Was this caused by cold?

[Wrebbitrocks]

hi again

it must get pretty annoying to have to answer beginner questions all the time. im sorry. im trying as much as i can to not be a beginner anymore

however, i do have a problum. a couple of my phals have large white soft areas on them. theyre not spreading. theyre just large white areas that feel like play-dough and showed up a couple nights ago when it got into the low 50's. they dont seem to be rotting (yet) but they are dead. should i cut them off?

a few other questions.

1.) i have seen in the past orchids with 3 lips, orchids with siamese-twin flowers, and orchids with smaller plants coming out of their side but i have NEVER seen an orchid like the phal in picture 3. it has THREE new leaves coming out of the crown. two fat one skinny. idk what to do about it? will this be a problem in the future? will these leaves get stuck there and just die against eachother? what is the cause behind it?

2.) when i first got some of my psychopsis and cattleya seedlings they looked all bright and fresh green like picture 4. but now after growing them with the adult cattleyas in 2000+fc light theyre getting a reddish-purple cast which i have red comes from excessive light. but will they burn? should i put them with the intermediate light oncidiums instead?

3.) and lastly, i woke up yesterday morning to find one of my favourite kaleidoscope phals torn up by my parents' little annoying dogs. i was ticked off and smacked them both in the rump with a tube of newspaper and scolded them with their noses shoved in the remains of the plant. after looking closer i noticed what seemed like a growth eye and decided not to throw it away in case theres hope it could regrow. do you think this phal could send up a keiki from its base since it has nice roots.

again sorry for all the questions but id rather have the experts' help then lose plants that couldve been saved.

[BikerDoc5968]

The third pic looks like it should make it but it will take some time before full leaves regrow. The last pic ???? If you have the space to just keep it and see what happens, great. As for the first two pics... sure looks like sunburn to me. Cold damage looks more like what you showed on another thread where the cells of the leaves were sunken in.

[Orchid126]

Did the plants get wet? Cold and wet is worse than cold and dry.

[BobInBonita]

For what it's worth, The first picture definately looks like sunburn. If you forget a phal in direct sun, it will bleach almost white within hours. With not quite that much light you get the very faded appearance that you have. Don't ask me how I know.

[Wrebbitrocks]

@biker, bob: thanks for that. i wouldntve guessed sun because i burned my entire collection once and saw the way the cooked. but now that i think about it, i put them outside immediately without a transition period so maybe they werent used to the light. the seem fine now because theyre growing new leaves. and at 126, they werent wet. im VERY wary of that because i know what happens with cold and wet

[Junebug]

Hello again. Here's my 2 cents for what it's worth.

First and second pics do indeed look like sun damage. You also mentioned exposure to lower temperatures, so the damage could be related to both. I would not remove the leaves unless they develop signs of black rot. A phal will generally let go of damaged leaves when it's ready. Under normal circumstances they will gradually yellow, shrivel, and then drop off. If you prematurely cut them you'll risk the introduction of bacteria and fungus. It's usually better to let leaves die and drop on their own. Also, the first plant has a lot of damage so expect to loose multiple leaves. In the future it might produce a basal keiki as a survival mechanism.

The second phal might not loose the damaged leaf, however the cosmetic damage is permanent.

Not sure what's going on with the 3rd phal. I'm guessing the plant was shocked when the two leaves were removed. Perhaps the plant is trying to rapidly replace them or...and this is just a guess... it might be developing a terminal spike...something I have little knowledge of.

The young cattleyas and psychopsis probably are receiving too much sunlight. They're still rather young and tender, so I would back down their sun exposure to oncidium level or even a little less.

Your doggy damaged phal will likely develop a basal keiki if there's at least one viable leaf with healthy roots. Junebug is prescribing lots of TLC and patience for this one.