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When the leaves of your orchid lose their firmness, they feel soft like leather and are wrinkled, it means the tissue is not being able to absorb all the water it needs. You need to find out why your orchid is not getting sufficient hydration.
First, you need to take a look at the roots:
– if they look healthy, are firm, light green or silvery white, and you media seems to be in good condition but feels dry, then your problem is little!! You are under watering your orchid! Soak your potted plant for a couple of hours in plain warm water; let it drain as usual. Review your watering routine, maybe your spacing the waterings too much! In a temperate weather, try watering every 7 days and see how your plant is doing. If you have doubts, read our article: “How should I water my plants“.
– on the other side: if the roots feel soft, mushy, are black or brown, we are over waterings our orchids rotting their roots. Rotten roots are those that have turned brown; they are mushy when wet and twig-like when dry. If the roots are SUPER dead, the outer covering will sort of disintegrate and you’ll see wiry, stringy-looking things. With this rot root system it doesn’t matter how many times you water your orchids, these roots can’t absorb water.
The solution is to cut with disinfected tools and cauterize those death roots, replace the media with a new one (previously soaked), and increase the relative humidity around the orchid to reduce stress for the remaining roots; give your orchid some time to stabilize! And revise your watering routine.
Sometimes it’s not our fault!! When buying a new orchid be sure to observe as much as you can the roots (and all the plant as seen in “before buying“); some orchids are already rotting before they get to our homes.
Check out our “Tips to increase RH“
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