For Mothers day I bought my mother a white beautiful phalaenopsis *Orchid*. I got Adam to drive me round while feeling poorly and have it all ready for when she came back from a holiday to spain. When she returned I popped over and told her how to care for the Orchid. I told her to take it out of the decoration pot and to water carefully and let it drain before returning to the pot.
Well she didnt listen to me!
Ive just looked at the Orchid to see one leaf all jelly like, pulled it off. Saw another all jelly like. I went onto the Orchid forum im on and did a search. Jelly leaves means rotten roots, which means drowing roots which basically means over watered!
Well. I lifted it out of the pot to find it sat in a pool of water!

I dont know if it will make it. On the forum they have said new orchid bark, let the orchid drain and when just damp and nearly try trim old rotten roots. But many people have lost Orchids no matter how much they have tried to save them!
She has a day off work tomorrow again and I will tell her to buy some orchid bark and to repot her orchid if she wants to save it!

Why didnt she listen to me? I told her about 4 times what to do with watering and if ever concerned to contact me!
It looks like she just watered it like watering a normal plant!

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That sucks. Apparently she didn't care. A lot of people think putting flowers in water is the way to keep them alive.

...without smileys its hard to know if that was scarcasm...

I told her that orchids cant be sat in water and told her to take it out the pot, water it *avoiding the crown as can cause crown rot* let it drain and then back in the pot.
She doesnt listen

Maybe she just didn't pay attention, or assumed she could treat it like any other houseplant. I'm sorry.

Basically what Mike said. Does she have a lot of other plants?

The thing is, I TOLD her not to water it like her normal house plants, I told her this plant is different and cant be sat in water.
We just had a nice little arguement over it!

I told her all the information she needs and she just told me, she didnt believe me and wanted to do what she normally does!

Ignorance like this harms plants as well as animals as some of you well know about reptile shops!

*shakes head*

Its now lying on news paper, roots bare trying to dry out and then have the rotten roots chopped.
Hope it makes it

xxxx

Phalaenopsis Orchid's are my favorite flowers! They can be sometimes difficult to care for but with proper learning they can be quite enjoyable for many years. Connie, If I were you I would print out a care sheet for the Phalaenopsis and give that to your Mom and make her read and memorize it. That way she will take good care of it.

A little trick to keep the moisture up for the Orchid is to get a shallow planting tray about 3" deep, put about 1.3 cm of aquarium gravel in it and put a metal screen over the top of the tray. Pour water into the tray up to the top of the gravel and set the Orchid onto the screen. It will keep the relative humidity up and make the need to water the Orchid about once every two weeks instead. Also, get a good quality Orchid food which has the numbers 20-20-20 on it. The numbers mean it has equal amounts of Nitrogen, Phosphorus & Potassium. The food must also have traces of Iron. Just make sure that the food is specifically for Orchids and you follow the directions for use exactly! Also, make sure that the food is used with Luke Warm water instead of cold as the cold water may shock the root system of the plant.

I hope some of this helps and I hope her Orchid does well for many years!

I will print out a care sheet for her I think! Although to be honest, I dont think she cares if it lives or dies...makes me feel pleased my money was well spent on her *sighs*

Anyhoo.

Feel deflated now

xxxx

Awe,

Cheer up hun. It's not all bad. Some people just dont know that different plants have different requirements. Keep your chin up!

Robert, that's exactly what Lori does, and her orchids do beautifully. She's got one that's getting ready to bloom for the second time in her care (third blooming since I got it for her).

*Connie* wrote:

I told her all the information she needs and she just told me, she didnt believe me and wanted to do what she normally does!

I really hate to say stuff about someone's mother, but yours sounds kind of . . . dumb. This must be really aggravating for you.

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Glad to hear it Mike! That is very good that it is blooming again. Its not to easy to get them to bloom very often as we definately dont have the correct climate for them here in the states. I have kept Orchids for many years and have even gotten to the point where I may be cross breeding colors soon to try new things. If I get some great color combos or new colors I will send you some!

very aggravating.
Part of me wants it to die now, since she really doesnt care either way!

I have two Orchids. One that he bought me last year for Valentines day, on its second bloom, bloomed until 6 months, spiked again in August. I damaged the spike so it sub spiked and just before xmas it was in full bloom again!
I have a mini phal *bought in August to make myself feel better about hurting the other*, only had one bloom from it, its currently making a new leaf. So dont expect a bloom for a long time as it seems to be focusing itself all on that!

xxxxx

They can take quite some time to heal and grow but I wouldnt be surprised if your mini phal just goes off one day and blooms like crazy! They mini phals just seem to be very good growers! Just keep up your mommy instincts and all will be good. I am pleased to hear that yours has spiked again!

Hehe! That is awesome! Getting more than one spike per plant is something that everyone that grows Orchids wants to accomplish! That picture works just fine! It can be hard to be patient when dealing with things but the wait is all worth it when you get the final product!