Phals dying, help

[Shani962]

Hello.

All of my old phals are OK and growing new leaves and stems
But all new normal and big phals from supermarkets keep dying. I get them from my friend who works there and gives them to me so they dont end in the garbage-because the are not blooming anymore. Most of them are dehydrated and in semi-ok shape. I water them normally-I soak them for 10 min and repeat when the roots in the medium are silver, usually once a week. They seem to be doing better and then the blooms- if they have them- start drying and falling off, the leaves get yellow and fall of but they are not like old leaves that are paper thin and have no food inside. These leaves are still a bit thick and have food in them but the plant discarded them. Also some times the planets axis gets soft and in one occasion it smelled like rotten potato. When the leaves fall off I tried to cut a bit of axis and its all dry inside and in most cases it gets a white mold on it.
One big phal I had for 4 months. I reported it and it started growing new roots and new leaf. All seemed great for 4 months and one day the lower leaves got yellow and also later the upper got yellow. The axis got soft and white mold on it.

I don't water them too high-only to the top of the medium- so no water can get between the leaves and axis.

Also the one in the picture had white blooms that fell off and a dark patch-wound in the middle of the axsis. Few leaves got yellow and fell off and I tried to remove the black mold-like from the stem. But the other levels were already a bit yellow and had fallen off also. I tried to cut a bit off the axis but like in other two cases it was dry inside. The stems were still green so I let them be to see if a keiki will maybe start growing. But today I saw all blooms are dying-it was expected -and one stem is drying from bottom to the top. The other in the pictures is starting to die too maybe-yellow leaf and 3 in the middle has already fallen off.

Please tell me what am I doing wrong or what could the problem be.

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[SADE2020]

Hi Shandi,

Did you repot this on bloom ? Why did you repot it ?

Could you see the Roots inside?

What I see is maybe a suffocate plant, the roots with lack of air movement; noticing the bark dark, wet and pack, I would unpack the entire thing, check the roots and leave the roots out to breath, making sure they get dry before re pot, after analyzing if there is anything else to do.

Some members don’t cut the spike, but I like to cut anything that takes away focus o roots growth.

Cheers,

[estación seca]

What are the temperatures day/night in your growing area? Do they stand in water? Do the pots have holes in the bottom?

[Shani962]

@shade2020
I did not repot the big phal when blooming. I got it when it didn't even have a flower stem. I repoted it because a friend had for 2-3 years and it bloomed only when bought from a store then it did not grow anything. I repoted it and it started growing new roots and a leaf. The roots were good.

The phal in the picture has good green roots and a lot of them and all that i had problems with had good root systems.
I left the spikes because i hoped if it started dying maybe a keiki will grow and i would have a copy of the phal. I leave them as a plan B.

@estación seca the temperatures are around 20°C in the room. Maybe at night they drop to 18°C max. They soak for 10 min in the pot with water but then I drain then and they do not sit in the water. The pots have holes in the bottom and some even at the sides.

[camille1585]

Based on everything you are telling us, they shouldn't be rotting like that. It doesn't sound like you are overwatering or getting the plant wet, and at least one has been recently repotted. The temperatures are on the low side, but not low enough to be seeing these sort of issues, and I'm guessing that it was warmer than that during the summer.

My first thought was that the Phals were already infected when you received them, but not showing symptoms yet. However, you had the big Phal for 4 months before symptoms appeared so it seems more likely that the cause is in your care.

I have several additional questions for you. Do you have an idea of the humidity levels? If you water by soaking the plants, do you reuse the water for the following plant? Are you watering in the evening (less time to dry out)?

And lastly, when rereading your posts, the first sentence about your old Phals being OK caught my attention. What is the difference between those and the new supermarket Phals? Are they kept in the same area? Are you doing everything the same with them?

[Shani962]

@camille1585
The temperatures are cooling down-perfect for growing flower stems. I have 3 spikes growing and one blooming and one that started growing 2 months ago and after a month it stopped not sure why.
At the moment the house is not yet heated and 18°C will probably be the lowest in the whole year around in these room. In the summer the phals were at day outside in semi-shade an at night inside but at open window-technickly same as outside. The temperatures were max around 35°C and at night above 20°C. But only the big phal was also outside because I got the 3 phases that are in bad shape around 1 month ago. And then I kept all of them inside.

I also think more likely the cause is in my care especially because of the big phal dying-but that one was outside maybe that could be the reason. But for other 4 phals I don't know what to think.

I dont know my humidity levels, but I can measure them in a few day-but it's normal not high. I used to soaking the plants by reusing the water for the following plants. But now I don't because I assume something gets transmitted-but it still is happening so it's not the water. But when I shared the water I went systematically- First my oldest mini phals that were reported and healthy for 4 years, than my newer ones and the most newest ones. If I saw that some phal was suspicious I didnt share water from other with her and vices versa. I am watering in the morning, around 10 am when I wake up, but a few times (maybe 3) I did water them in the afternoon around 4-5. But I only water to medium level so the stem and leaves dont get wet.

Yes my old Phals-4 years- are OK. All my pals are together in the same room in the same 1m2, on the same window shelf and table, get the same time and strength of sunlight. I do every thing the same with all of them. Only difference is that only the new ones die after a few months. My only old phal that died was a year ago but it died because i didnt dry the crown enough when reporting and got crown root. But I needed to repot them because I put in the medium a fertilizer stick-
Substral palčke za orhideje
- and it molded, not sure why but where the roots touched this stick they died-rotted. And when I repoted them I sprayed them with h2o2 to kill the pores and some of the water got in the crown of the phall and when I wiped then dry I missed a spot. But these new phals start dying from bottom to top not like crown root.

[K-Sci]

By the time the Lowes in this area is done with their Phalaenopis they've kept them indoors for a couple months with insufficient light and either killed the roots by overwatering or dessicated the plant by under watering. If weakened by a lack of light they may lack the strength to recover.

The reason I'm offering such a negative assessment is not to say you should give up. It is only to say that even an expert grower could struggle with the challenge you've engaged.

Thank you for coming here for assessments and advice.

-Keith

---------- Post added at 07:41 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:23 PM ----------

Originally Posted by SADE2020

Some members don’t cut the spike, but I like to cut anything that takes away focus o roots growth.

I think this is sound advice for a plant that almost certainly lacks the energy to flower successfully anyway.

-Keith

[Shani962]

The phals are in the i would say max 1-2 months-because they are at the store entrance and the dratf makes the buds fall off quickly so they discard them fast.You think they could get insufficient light in this period that would weaken them that much?

[estación seca]

The overhead fluorescent light in most markets is plenty to keep Phals alive. I think the problems are related to in-store temperatures and irregular or no watering. Stores around here are kept too cold for my comfort.