Hi everyone,

Interesting situation. My grandfather, who has dementia, was gifted a Phalaenopsis orchid by my aunt.

Yesterday, I found the orchid outside on top of a garbage can. We've been having freezing temperatures at night, so I knew this would kill the plant. I decided to bring it inside to my area of the house and attempt to save it.

The strange thing is, the orchid looks healthy. I don't know why he decided to put it outside on top of a garbage can. I'm pretty sure it's a dementia thing.

Anyway, like I said, before, we've had freezing temperatures at night. I want to make sure this orchid is healthy. Here are pictures.








I think there is some slight frost damage on the flowers, but other than that, I'm not certain if the plant is healthy or not. Could someone please help me out with this?

Jared

I don't notice any damage.
I wonder if he'll remember doing that, notice the plant back inside and wonder. Or not.

I left a nice orchid out in blazing sun and sure enough burnt it. Carelessness on my part.

sallyg said: I don't notice any damage.
I wonder if he'll remember doing that, notice the plant back inside and wonder. Or not.

I left a nice orchid out in blazing sun and sure enough burnt it. Carelessness on my part.

That's the sad part, he won't remember. He has bad enough dementia where he forgets he does things or forgets to do things, and he thinks he does things when he's not. It's pretty bad dementia. We're actually working on getting him into memory care.

Anyway, I think for the health of the plant, I'm gonna hold onto it. He probably won't remember the plant anyway.

This makes three orchids in my collection so far.

Thank you for the advice on the orchid.

Jared

Best wishes for his future.

Maybe the orchid was out for only a short period of time. It looks great!

Believe me, if that Phalaenopsis was hit by frost or temperatures near freezing, you would see it almost immediately. The flowers will not exhibit a little frost damage. They would freeze or show dramatic damage. They would turn black and mushy. That would happen in minutes.
It is always better to have orchids exposed to low temperatures dry, not recently watered. I doubt that the temperatures were as low as you might think.

As far as dementia goes, I lost my Dad to that in 2012. It was horrible. In the late stages, your short term memory is toast, 110%. My Mom never understood this. She told him days before he passed, this red button is to call for a nurse. 20 seconds when she asked what it was for, he had no idea.
I knew the end was close when his long term memory went. That hung on the longest.