What's going on with my Phal?

[camille1585]

Originally Posted by Leisesturm

The light. That's where it's at as I see it. "Phal's are 'low light' orchids" is drummed into all of us. But what is 'low light' to the human eye is 'total darkness' to most plants. Humans see just fine down to 150 footcandles and less. A Phal really needs 2,000. Why 2,000FC? Because it's only going to get that for a couple of hours. 2000FC is very, very, bright light to the human eye. You can see a distinct shadow of your hand when you pass it between the light source and your orchid or a sheet of white paper placed where your orchid will be.

I agree that what our eyes percieve is not the same for a plant. But 2000 FC is not dim, and is generally said to be too much for Phals. Usually for Phals it's recommended that the light level be bright enough to cast a fuzzy shadow when you put your hand over the plant, which is in the 1000-1500 fc range...