How do I stop killing my phals - Orchid Board

abszero · #1 09-11-2009, 02:20 PM

Hi all, I'm very much new to this all - both orchids and dealing with plants in general - and could use some help in overcoming my brown thumb.

My first phal I had about a week and a half before it started getting quite droopy. Based on the advice of the person I bought it from (gardening section at a grocery store), I was watering very lightly about once every 5 or 6 days. The plant was about 30 inches high and in 4-inch pot filled with sphagnum. The bottom tier of leaves turned yellow and fell off shortly before it died of crown rot (I think, it turned black anyway). I was very careful about not getting water onto the leaves.

When I went to get a second phal from a more reputable source, the grower there seemed to think something had to have been wrong with it when I bought it since it rotted through in two weeks. Pretty believable.

But now similar things are happening with my new phal. There's no rot or yellowing yet, but it's pretty droopy and I seem unable to turn it around. The new phal is smaller / younger, in a 3-inch pot with orchid bark. I've been watering it every 4 days (as the new grower advised) for the two weeks I've had it, and I've been soaking the bark under the sink to water it this time around. I've applied an appropriate fertilizer once by misting the roots, and added a humidity tray which took it from about 40% humidity up to 55 or 60%. It's also spent the last week or so out on the deck (north facing, shaded) in case it needed more sun that it was getting on my desk (opposite to a south facing window).

Also, for what it's worth, the bottom two leaves on one side are split down the middle near the base. It's been this way since I got it and seems to be a result of one of the spikes trying to grow out from between those two leaves. I haven't noticed any rotting or changes in the area.

Thanks for any ideas or advice!
-Mark