Phal. Dropping many leaves?

[orchidlauren]

I know its normal for phalaenopsis to drop leaves because of new growth like roots/spikes tearing into them, but mine had 7-8 leaves about 3 weeks ago, and now im left with 3, of which, one looks to be dropping as well. Maybe im overthinking but can anyone confirm if im doing something wrong? Once i have an orchid left with only two leaves its a bad sign for me.

[Roberta]

Definitely not a good sign. But it looks like the newest part is doing OK and there are some new roots. I'd suggest taking it out of the pot and seeing if you have bad roots/bad media. If so you could clean them up, new medium will give those good roots a chance to do their job and develop further.

[orchidlauren]

Okay so i took it put, there are only about 4 bad roots out of a good amount. The stem is quite long, so naturally the baby roots are dead but im not quite concerned about them. I dont see any pests or rot. Note: I water once a week: when roots are silver, its in a bark/perlite/charcoal/spagnum mix, and receives filtered light.

[Roberta]

The roots that were in the pot don't look great but don't look horrid either. The yellow down the stem is concerning. Perhaps one of the other members will jump in with advice on managing that - there may be other issues brewing but I can't tell.

[estación seca]

Once a week watering probably isn't enough. It is better if they don't go completely dry between waterings.

How long have you had it? Most Phals come from a greenhouse where it's warm and humid. They carry lots of leaves. When they move to a lower humidity home they often drop leaves down to 3-5 remaining. This is because they don't have enough roots to take up as much water as is being transpired by all those leaves.

The upper stem where roots should come out is staying so dry the new roots die quickly. I would put medium right up under the bases of the leaves near the stem. I would water every 3 or 4 days. When you water, thoroughly soak the medium. Consider watering by setting the pot in a container of water for 4-6 hours.

[orchidlauren]

When i water once a week i usually let them sit for 4-5 hours, when i water more frequently i often catch more problems with my orchids but ill try it with this one. Should I add primarily moss for more humidity? Also I have had it for about 10 months now.

[estación seca]

What are your temperatures day/night? When I grew Phals in the house in Phoenix I had to water almost daily in summer, every 3-4 days in winter. They were in plain bark.

[orchidlauren]

Right now 78°F at night and same in the day in-house, outside its ranging 93° Day and 63° at night. Its been usually cooler from 80 to 50 though.

[aliceinwl]

I can’t say for certain, but it could be stem rot. Your temperature and watering regime sound fine. When I’ve had a bunch of leaves drop in quick succession there’s usually some type of infection and most of the plants succumbed. If it is rot, you can carefully peel back the dead leaf bases, and see if there are any dark rotting areas underneath: you have to be pretty careful that you don’t accidentally snap off the top of the plant (they don’t tend to survive that).

If caught early, I’ve had some plants pull through. Once the problem area was exposed to air it dried out and stopped progressing. I’m very careful to water from the edge of the pot and keep the rot area dry in these cases. The roots and stem below the level of the rot tend to slowly die, but the survivors have been able to send out new roots from above the rotten area.

I think most of the stem rot issues I’ve had have been brought on by keeping the plant too cold and/or letting them sit in broken down media for too long. You’re keeping yours pretty warm though so I don’t think this is an issue.