Broken leaves

[MateoinLosAngeles]

What is the best way to deal with broken leaves?

I bought a bunch of Phalaenopsis from Hausermann taking advantage of an overstock sale they were running. However, three plants arrived with leaf damage.

These are pretty old plants that had outgrown their pots. I believe they were used to make flower arrangements. During either transport or handling some leaves were broken in half and one was punctured. My instinct is to cover the damage with ground cinammon or an alcohol+cinammon spray.

How do you tackle mechanical damage on leaves?

[Ray]

How you respond, if at all, depends upon the degree of damage.

I agree with the cinnamon on a puncture.

Bent leaves may have incurred some vascular damage, so the end may die. I’d simply wait and see.

If the leave is broken to the point of having a crack all the way across, I’d cut just inside the crack and dust the wound with cinnamon.

[Roberta]

I don't think I'd even worry about it - as Ray noted the end of the leaf may just die. When it does, just cut at the crack, by that time the exposed part will have dried and sealed itself. Treat the puncture, let the rest just do what they will. Once the broken end dies, you can cut along the break with a single-edge razor blade... it makes a clean cut, and you can use a new one for each plant so that you don't have to worry about sterilizing tools.