Sweet merciful heavens.....
.....my beloved Godiva seems like she's gonna make it after all. I have been watching her anxiously and while I know a month is not really long enough to really see much in terms of growth on orchids, there are definitely signs of hope!
I did my usual flushing, added with root stimulant only. This is the time I typically take to inspect each individual plant. to see how its progressing. I had to pull back some yellowed leaves and dead sheathes that were starting to mold, since I don't want to risk any rot. The leaves are from one of the larger new growths and some of the older pseudobulbs' sides.
I was pleasantly surprised to find some new developments! There are two brand new growths that are coming in where the leaves had yellowed and died off. Also, I'm seeing some signs of new roots and activity in one of my already existing new growths. I'm absolutely delighted to see these positive signs and I'm starting to relax and have hope that this transition will be better than I thought.
Godiva is one of the orchids in the Book Collection that I placed on the heating mat. Its only been a few days so I can't be sure if the bottom heat contributed to this new development but it is definitely promising. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed that she continues to grow more roots and eventually unshrivel those wrinkled pseudobulbs.
UPDATE 01/11: After the biweekly flushing, I pulled some more yellowed leaves from the dying growth and found this tiny new growth growing in its place! I am screaming at how adorable it is! I was so sad to see one of the larger growths dying off and yellowing on Godiva but look what she's done! A brand new, tiny new growth to replace it! ADORABLE!
A stirring of hope in.....
.....another bottom heat recipient, Baby Blue, is showing tiny, itsy, bitsy signs of growth. She has, since the transition, done nothing but rot her roots and very slowly yellow of couple of her leaves. Those initially lovely leaves have become a little dehydrated in the meantime so I was starting to wonder what was going on.
But during the flushing, I saw this little nubbin peaking out behind her old, cut flower stem. The tiny beginnings of a root if my wish comes true! These biweekly waterings have have really boosted the root development of my orchids and in a reasonably short amount of time, taking in how much shock the plants initially went through.
Now, once again, since its only been a few days its hard to say if this development was because of the heat mat, but I can say that the other orchids in the Klimt collection, as well as the single phalaenopsis not on the heat mat in the Book collection are still not showing any signs of root growth. I'm wondering how many days will pass before I see any developments in those orchids, and how far along these ones will be if and when that happens.