should (could) a crown facing down be fixed?

[uffe3667]

Hi all;
bought a new phal. today.

The crown leaf of this plant is twisted all down.
It seems to be in a good condition, not limp or soft. The overall plant is also in a good condition.

Looking at the plant i feel that this downward facing crown leaf is somehow "wrong" and any new leaves coming from this crown would not benefit from this.
Is there anything i should or could do to correct this.
I was thinking of fixing it somehow in a position more like this:

Anyone any thoughts?

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

There's nothing you can do about it.

As long as the crown is oriented towards the light, the new leaf will come out with the upper surface of the leaf facing out.

Some Phals have leaves that droop because the leaves get so large. Gravity.

Here's what I mean:

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_QKhFwyIRgd...s+Gigantea.JPG

[kiki-do]

Hello! I know it looks weird compared to how we buy them all perfectly straight and all, but I think this is a natural behavior for the plant. I have several who want to grow like that. As long as it's healthy, it will survive beautifully, and it looks very healthy.
Keep in mind, that orchids grow every which way in the wild. It's people who try and make them upright. My happiest orchids are those that are mounted and those I have hanging on the wall in baskets. Their natural way is to grow flopping over sideways so the water can run off the crown when it rains.
You can repot it and straighten it if you want to. No harm done there, either.

[uffe3667]

just to make sure: i do not care on how the plant looks, it just feels the the growth of this latest leaf is somehow wrong , it is totally upside down.
It also totally opposite to the other leaves orientation, and actually the underside of the leaf is facing the normal light source.
So i would be 100% OK if this will not hurt mij phal. but just want to besure.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Nothing bad is going to happen if the bottom surface of the leaf is twisted up. It just looks off, that's all.

I want to clarify that if the leaf has already matured, it's not moving, it's not going to change, and that's the way it's going to be and look for the entire life of the leaf.

Many of us are used to how a sunflower will reorient a mature leaf to the light at any given stage of it's life. This is not true for an orchid.

Same goes for leaf deformities from insufficient watering or nutrient deficiencies. Once the damage is done, it's done.

When the new leaf comes out, it will orient itself to the light source, grow according to how much water is available, and adjust it's growth to how much light is available. Once the leaf matures, that's it. No more change.

This is one of the ways an experienced grower can tell whether a Phal has been rotated or has been grown without much thought about how the plant grows, or even stuff like what infections it contracted, or what kinds of nutrient deficiencies occurred, etc. You'll see signs like leaves twisting in odd directions, or helicopter leaves (if you intended for the plant to have helicopter leaves that's a whole different story), blemishes, so on and so forth.

[RosieC]

I agree you won't get it to re-orientate. I tried with a mature leaf on one of mine and I could never get it to move. I tried with supports etc. and light locations, but as soon as the supports were removed it just went back where it had been.

Just let it grow and see what happens with the next leaf.