The Phal abuse ends here.

[meghan]

Thank you for the reply and help!

I am soaking bark at the moment and plan to hopefully find a clear plastic pot for me to repot in ^^

[GrowingaGreenThumb]

Hi,

I am very new to Orchid care but was just given two beautiful Phalaenopsis plants and would like to treat them well.

I have been reading about moisture and watering and have come across some conflicting information. Some experts say to water once a week liberally,let the plant drain well and mist the leaves once a morning, other websites stress not to let any water come in contact with the leaves and to dry them quickly by using a piece of tissue or a cotton ball if wet, which also implies not to mist). Which method is correct?

Secondly, my main windows are all south facing and get direct sun from 7-11 is this an undesirable location for the plants? The tables they can be placed on are either 1 foot from the windows or 7- 8 feet away? The leaves are a moderately dark green which would imply that they could use more light, but the tips or the leaves are dry and yellow.

Thank you in advance for any assistance.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

This whole, "water once or twice a week liberally," piece of advice should not be taken too literally. They are guidelines. Different micro-environments, different types of pots, different potting media, and different methods of growing, will often dictate the frequency by which you will be watering your orchids. Do not get hung up on these guidelines, they don't take into account a whole lot of specific details you need to take into consideration.

Your main focus should be to replicate, to the best of your ability, an environment that best simulates the natural habitat of where your orchids originally come from in the wild, using whatever tools, materials, and methods you can gain access to in order to get you there.

With most Phals, that happens to be a tropical Asian swamp forest, in which the orchids are usually found growing on the trunks or branches of trees with little to no moss growing on them, that are usually partially submerged in water during the wet/monsoon season - which is usually around spring or summer. These areas are usually fairly humid due to the moisture that comes from the ocean during the drier seasons where there is still rainfall, but less so during the wet/monsoon season, when the rain falls in buckets, and the humidity gets unbearably uncomfortable. The swamp water is being wicked up the trees pretty consistently.

I have provided links to people's blogs and YouTube videos on several occasions in other people's posts recently, as well as in the past. I highly recommend checking those out.

I don't recommend providing humidity for your Phals via spray misting their leaves. The water droplets have a tendency to collect inside the crown and not dry out fast enough before it causes suffocation and death to the cells in the crown area of the plant - particularly when they are usually being grown inside a house. This is especially true of Phals that are being unwittingly grown upright - a growth orientation that is actually very unnatural for Phals. In the wild, they hang perpendicularly or pendulously off of the trees they grow on.

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[GrowingaGreenThumb]

Thank you for your advise!

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

I forgot to mention that even though Phals grow in a tropical Asian swamp forest, there are still significant temperature differences between day and night. There are also seasonal differences in temperature. Do not fall into the trap of believing in the erroneous stereotype that these jungle environments are always blazing hot and steaming places and that the temperature must always be consistent between day and night, all across the seasons. They simply are not, and that is not the case.

If you really want to know, those stereotypes of jungle environments originated around the Victorian era. You can still find traces of these myths surviving to the present day. There are a lot of orchid myths running around, and the more you get into this hobby, the more you'll find that those myths are unfounded, misguided, antiquated, half-truths, or partial/incomplete pieces of information.

While I can give you the temperature range that a Phal grows comfortably in, it will not necessarily provide the true understanding or appreciation for where these plants come from, unless you do your own research on these specific regions.

[hyprgrl79]

I'm trying to discern whether the slight tinge of yellow/purplish brown around the edges of my new phal is a natural response to stress from environmental change (I just brought them home a few days ago) or a response to a lack of light or too much water... orr disease or pestilence related

one of the leaves on the one plant had one small black spot on it that i noticed a couple of days ago.. to be safe, i cut the leaf off with scissors sterilized with rubbing alcohol & applied cinnamon to the cut surface to prevent infection... i am pretty confident the black spot was not any type of fungus as it was harder to the touch rather than soft or mushy ...

right now, on the one plant i am seeing on the underside of the leaves just rimming the edges a slight yellowing ... then taking a closer look at my other orchids, noticed on the other plants a purplish brown edging... it's too soon for me to tell if it's spreading (just noticed it yesterday), but i want to make sure that if it's disease related, i treat it promptly/effectively ... and if it's a natural response to something amiss in the environment, that i make adjustments accordingly...

currently all my phals have fleshy green healthy appearing roots... the two that i just brought home appear otherwise (aside from the slight discoloring on the leaf edges) incredibly robust & healthy... full of buds & blooms... one of my older phals just went out of bloom phase and another is still loaded heavy with blooms & buds... the other two i have are both in the process of putting out new baby leaves... so by all indications my original four are very content... and i would very much like to keep it that way...

please let me know if you can help me figure this out Thanks!!

[Im Just Saying]

I'm not sure about yellowing along the edge of the underside of a leaf hopefully someone with more experience can help you with that. However in the case of the purplish edging if your blooms have red or purple coloring in them you will sometimes also see that along the edges of the leaves. I also believe that too much light can cause a purple tint to the leaves but I believe that is on the top of the leaf. I'm sure that someone more knowledgeable will correct me if I'm wrong though Hope that helps!

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Originally Posted by hyprgrl79

I'm trying to discern whether the slight tinge of yellow/purplish brown around the edges of my new phal is a natural response to stress from environmental change (I just brought them home a few days ago) or a response to a lack of light or too much water... orr disease or pestilence related

one of the leaves on the one plant had one small black spot on it that i noticed a couple of days ago.. to be safe, i cut the leaf off with scissors sterilized with rubbing alcohol & applied cinnamon to the cut surface to prevent infection... i am pretty confident the black spot was not any type of fungus as it was harder to the touch rather than soft or mushy ...

right now, on the one plant i am seeing on the underside of the leaves just rimming the edges a slight yellowing ... then taking a closer look at my other orchids, noticed on the other plants a purplish brown edging... it's too soon for me to tell if it's spreading (just noticed it yesterday), but i want to make sure that if it's disease related, i treat it promptly/effectively ... and if it's a natural response to something amiss in the environment, that i make adjustments accordingly...

currently all my phals have fleshy green healthy appearing roots... the two that i just brought home appear otherwise (aside from the slight discoloring on the leaf edges) incredibly robust & healthy... full of buds & blooms... one of my older phals just went out of bloom phase and another is still loaded heavy with blooms & buds... the other two i have are both in the process of putting out new baby leaves... so by all indications my original four are very content... and i would very much like to keep it that way...

please let me know if you can help me figure this out Thanks!!

Pics please.

[hyprgrl79]

just took pictures of the underside purplish/brown edging & the yellow tinge on the edges of the leaves... the leaf appears overall more yellow green than green (as it was when i brought it home), so i'm thinking that means it's getting too much light?? yes, no?? thank you in advance for your help!!!

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

It is getting a little too much light. Not enough to get sunburned. That is where the yellowing tips come from. It is easily remedied.

Otherwise, that is very close to the ideal shade of green. For the most part it is getting an adequate amount of light, just take it back a tiny bit.

On the flip side, if the green is very dark or olive colored, it is most likely not getting enough light.

The light colored edging on the top side of the leaves may be a sign of leaf variegation (in the case of Phals, it is a recessive trait). Nothing to worry about.

The underside shows signs of anthocyanin pigmentation around the edges. Nothing to worry about.

I see no signs bacterial, fungal, or viral infection.

I see no signs of sunburn.