Lost a leaf! Yellow with dark greenish gray in the center! HELP!

[mirandarvt]

Sooo I posted the pic's of my two babies and have been trying to follow the rules...but I find so many rules about watering! I came home today and noticed one leaf on my white phal was YELLOW and it fell off and in the center of the leaf it had a greyish green coloration. What is this? I had to repot both plants because the pots they came in didnt have proper drainage and I followed the rules I swear! I have read to water every couple of days from some sources and then some sources say every ten. I have been using the moss and bark as a gauge by sticking my finger in it to check for moisture...sigh...my purple beauty looks good as far as the blossoms go two new buds are starting to open but the leaves look droopy but the medium is moist. The White beauty was bone dry...watering schedule help? Yellow leaf help?

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Are you able to post a pic?

It helps a lot.

But I do suspect it's some sort of fungal attack.

As far as your watering schedule. I'd allow the roots to dry out before watering again.

It'd help a lot to use a clear plastic pot to see the medium and roots to monitor the moisture.

It also allows the roots to photosynthesize.

[RosieC]

Is it the center leaf which has rotted? If so it sounds like a crown rot/fungas problem.

Remove the dead leaf then try putting Hydrogen Peroxide (use it neat if you buy a 3% solution) in the crown. Unfortunately all this can do is stop the rot, and it may be that the crown is already too damaged.

Crown rot can happen if you leave water in the crown after watering. Fungas is often caused if there is not enough air movement arround the plant (especially if it's humid).

As for watering, it can be confusing because some growing methods keep the media wetter than others... but for a beginner the easiest method to avoid rot is to always alow the media to dry before watering... you should also pick a medium which can dry within about a week (2 weeks at the most). If it does not dry in that time you need to look at changing to a different medium.

[RosieC]

Is it the center leaf which has rotted? If so it sounds like a crown rot/fungas problem.

Remove the dead leaf then try putting Hydrogen Peroxide (use it neat if you buy a 3% solution) in the crown. Unfortunately all this can do is stop the rot, and it may be that the crown is already too damaged.

Crown rot can happen if you leave water in the crown after watering. Fungas is often caused if there is not enough air movement arround the plant (especially if it's humid).

As for watering, it can be confusing because some growing methods keep the media wetter than others... but for a beginner the easiest method to avoid rot is to always alow the media to dry before watering... you should also pick a medium which can dry within about a week (2 weeks at the most). If it does not dry in that time you need to look at changing to a different medium.