Phal. leaves hanging like dog ears

[Kollba]

One month ago I bought some orchids online and one of them was the Phal. on the pics below.
It was planted in a pot but I am using wooden baskets so I put it in one of those with a thin layer of chopped coconut (husk ?) and put some sphagnum on top to keep the moist. The leaves were perfectly ok when I got it but now they look like the ears of a sick dog.
I live in the tropics, keep my orchids under a (shade)net, water (mist spray) them once a day. It is "winter" here now so the temp the last months has been 27 - 33 C and 18 - 23 at night. One pic shows how the orchid is "potted" and the terrible dog ears, next pic shows the roots after watering (green and looks good) and the last pic show that there is no rot and new roots are coming.
I cannot understand why the leaves looks like that.
I guess it will survive but why does it look so sick ?

[estación seca]

You're not watering enough and the plant has dried out. Misting doesn't do anything useful so stop doing that. When you water run water through the mix until it's soaked. For a plant that dried out in large chunks of bark I would put the basket into a bucket of water and let it soak overnight, then water every 2-3 days depending on the humidity.

Leaves that wrinkle severely might not recover completely, but new growth should be normal.

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[Kollba]

Originally Posted by estación seca

You're not watering enough and the plant has dried out. Misting doesn't do anything useful so stop doing that. When you water run water through the mix until it's soaked. For a plant that dried out in large chunks of bark I would put the basket into a bucket of water and let it soak overnight, then water every 2-3 days depending on the humidity.

Leaves that wrinkle severely might not recover completely, but new growth should be normal.

Maybe my description was not accurate.
When I water my orchids I use a nozzle (right word ?) that i set on "mist". It gives small drops more like a spray and I spray each orchid individually (leaves, basket, roots) until I think it is enough. It is working well on all other orchids except for this one and one similar, but that one has bad roots (new are coming).
So... The roots get wet, the coconut husk get wet and the sphagnum moss get soaked. If I spray in the late afternoon, 4 pm or so - which I try to avoid, the moss is still humid the next day.
I can keep it wet for longer time but I was afraid that the roots would rot.
And another question. Is it ok to grow phals. without any media at all and let the roots hang free just like I do with my vandas ?

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[Mr.Fakename]

It doesn't seem that your Phal's root are put deep enough to be in contact with the media, or is it just me?
Even if new roots are coming, it still looks extremely dehydrated, and new growth will be made by sacrificing the leaves.

I second ES's suggestion of soaking overnight, it will help the leaves perk up and store enough water to sustain that growth.

Your temperatures are hot enough to avoid rot, especially during the day.


It is okay to grow Phal without media, although in this case I would let it beef up before trying.

[Kollba]

Originally Posted by Mr.Fakename

It doesn't seem that your Phal's root are put deep enough to be in contact with the media, or is it just me?

I second ES's suggestion of soaking overnight, it will help the leaves perk up and store enough water to sustain that growth.

It is okay to grow Phal without media, although in this case I would let it beef up before trying.

I am not putting the roots under the media because I did that 6 months ago and the rainy season ruined lots of roots with rot and mole. I had to clean out the media for 250 orchids and replace it.
Instead I am using a layer of Sphagnum moss on the top of orchids with weak or few roots, the moss is in contact with the roots and after I have soaked it, it stays humid for 6-12 hours, depending on the weather. What made me think something was wrong was that there are rather many roots who are long enough, all of them turn green when i water the orchid and the ones that are in contact with the moss stays green for hours.
But I have already started to follow his advice by soaking the orchid for 5 hours this morning. I will also put on some more moss and continue soaking for a couple of weeks and see what happens.

When it looks good enough, I will take it out of the basket and let the roots hang free, mainly because I think it looks more nice even if it forces me to put water on my orchids 1-3 times every day. In the future I might automate it with a timer.

Thanks to both of you for your advice.