Should I be concerned?

[mattryan]

everyone I have a short question. I was watering my orchids phals, and noticed some of them are developing a lime grn colouring around the edge of the leaf, some are new leaves from last yr's growth and others are older. Only about 5-6 of them have this and there is no root problem, am I giving them too much light or is something else going on that I should worry about? Thanks!

[RosieC]

I'm not certain. I've noticed one with something similar but more clearly defined on mine. I was worried about it being a virus and have quarantined my plant. I was planning to ask here but have not had chance yet.

Hope someone can answer to know if we should be worried or not.

[camille1585]

I've had that on some phals as well. Last year I recieved a keiki from someone and it has a clear lime margin on the top leaf. New leaves have since grown, but without the margin. I do remember reading somewhere that such a margin can be due to calcium deficiency. If your water is soft and your fertilizer doesn't contain any calcium, that may be a reason. But don't take my word for it!

[Ray]

I would pin it on a nutritional issue, and Camille might be right on. Ontario's ground water supply is usually quite pure (<50 ppm TDS), so you might consider using a fertilizer designed for RO water.

[RosieC]

Hmm, that makes me feel better about mine, although I have quite hard water here so not sure if calcium could be the deficiency for me

[mattryan]

Thankyou for the responses, I looked at all my fert and not any of them have calcium listed. Is there anything that I can add besides fert (because can't find any) that will give my phals the calcium that they may be lacking? Would epsom salts help? Not all my phals have this lime ring just a few of them. I have been fertizing them reg with orchid fert and a high nit fert (only over spring/summer mos for high nit reg fert rest of the yr). Thanks for the help