Phalaenopsis under fluorescent lamps

[Phal grower]

Hi, I was wondering if anyone could help me. I have some green leaved and some mottled leaved Phals under two forty watt grow lights next to a shaded west window. My green leaved plants are putting out large healthy leaves but my mottled leaved ones were putting out leaves smaller than I wanted. I decided to put them closer to the lights and now the leaves are coming out even smaller. Any ideas would help. Thankyou.

[RosieC]

It might seem odd, but the more light they get the less leaf area they need or want.

I've seen this most noticeably with Masdies, but I'm sure the same is true of others.

Different Phals need different amounts of light and it's possible these ones need less light than your others. It's difficult to know for sure if they don't have an ID, but that's what it sounds like to me.

Basically bigger leaves absorb more light, so in high light they are getting so much they only need a small leaf area to absorb as much as they need. In lower light they need to try and absorb more so they may grow bigger leaves.

Of course plenty of other things affect leaf size as well (like health of the roots), but from what you have said I would suspect that trying them in lower light might be the answer. Phals generally don't need too much light and these might be ones that need even less.