vuqgtgosihauj.jpg
this is what it looks now after I cut of all the dead roots
www.mupload.nl/img/tezcipqi6byiw.jpg
www.mupload.nl/img/5vvutsohjhexv.jpg
I hope he will stay alive..
it had 2 steels with lots of small pink flowers!
+MissOrchidGirl I've repotted it now and made holes in the plastic pot.. this is what it looks like now. I hope I did a good Job!😊
www.mupload.nl/img/mo4werqmyue3x.jpg
www.mupload.nl/img/ojoilt9vmftmp.jpg
thank you, got it.
Dani I have a question - do pals like acidic water or PH?? I have been using distilled water but I am getting a new water system that turns your water PH and acidic.
Hi, most orchids do prefer a slightly acidic environment, so a value of in between 6 and 6.7 should be quite great for them :)
thanks Dani I love your videos - you are truly an inspiration to us all - take care and God Bless
hi Dani! very interesting video :) ! Iwould like to give me some advice about my phalenopsis,it has some black at the begining of the roots/and stem i think.I would like to send you a picture to see the problem.Can i send it to your email?
Hi, a picture would be very helpful :) just upload a picture to photobucket, flickr, instagram, imgur or g plus and share the link in a comment here, I'll take a look :)
+MissOrchidGirl plus.google.com/u/0/113879066814135310558/posts/BYTjyGjxaV3 thank you very much for your response! :)
Rhizoctonia solani root rot www.aos.org webinars orchid diseases. Also can be caused by Pythium ultimum and phytopthera cactorum. Yes roots can die and will rot, but there are diseases that cause it even on aerial roots. Pathogens can also enter in through the stomata.
As I was saying, yes there are disease but they seem to be rare in my experience :)
I'm just passing on more info you might like. I'm headed to the post office today or Monday. Would you like me to mail you some msu RO formula and is your address on your new videos current? I know you moved recently and when I made new videos the same info in the description box just copies itself. It's something I would forget to change :)
Hi, thanks for the though that's so kind of you :D I have 2 other viewers that will send me a bit to try out so I'm good for now thank you again :D
Cool. Heard you mention it in a video, so I thought I'd offer. Also have k lite if you're ever interested in trying some of that. The "small" container size is HUGE lol. I love your videos. You're the sweetest person ever and your channel is beaaautifulll. I think need to say this when I post comments because I say things matter of factly and I think it sounds rude. Anyway, I did more searching about RO membranes. (I only have 40 psi). It looks like there is only one made by hydrologic that is for cold water/low pressure and they are about 70$ And probably only available in the USA :(. But- I also found out that you can turn up the water pressure to your house, but it's best to ask a plumber about this before turning it up because if it's too high, it can cause leaks or problems with the water heater (this is true in my house). But...ok, you know how you hook it up to the cold water in most cases? You apparently can hook both the warm and hot up to it with a Y connector and run a bit of warm water at the same time, and if you can figure out how high to turn on the hot water to make it 70 or 77 degrees, you'll have better performance and possibly higher water pressure as well. Bulk reef supply has tons of good info. Oh....I also....I found this photo I think you will love... I'll just make a video of it so you can see it. It's beautiful.
Hi Danni, thanks for this video. I wanted to ask your advice if I may. My Phael. bellina has a leaf which looks like it has rot, I am not sure whether I should remove the leaf, or cut the damaged part away and apply cinnamon. Please could you advise? I have uploaded a pic to my dropbox here. dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/44652476/Phal.bellina.JPG thanks in advance!
Hi, ok no worries, it's just a bottom leaf. I would cut the affected portion though so it doesn't spread. You need to cut into good tissue and I think applying some cinnamon powder on the cut wound will prevent it from reinfecting. Ok here is a video where I show how I do things ua-cam.com/video/stG85M3cN60/v-deo.html hope this helps :)
Thanks a million - I'm finding your videos very helpful - I'm a bit of a luddite, but finding my way!
always feel free to ask :)