Hello all i ve some problem with m y aerangis ellisii i ve the plant since 1 years and was reaaly healty but i ve noticed since 1 week a problem in spike, is yellowing, what i should do. From the sign on the spike probably in this case the pest was my cat

Thanks for any help and suggestion

Hi, looking at your nice looking plant, I have a few questions -
how do you grow this plant - inside, outside? sunshine, shade? amongst other Orchids? how often do you water?
I think this spike is probably toast, at least I am not familiar with this spike color, but the plant itself looks fine. Now if that were my plant here in NJ, I would take it out of the medium and either pot it up freshly while keeping the pot a lot smaller. Or, since I grow a lot of bare root Orchids, I would think of mounting it. But that translates to more waterings.
It is difficult to see from here, was the medium kept too dry?

Hi Ursula thanks for kind answer, i keep orchid with all my aroids more or less 50 60 almost all healty. I keep them indoor now with humidifier with a 50% minimum humidity at 21C. In spring summer i put them outside. One week ago spike was green and healty and without 1cm cut in stem, probably now spike is dying due to that. I ve a lot of plants but just 2 orchid so i don t have much experience with them. Aerangis is near a super healty P patrociae and an anthurium pendens and don t seems to have lack of light problem.
I ve watered it as usual like in the other month, i water them when bark is almost dry.
It has usually always been very healthy and much less susceptible than anthuriums. Unfortunately,i m living in northern Italy, I can only put it out at the end of May, now we ve -1C outside.

In Aerangis spike grow and die after bloom or does it never die after blooms?

I ve 2 cat usually they don touch aroids because they have oxalate crystal but maybe they ve cutted a bit orchid spike. The damage don t seems root rot, scale or something like this...

Thanks for help

The spike is dying back, most likely due to a lack of water. When an orchid produces a spike in order to flower, a lot of its energy and water go towards the growth of the bloom spike.
But if the orchid is not getting enough water, the first thing the orchid does, is to shed, get rid of, the bloom spike. It wants to save water and energy and put it back towards the main plant.

Now if it gets too close to the light, or too much heat, the bloom spike can die back.

I just felt that I needed to add on to the excellent response by Ursula to your question.

Typically these spikes DO NOT remain alive to bloom again.

Thanks a lot BigBill, your answer has been really usefull. Usually i use 15 cm pot because smaller dry too fast inside and if i put humidity at 65-70 i ve mold problem on pot when plant are inside also with fun is turned on.

I hope a new spike will grow back soon.

That is a dangerous policy when it comes to growing orchids successfully Franci. In all my years of growing orchids, lecturing, repotting them, it comes down to the roots. The healthier the root system, the healthier the orchid. The healthier the orchid, the more flowers that you get!

You do not overpot! Using a pot too big leads to watering/moisture issues. With too much pot comes too much media and root health issues.
The usage of a pot too small often causes roots to suffer because they often do not get enough water.
I have potted a few thousand orchids in my orchid career. I use a media mix appropriate for the size or thickness of a root. Slender or skinny roots like Oncidium roots get a media of small particle size. Fat or thick roots like those of a Phalaenopsis or Vanda get a mix with bigger, more coarse particle size.

I select a pot based on the size of the root system. You want to have the roots fit perfectly inside the pot. You do not want extra room. You do not want to cram or force them into a small pot.
If humidity is a concern, things dry too fast, use plastic pots. If you overwater, things stay too wet for too long in plastic, switch to clay pots.

Thanks a lot for precious advice BigBill

You are very welcome!