Dehydrated or over watered???

[Benny@12784]

My PHAL leaves are green and leathery. Is that a sign of dehydration? On the flip side, I have one PHAL that has leathery yellow leaves and very little roots. Is this from root rot and overwatering?

[Louis_W]

Could be both

If a plant doesnt get watered it gets dehydrated
If a plant has water but no roots it gets dehydrated

What are your plants growing in and how often do you water? Are there any salvagable roots?

[Benny@12784]

Growing in medium bark from repotme. Room temp is 68-74. Low humidity so I use humidity tray and mini humidifier. I soak for 10-15mins once a week. The PHAL with yellow leathery bottom leaves has just 3 thick roots, that’s all. The PHAL with green leathery leaves and good roots. Not a lot, but healthy

[Louis_W]

Sounds to me like they may be underwatered. Phals dont love to totally dry out. A healthy root system is important but if you have a couple good roots the plant can usually make it through.

If you get a chance to post some photos that would really help!

[estación seca]

From the left yellow menu choose Forums then Beginners. Near the top is a sticky thread with a lot of good information: The Phal. abuse stops here.

[Optimist]

Originally Posted by Benny@12784

Growing in medium bark from repotme. Room temp is 68-74. Low humidity so I use humidity tray and mini humidifier. I soak for 10-15mins once a week. The PHAL with yellow leathery bottom leaves has just 3 thick roots, that’s all. The PHAL with green leathery leaves and good roots. Not a lot, but healthy

Phals and all orchids (either monopodial or sympodial) shed leaves when they are done with them. The sign of shedding a leaf is banana yellow leaf color. the leaf should detach on its own. Phals really do not have much roots. If they are strong, firm, not "hollow" I would consider them "happy."

The sympodials will lose a cane, or "hand" in the case of some terrestrial (so called) like Paphiopedilums. The Monopodial orchids grow as a tall "tower" of many leaf sets, like phals, vandas. They generally grow new leaves from the crown on top, and lose a set on the bottom. This is going to be either once per year or so.