Question
orchid
I am new to orchids, and have owned a small phalaenopsis orchid for 2 weeks and have not repotted it yet. I water it twice weekly (pour water into the top of the pot and let it drain out into the sink, it is not resting in a saucer)and it lives in the bathroom, so is not in direct sunlight. Today I noticed that the top leaves are going soft and spongy closest to the stem, and one of the lower leaves is going soft and a little crinkly around the edges of the leaf. Am I overwatering it? The bark that it is sitting in has started to grow green material(algae? moss?) on it. I have read a little about 'crown rot' and it sounds pretty serious so I am hoping it doesn't have this. Please help - the plant is flowering and otherwise looks lovely at the moment, so I don't want to kill it!
AnswerElizabeth, thanks for the photo. It does look like the start of crown rot from your picture. You will probably lose the top leaves and, hopefully, this will be self limiting and not affect the other leaves. Since you will lose those leaves, you should cut them off with a sterile blade. Crown rot is a fungal infection so you may want to treat with cinnamon or an antiseptic mouth wash after removing the leaves to reduce the possible spread of the fungus deep into the crown. Back off from the watering and give the potting mix a chance to dry off. Water only once per week to ten days and, then, early in the morning. Be sure you don't let the temperature drop below 60 degrees F.. Because the potting mix is degraded, you may also have the start of root rot. When the plant has finished flowering, I recomend that you repot it in fresh orchid potting mix. When you unpot the plant preparatory to repotting it, rinse off the roots and removw any that are mushy. Healthy roots are firm and turn green when wet.
Since you just recently obtained your plant, it is likely the damage was done before you received it and is just now showing up. Some commercial nurseries will replace the plants if returned within a short time after purchase. I have had occassion to observe just how unfamiliar many garden center staff are with the requirements of orchid plants. Even their suppliers give some of these staff bad advice. I think that many of these businesses rely on rapid turn around of their plants so they need to provide little or no care. Just earlier this year I advised garden center staff of a large home repair chain to find a different supplier because they were getting inappropriate care instructions.
Crown rot can destroy the plant if it spreads deep into the crown of the plant from which all leaves originate.
