A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2007 HELP! Orchid Emergency

After a long day at work, my fatigue got the better of me. As I walked in, I grabbed the spray bottle that is used specifically to water by beloved orchid plants (I use a spray bottle to water them to ensure I don't over water them, and this has worked wonderfully up til today) when to my astonishment, I realized after one spay aimed directly at the roots, that it was in fact clorox cleaner with bleach and not the water bottle. I feel terrible. Does anyone know what the best thing to do know is and what could become of my favorite junior purple phalaenopsis that I might have killed?

Wow, I think I'd have reacted the same way, Sandpony! However, I don't think you did any major damage to your Orchid with just one spray. I'm sure that you must have flushed the planting medium right away, after you realized what you'd done... or maybe replaced it with new. Not having ever been faced with this situation (or having heard about someone else doing it), I must admit that I'm only guessing, but we can always hope that your purple phalaenopsis will be OK!
Be sure to come back & let us know.

By the way, welcome to the forum! You'll find that we're a bunch of friendly people here, all willing to help each other as we share our gardening experiences (as well as our hobbies, pets, kids, recipies... the list goes on, as you may have noticed). I'm looking forward to getting to know you & hearing more about your Orchids.... & your other hobbies, pets, kids, recipies, etc. (Oh, and we LOVE pictures here! Would love to see what you've got blooming!) Please stop in at the New Member forum & introduce yourself if you'd like to... or, just jump in on a topic & join our forum family!

oh, no!! how you must have felt when you realized it was the wrong bottle!!

as patty already said, i'm sure you immediately washed it away! and i'm sure you replaced the potting medium too!

one squirt of bleach may do some damage...not enough to kill the orchid tho - especially since it's so well-established.

please post a pic of it, if you can. and keep us posted on how it's fairing.

welcome to the forum, too!! sorry it had to be because of a sad event, tho.

Welcome

I have a couple of orchids from a friend but this is my first time growing them so I don't know much at all. I too doubt that one spritz at the roots will harm them. At least the alphine ones I have are pretty forgiving.

Hopefully you rinsed them off very well. Time will tell. Lesson learned.

Tom

Dont know why your worried of overwatering a Orchid.....THey really are swamp flowers..And must be kept soaked ......

Mine says do not allow it to go dry.. i have a little plastic water holder at the bottom to make sure there is a reserve of it.

Mine is blooming right now......Love it ..
2years now on it. and it rebloomed.

Dodge, where the heck did you ever get the notion that Orchids are swamp flowers?

patty, there are MANY more varieties of orchid than what we see in the stores...

i was quite surprised to find that there are orchids native to pennsylvania!!

their habitats range from polar to tropical and some DO require swampland...i can't remember if the one that's native to pa is such - it might have been the one native to one of the carolinas...

can't find the info on google at the moment either.

patty and joclyn,

My orchid is a Phalaenopsis
Directions say water thoroughly every 7- 9 days..DO NOT ALLOW TO DRY OUT COMPLETELY.

Now tell me how BAD mine looks.. this is right now. ;o)
Love ya ...all

PS.........not native to Penna.. It is my houseplant.....SAys Florida on the tag.
I did read some of the orchids grow right off the bark of the trees...And they must be in wetlands.....
Whatever it is called..Swamp , marshy or whatever.
Tropical is sort of like swamps?????????

Depends who you talk to.