Phalaenopsis leaf sunken

[Mercurianmad]

Hi guys. This phalaenopsis has many new roots and seems healthy. My humidifier got moved a little closer to the plant on accident and now the leaf has sunken in. Is this water damage or what? Is there anything I should look out for? No mold or anything that I can see besides this leaf issue.

[Roberta]

Any chance that it also got a blast of sunlight? That looks to me a lot like heat damage. If so, no long-term problem.

[Mercurianmad]

Not at all lol. We don’t even have sunlight in California right now, the smoke cloud has shaded everything. There is no heat lamp near the plant and no sign of infection or mold. I did soak it for a few hours in water to fertilize it but it was with 1T/ gallon kelp max fertilizer as usual.

[Roberta]

I think just observe it... it still looks very local, will probably just dry up. If it spreads or turns mushy then revisit the issue.

Yeah, you're getting the smoke a lot worse than down south... not only the California fires but southern Oregon too. I just hope that the fires stay away from you!

[estación seca]

I agree, most likely heat. There is also a chance it could have spider mites under the leaf. They may leave silvery cobwebs under the leaf. Take a tissue and rub under the leaf from stem to tip. If you see brown or red streaks you probably have spider mites/

[Mercurianmad]

I just noticed that, somehow, it’s getting worse. Now the edges around the sunken part are distorting,like edema. What could cause this and why would this be developing now, on the phal furthest away from the humidifier, the one with plenty of airflow around it’s leaves. I would expect this from one of the phals smooshed into the center of the window.

I’ve been keeping an eye on the light expose and it receives bright, indirect light all day, just like my other phals. No direct sun exposure or heat exposure.RElative Humidity has been between 50 and 70 percent. Temperatures go between 81 degrees and 66 degrees.

[Mercurianmad]

Also no sign of any bug, gnat or fly activity. No mold or fuzz anywhere. Big healthy roots. I’ve noticed that the potting media is taking longer to dry out than usual, and that the roots are still green (it’s been 5 days since they were watered and they usually go fully white by day 7). I figured it was from the big smoke cloud blocking the sun.

The fir bark in the pot has developed a whit, speckled fungus on it. I’ve had many people tell me that this is just normal and doesn’t hurt the plant. Almost all of my low light plants have it now in the fir bark. I repotted this phal in March of this year.

[Ray]

If the plant was warm, and the blast from the humidifier was cool from evaporative cooling, that could be mesophyll collapse.

Damage done; nothing more you can do.

[Mercurianmad]

Ok. Thank you.