Wrinkled leaves and flowers, buds yellowing

14 years ago

I am new to orchids...I had my very first one two years ago and the florist said to water w 3 ice cubes once a week. It eventually looked like it died but I couldn't bear to through it away. I left it outside and two years later it started to bloom. However the leaves had turned yellow and wrinkled. This had inspired me to get a bunch more. I live in Miami and they are in an eastern facing window that gets a lot of morning sunlight. I have them out of direct sun on the side of the large window. I water them every 7-10 days with the water running out of the bottom before I put them back in there spot. I noticed they were getting wrinkled on the flowers themselves so put some fertilizer for orchids in their water. The flowers still appear to be wrinkled and now one of the plants leaves are becoming wrinkled. I also noticed buds turning yellow and falling off. Help!

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Comments (3)

julysun
14 years ago
Welcome!
I suggest you read "Ask The Experts " above. Otherwise you will need to give the name of your orchids so posters can offer specific advise. Three ice cubes won't cut it. Two years? you need to re-pot unless they are in inorganic media. Orchids are fun to have but they have specific needs related to type. So post some names or types and folk here will/can help. Hey, a few photos will help! You can Google "Orchid Re-potting" and find a ton of show-and-tell sites.
Keep us posted!
Julysun
Julysun
summer005
Original Author
14 years ago
Oh---forgot to post the name they are Phalaenopsis orchids. I did re-pot the older one a couple days ago and cut off all the dead roots so hoping it will help.
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dragon_kite
14 years ago
Phals are warm growing so I'm not sure why your florist would recommend the ice cube water every week...maybe to get it to flower, but it still doesn't explain why you need to be doing it year round.

I want to help but I need more info:

What medium and type of pot is the phal growing in?
What kind of fertilizer do you use, what are its N-P-Ks, and how much and how often do you apply?
Are there white crusts along the top of the medium and pot?