cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/17758317
Here's my original post on Feddit.org, a german instance: https://photon.slrpnk.net/post/17757233
I still made quite some effort to translate it manually for you.
I bought two phalaenopsis orchids about two months ago.
A pink, and a gold one.
First the pink one. I got it from a discounter, and... well it already looked like shit when I bought it. The roots were pretty much all dead.
Now, it recovered, and even put out its' first flower spike!
It still looks a bit dehydrated/ leathery, but otherwise it's in a stable condition and recovers very well.
The other one is from a proper garden center, AND IT LOOKED EVEN WORSE!
Not only were the roots completely mush, but it also had a new buddy in its sleeve, I call him "worm buddy", my new pet.
Now, it looks like this:
It grew new flower pods and already started to bloom! How awesome is that?
On top of that, I showed the pictures a worker in the shop I bought it, and they were so embarrassed, that they gave me a voucher for a new plant, because they called it "inrecoverable". So I got this Oncidium orchid additionally for free:
This post is just a small reminder that plants can be very tolerant to anything, and with some luck and experience, you can save them.
Feel free to share a few pictures here! I'd he happy to see them! :)
The key trick is humidity. I placed them under a humidity dome/ plastic bag for the first month, with some indirect light and very dilute nutrient solution. I didn't want them to loose too much water. I also sprayed them with some rooting hormones, but that's totally optional and probably not needed.
And after the month, I slowly introduced them to the environmental air and increased the fertilizer strength to about 1 mS EC, so they have something to feed on. I am currently about to increase it even more, because they seem to need it. I was just very careful in the beginning, because orchids are supposed to be very sensitive and light feeders.