When the leaves become yellow, do the orchids need water or they have been overwatered?

Question

do the orchids need much or less water

Answer 1

Hi Tony Y,

When orchids don't have enough water, their leaves turn yellow. There are two possibilities why your orchids are not getting enough water:

1) you don't water enough. My coworker killed her orchid by only drizzling a tiny amount of water weekly. She was afraid to over water it as people always say beginners water their orchids too much. But let me tell you, you can NEVER water your orchids TOO MUCH; you can only water TOO FREQUENT. You are supposed to drench your orchid with good water until the water flows through the holes in the bottom of the pot. If you are only drizzle water on your orchids, then you are underwatering!

2) you can also kill the roots of your orchids by watering too frequently or over fertilizing. Your orchids don't absorb enough water before there isn't any root left! Too frequent watering will cause the potting medium to break down and the roots of your orchids cannot breathe and die. If your potting medium is very dark brown or even black and mushy, then you are over watering.

One way to tell is to repot your orchid. Get the orchid out the the pot, shake away as much potting material as possible. The dead roots will be black and hollow. If you squeeze and slight pull the dead roots, the "skin" of the root will be easily removed and the only thing left is a "wire." If most of the roots are dead, chance is that you are overwatering. Repot your orchids with new medium after you trim away the dead roots with sterilized scissors.

If most of the roots are not dead and appear healthy (healthy roots are white-ish or tan), then you are watering too little.

If you want to learn more about orchids and water, read this page:

http://www.everything-orchids.com/water....

Hope it helps!

Regards,

Kennis

Answer 2

I grow epidendrum and cymbidian orchids and the leaves turn yellow when I over water them.  Mine like to go completely dry in between waterings.

Answer 3

overwatered