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06-26-2011, 07:31 PM
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Senior Member
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Join Date: Jun 2011
Zone: 5a
Location: Nebraska, USA
Posts: 303
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Help! More light, smaller leaves?
Hi. Some of my Phals were growing smaller leaves than I liked. I grow under fluorescents with some natural light so I figured I would move them closer to the lights. Now the new leaves are even smaller. To much light? Any ideas would help. Thankyou.
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06-26-2011, 07:49 PM
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Join Date: Apr 2007
Zone: 10a
Location: Melbourne, Florida
Age: 67
Posts: 2,183
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Hmmm. Sounds odd. Have you checked the health of your roots lately? Sometimes root rot will result in dwarfed leaves. My phals receive quite a bit of sunlight (more than you'd think was safe) and they're leaves are large and healthy. Please note: my phals were gradually transitioned to brighter sunlit conditions.
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06-26-2011, 08:52 PM
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Join Date: Jun 2011
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Location: Nebraska, USA
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Thanks for the reply. The roots are doing fine, recently repotted and growing well. I did put them from about 10in. to 3in. under the lights without a gradual transition. Wonder if that could be the problem? Would they be shocked by the sudden increase in fluorescent light?
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06-26-2011, 10:17 PM
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Join Date: May 2005
Location: Oak Island NC
Posts: 15,204
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I suppose there could be some logic there - stronger light exposure might suggest the plant would need less chlorophyll to produce sufficient energy, and I know it is possible to grow them too bright, causing them to do poorly, but I've not seen smaller leaves.
On the other hand, I have seen such resulting from nutrition issues n
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06-27-2011, 07:15 AM
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Join Date: Jul 2008
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Location: West Midlands, UK
Age: 49
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I know this happens with my Masdies and one of the nurseries confirmed they believe higher light can produce smaller leaves in Masdies (in fact I didn't even need to say I suspected the light, I just said they were growing more compact leaves then the ones when I bought them and the guy said "High Light" straight away).
I'm not talking about Phals, I know. But I think the principle could be the same. As Ray says, I believe they are getting enough energy from the smaller leaves so don't growth them any bigger.
However it could also be roots/nutrition so I would definitely check the roots. My Masdies are growing masses and masses of leaves and flowering well so I don't think that is a problem in my case, but definitely worth checking in yours.
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06-27-2011, 07:44 AM
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Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Espaņa
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Moving the plants towards the light surely will have changed the humidity an the temps. The tree factors together give smaller leaver, usually stronger and thicker.
Fer
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06-27-2011, 08:23 AM
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Join Date: Sep 2006
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Location: Riverviw, Florida
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I don't grow orchids under lights There are experts, here). I do grow gesneriads and begonias. When I went to high output. They seemed to have dried out overnight. I added domes to everything. It took them about a week or so to adjust to the higher light. The added humidity helped.
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06-27-2011, 07:51 PM
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Join Date: Jun 2011
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Location: Nebraska, USA
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Thankyou all for the comments.
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