Newly repotted phal-- blooming, but leaves seem to be deteriorating rather quickly...

[Ray]

As Doc said and you now realize, repotting a blooming plant can be a mistake. Some would recommend removing the spike so the plant can focus its energies on getting reestablished. Before resorting to that, the plant definitely needs more moisture.

An alternative to soaking the medium in a tub:

1. Put the plant in the sink (forget about that "germ" stuff - the plant is probably cleaner than you)
2. Run tepid water through the pot to thoroughly wet it. I prefer to use the spray head for that, as it covers the medium more easily.
3. Wait 30 minutes
4. Do the thorough watering again.

That waiting period allows the bark chips to swell a bit from the first watering, which opens up the porosity, allowing the pores to absorb more the second time.

After that, each watering should be very thorough, but likely won't need the repetition.

[Zoi2]

Originally Posted by floataloft

if the leaves don't change within a few days, should i have another go at it?
/amateur

The yellow leaves will only continue to yellow and will drop off. Hopefully the green leaves will stay green. Also, be sure you do not get water in the crown when you are soaking the bark. You don't want crown rot too.
Joann

[WhiteRabbit]

If you have soaked the whole pot no need to do a repot - I only suggested it in case you were for some reason not able to soak the whole thing
good luck - let us know how it goes

[floataloft]

hiii
i asked for help a little while ago with my phal.... everything turned out fine (thanks for yr help, everyone). the remaining blooms opened, making seven flowers:



i removed the lower yellow leaf in the photo in my first post, and part of the other leaf that was torn up pretty badly. that didn't affect her negatively, and she seemed to flourish. but now, i've noticed that the leaves are yellowing again. i'm in upstate new york, and i've been leaving her outside on the porch since the warmer days of summer ended. it's getting down into the 50's at night now... forgive me if i'm naive, but is that too cold for phals/orchids in general? i've been taking her inside some nights but it doesn't seem to be helping the leaves any. she receives indirect light all day, so i dont think it's "sunburn" or anything, and i've been watering her well-- soaking the pot two or three times a month with light watering in between (it's been pretty humid here lately). here's a shot of the leaves:



what am i doing wrong? if i should keep her inside, where should i put her? the warmest room in the house (south-facing windows) is also the one that has lights on almost twenty hours a day, and the room that has an east-facing window gets really cold (because it's part of the hallway)... so i'm not really sure where i should keep her. :/ i don't have any experience with orchids in the colder months.

[RosieC]

The first thing I notice is that those leaves look 'leathery'. They look like they have been dehydrated a lot to me and the yellowing could be related. But maybe that is due to previous dehydration as once they get like that they will stay that way.

On the other hand temps in the 50s ARE rather too cold for Phals. I'm unsure what effect that has though so I can't say if that is the cause.

I do think you need to move it somewhere warmer. I would be inclined to put her in the south facing window. How much light do you get there, you say the lights are on most of the time which implies you don't get much sunlight. Generally south facing windows are too bright, but as the days get shorter the sun is not as strong, not sure what it's like where you are though.

[SewPretty]

I live in Pennsylvania and we have similar weather i think. my suggestion would be to set up a humidity tray: a wide shallow bowl with rocks in the bottom. then put your orchid pot on top of the rocks. keep water in the wide shallow bowl below the level of the pot. that way the orchid can absorb the evaporation from the air. this is what I do with all of mine when I bring them in for the fall/winter season and they seem to like it.

some people may argue this but I heard that a few nights of 50ish degree nights are ok and required to initiate a flower spike. I just brought mine in from their summer of outside and mine have light colored leaves but they seem to get darker when I have them indoors.

I hope this helps!

[SewPretty]

p.s. when I have mine indoors I keep them in a shaded East facing window or an unshaded south facing window as close to the window as possible for both locations.