Operation Orchid Rescue

She found someone selling orchids for cheap, curiosity got the better of her. She ended up buying 4 of the badly neglected plants. They all had cobwebs, bugs of all possible variety and the most gross media condition possible. Took her around 6 hours cleaning them up.

It all starts with removing the plants form dead media, then getting it out of the roots by soaking them in water to loosen them. Once the media is all removed, pruning obvious dead roots is recommended. Once all clean, a soak in water with insecticide is called for, let the plant soak for a few hours. Inspect the roots once again and look out for bugs, once all clean, repot in fresh bark or other appropriate media.

As she got them

Neglected beyond belief

The media discarded

Condition of the roots

Mass of rotten roots

Soak time to loosen all the debris embedded with the roots

Re-potted with clean new media and deinfestation

All clean and shiny!

Re-potted with new clean media