Help on Phalaenopsis with wilted leaves

[hoalan]

I'm new and grateful to have found this forum. I hope someone can give me advice on my phala. I have 3. One of them all the leaves are wilted, still green. I looked at the roots. No rotting. It looks like the roots are healthy. The body of the plant has spot on it too. Here are some pictures. How do I bring back the leaves?

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Have you ever seen pics of Phals in the wild?

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2509/...bc4976e2c0.jpg

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Your plant is not wilted.

The Phal is also growing a new root.

If you're growing that plant in full Sphagnum moss, I recommend taking the plant out of the pot and checking the roots.

The pot might also be too big. Make sure the roots only have a little bit of room to fit in the pot.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

If those are old pics, you gotta post new ones. If I remember correctly, you said the leaves were yellowing. I don't see any yellowing leaves in the pics.

[prc11]

I would recommend checking the roots like Philip said. I would also pot it in either a smaller pot or in bark. There is a new root so this plant can be rejuvenated very easily. Good luck.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

That spotting is anthocyanin pigmentation.

[hoalan]

Thanks for your advice. The pictures are from today. The leaves are not yellow. They are wilted because it lacks luster and the leaves are not plump and shiny like it used to be. I added 2 more pictures of the plant. I think it needs a good medium (bark/sphagum etc) but can I get them from Loews or Home Depot?

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

You might be able to get a hold of the bark more easily from The Home Depot and places of the such, than you'd be able to obtain a quality Sphagnum moss.

Without knowing how the roots on the inside of the pot look, I can't say anything further.

It could be just a simple case of it needing more water. It might not.

Maybe if you can answer the following questions, it'd shed more light on the problem.

How often are you watering?

What is the humidity?

What do the roots inside the pot look like? You cannot say that the roots are okay just by looking at the roots outside of the pot. Those are only part of the root system. You need to look at the entire root system to truly assess whether the roots are fine.

How long have you had the plant for?

What are the temperatures (day/night, seasonal)?

What are some of your cultural habits (aka what are you doing to grow this plant)?

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Here're my ...

As a grower, I have to check my plants quite often to see if they're okay.

If I see a problem with a plant, there are times when I will take the plant out of its pot to see if the roots are really okay, whether I want to or not.

In fact, I just did that a few days ago, with plants that are more sensitive to grow than Phals - namely the orchid Stenia calceolaris.

I may even have to such a thing today, with another plant. That's just how things are.

[hoalan]

Well...I haven't been very good about caring for it because I didn't know much. They were my friend's plants that he overwatered them until August/Sept then I took over to take are of them. I watered them once a week during the Winter. Room temp 60-65 F, don't know humidity(probably dry), indirect sunlight by window. It has been doing well since I took over and it grew leaves etc but recently I think since it's in its growth phase out of Winter, I need to water a little more. I also do the mix of Miracle-Grow mix in water to water twice a month.
The root system is green no rot but has only 6-9 roots. I had to clip the bad roots back in Sept. There's no sphyg moss around the roots at all. I don't think there's enough bark/medium/nutrients to support it during this growth phase. I will visit Home Depot tomorrow. I'm excited, this is a great hobby to have.