A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The House Plant Forum Wrinkly Orchid Stems

The stems on my orchids that I got from Nor have developed wrinkly stems. the stems used to be very smooth. And would occassionally even develop pseudo bulbs. But now they look like they are drying up. I've soaked them once a week for 20 minutes and I've continued to water them everyday. Which is what I have always done. What do you think I should do? The leaves are green and appear to be healthy.

Dear Tammy....

m so sorry u r having problems with d orchid.... m not sure which one that is...n sadly dunno what i can advise u abt it... sooo sorry!

My Golden Shower....is blooming....well it's not a very healthy plant...so there's only 1 flower stalk....here it is...



..a closer shot...



...is this d one that u r having problem with?

i have all my orchids outside...grouped together in patches...some in pots n some on dead trunks...here is one patch...no blooms at d moment except for d Golden Shower...but saw d beginning of a bloom on 1 0r 2..?

the one I'm worried about is the one like yours in the last picture on the far right. Where it is nice and plump mine is wrinkly like it doesn't have enough water but I'm soaking it once a week or twenty minutes so that shouldn't be a problem. With this last soak I added orchid plant food to the water. I've got my fingers crossed.

You know with mine rather than the leaves getting larger it just puts out more babies. Do you know why it might do that?

BTW thankyou for posting pictures of the golden show in bloom. That just makes me that much more happy to wait for my blooms.

tammy, could the roots be rotted? like the plant that looks like it is dying of thirst but has too much water?

i'll check that out Jiffy, it's a good suggestion. I was looking at it today and it appears that it is shedding that part of the stem like a snake shedding it's old skin. the stem underneath looks nice and healthy.

I just don't know enough about orchids.

that's interesting too!

My golden showers are growing more shoots but no blooms......However 2 of my Phal. white / and a pink one , are getting ready to bloom.. That is the 2nd time this year for the white one......
I keep water under mine at all times......Except the variety that is in a stump. Piece of wood........Keeping the fingers crossed, they are all young except the white Orchid..........

Hi Tammy....n dodge n jiffy....

ermmm so sorry ...i dunno d problem...but of d opinion that jiffy may b right....

Anyway i did some googling...n i think these links may b useful

http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~tomnz/cats/cat.htm


http://www.cloudsorchids.com/doctor/dfungal.htm

...n this article about flowering of orchids may also b of great interest...

http://www.hrt.msu.edu/faculty/Runkle/Orchid/Articles/AOS%20Lopez%20and%20Runkle.pdf

Have a nice day in d garden my friends...!