is my orchid dying?

[bubbles4920]

i was happily dusting away and thought i would dust my orchids leaves. i wiped one of the leaves and the top layer came away, all mushy. one of the other leaves looks like its rotting on the tip of it too. what is wrong with my plant? do you think its had too much water, it doesnt seem saturated nor too dry?? the flowers seem ok so far and would hate for them to drop off!

[manofsteel]

It sounds as if its too wet. Orchids should be left to dry out and then watered with tepid water, never standing in water though. Like in the rain forest - left to dry and then rained on very heavily. I have a lot of orchids and I do them about once a fortnight, but if its v warm sometimes earlier, but dont keep them wet!! Good luck!!

[bubbles4920]

thanks, think you are right. i take it all back, i pulled the plant out of pot and the moss was soggy. think i watered it too much cos id forgotten id done it already and watered it yesterday. just hope it will dry out now and the flowers wont drop off. im going to cut the leaves off at the centre, hope thats ok to do..

[Stace91a]

there was an interesting Alan Titchmarsh episode on his show this year speaking about Orchids (with Charlie Dimmock) and how to treat them - maybe an idea to see online if this is repeated?

I know because I taped it on sky plus to show my mum who I had bought an orchid for last yr - it had some good tips....