Yellowing leaves.

[Donnajoanne]

Hi, I am a beginner with orchids and have spent days researching and learning what to do with this one.

I was given this orchid and after a couple of weeks it lost its purple blooms, the spike has turned pinky purple and it has lost 2 leaves. It is in a bright room, away from the radiator.

I cut the spike just above the first unopened node incase it might bloom again (but I doubt it) but the middle leaves have continued to yellow. I am assuming it is dealing with the stress of a new environment but thought I would check the roots just incase.
I removed a sponge plug that was around the stem, cut off some squishy roots and soaked the roots for 10 mins in some diluted orchid food.
I have put it back in the same 13cm pot with the same media it came with but added some more ventilation holes and positioned it above a dish of water for humidity.

Am I right in thinking the orchid is just adjusting or stressed?
Also I was wondering if that was a second spike or an ariel root that was cut off before I had it?

Any thoughts would be much appreciated. Thanks

[estación seca]

Welcome to the Orchid Board.

How long have you had it? What are your growing conditions? Light, temperatures day/night, humidity? How are you watering it? How do you decide when to water?

It is potted higher than I would. I would make sure the level of the medium is at the base of the lowest leaves, so the roots are fully covered. But do not repot yet, before we figure out why the leaves are yellowing.

[Donnajoanne]

Originally Posted by estación seca

Welcome to the Orchid Board.

How long have you had it? What are your growing conditions? Light, temperatures day/night, humidity? How are you watering it? How do you decide when to water?

Hi, thanks for replying,

I have had it for a month, it is in the brightest room in the house which has an East facing window, it is not on the window sill because of a radiator. The room does get the sun until midday (if ever sunny here in the UK!) but it is filtered through a net and doesnt shine on the orchid anyway. Day temps up to 76-80 when heating is on and drops to 60-65 at night. I'm not sure about humidity, I would say on the dry side because of central heating but I have it sitting on top of water and I have a bowl of water by the radiator.
I have been watering it by running water through the top and letting it drain, I have only watered it twice (3rd when checking roots) since having it as the pot/medium seemed to stay quite damp and have waited for the medium to feel dry upto half way down the pot and I don't see any condensation forming.

I wondered about hard water which we do have, so when I checked the roots I used rain water and will continue to water with that.

[Waterdog111]

Most of the roots look healthy to me. What kind of fertilizer and strength.
Welcome and I hope you have a successful time here.

---------- Post added at 11:00 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:49 AM ----------

Was there any indication when you first got it of yellowing and seeing as how it is bottom leaves I would guess its getting about the right amount of light.My opinion is some correction in the fertilizer or leaving off with it for a while, but I try using rain water all the time.

[Donnajoanne]

Originally Posted by Waterdog111

Most of the roots look healthy to me. What kind of fertilizer and strength.
Welcome and I hope you have a successful time here.

---------- Post added at 11:00 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:49 AM ----------

Was there any indication when you first got it of yellowing and seeing as how it is bottom leaves I would guess its getting about the right amount of light.My opinion is some correction in the fertilizer or leaving off with it for a while, but I try using rain water all the time.

Thanks!

It all looked very healthy, after a week it lost 2 small leaves at the very bottom which i thought normal, the next week it lost all the flowers one by one.
The leaves started turning before I used any fertiliser so I bought miracle gro orchid feed which said 5-10 drops to 1 pint.... I used 7 drops in a pint, I thought it maybe lacking something. I will definately be keeping to rain water tho.

[AnonYMouse]

Don't worry about light at this point. Your day temps are fine but I think that it's gotten too cold at night. Could be it came from a much warmer environment, less temp fluctuation?

Do you have or are able to get a heat/seeding mat? Can you move it to a warm kitchen?

[Dimples]

Our house drops down to the low 60s at night, but I have all my phals. on seedling heating mats, like AM mentioned. It would be too cold for them without the mats.

Phals. want to stay at or above 70F as a minimum temperature. Some can tolerate 65F overnight if it gets warmer during the day, and they’re kept dryer while they will be experiencing the lower overnight temperatures. But in general, if it’s cold, they don’t do well.

[Waterdog111]

This is one of the Phia I bought at heb, It had a beautiful spike and blooms at that time. Right now it is on my porch as you can see, it sets in water and the scoria wicks it up on its on. The other night it almost got in the 40’s,it has been pretty cool here lately. It only started puting out the new roots you can see in the last three weeks, after it started cooling off.


Arent we talking about the same type orchid, I may need to be corrected. Phalenopsis.

[Roberta]

There are Phals, and then there are Phals... a particular plant may have ancestry that gives it a bit more cold tolerance... or not. I'd say that getting into the 40s F, you're playing with fire. It might handle one or two nights like that if the days are warm, but don't let that regimen stretch into weeks. Cold damage may take awhile to show up, but can be irreversible if it does.

[estación seca]

Donnajoanne - Phals. are grown commercially in warm, humid greehouses. Each rosette can easily carry 10 or more leaves in these situations. In a home with lower temperatures and humidity, they may have trouble taking up enough water to carry all those leaves. It is common for Phals. to drop one or more leaves when coming home with somebody from a market. When they drop, they turn yellow like those you show. I haven't seen so many yellow and drop off all at once, but the two newest leaves seem not to be yellowing. I suspect this is what is happening to your plant.

Phals. once accustomed to a home usually carry between 3 and 5 leaves, occasionally more. If you were to move it back to a warm, humid greenhouse, it would again carry more.