Help me save my orchid

[pinkdolly]

Ok so I know this isn't really a garden question. But please indulge me.

I have always wanted an orchid but never been brave enough to try and keep one alive. Anyway a few months ago I went for it and brought one from lidles for £6.99, didn't want to pay a fortune if it was going to die on me. It is really pretty and I love it.

Anyway, yesterday I noticed that it was starting to wilt, dh was in the room with me when I exclaimed "oh no, my orchid is looking a bit sick". Dh pipes up, "Well it shouldn't be, I've been watering it reguarly for you"

And therin lies the problem, I was told that orchids need very little watering. I took the poor thing out of the pot and there was at least an inch of water sitting in the bottom. It was drenched. I cant really blame dh as I never told him not to water it.

Do you know if there is anything I can do to save it, today it is looking somewhat worse then yesterday even tho we tipped the water out and left it to drain in the sink overnight.

Thankyou.

Is it just the flower stem that is looking poorly? It will naturally die back after several weeks, and the plant will then rest. If it is a phaleonopsis(sp??) Moth Orchid you can snip off the top part of the stem, just below the dying flowers, and it will grow more flowers. When these have faded, let the whole stem die back naturally so the plant can rest. While resting, reduce watering and don't feed.

If the damage is more severe and is from overwatering, nothing to be done but let it dry out. Keep it in a bright spot but out of direct sunlight.

leave it to dry out for a long time.

orchids are very very hardy.

in fact leave it to dry out for weeks on end if you like. and you can do this fairly frequently.

when you water it, use rainwater only. orchids hate water with any amount of lime in it.

maybe in a yr's time, you can tempt it into flowering by watering it a little more often - once every wk or 2? it will send out a new flower shoot once it does this, use 1/2 the normal amount of bog standard tomato feed to water till flower shoot comes into full flower.

Thank you, its just the flowers that are wilting. I'm afraid I have no idea which type of orchid it is. Is it still safe to chop the flower heads off?

I was always taught that they were very fragile and hard to keep alive. I'm quite surprised that they are hardy then.

Thanx again

I'm not sure that they are quite that hardy. They do need moisture not like cacti they just don't like to stand in water. Modern hybrids are much more hardy than the older kinds.

erm, most orchids are a lot like cacti actually.

the aer

erm, most orchids are a lot like cacti actually.

the aer

sorry, my 3yo dd has been MNing on my behalf.

the aerial orchids even in the tropics endure v. hot temps and dry conditions in the tree canopy where the water drains away or evaporate v. quickly. even in rainforests,t here are periods of months w/out rainfall so they have adaptations, much like cacti to cope with drought.

i let my orchids, bulbs, fleshy stems or fleshy leaves start to wrinkle before i water them. three yrs of hard life haven't killed them yet. then when it warms up more, i water them more often. just enough to wet their medium through and let the water them dry out before the end of the week.