Black spot with yellowing

[flhiker]

Hi all, I have another Phal with a problem. I seem to have problems with Phals only. From what I have read here is it could be water laying on the leaves or sunburn. The electric company had people come out and trim the Oak tree they are hanging in and is allowing more sunlight in. The spots have just appeared almost overnight. I have moved the plant to a more shady spot, just in case it is sunburn! Any help will be appreciated.

[slipperfreak]

Looks like sunburn to me.

[khill]

It looks like sunburn to me too.

I'm certainly no expert, but in the short time I have been growing, I have sunburned my share. It can happen very quickly in Florida.

A local orchid grower told me to only move the plant about a foot at a time for a week or so at each interval toward more light. I think that is good advice.

[Ross]

I'd bet sunburn. Even at our latitude (45 degrees) full sun is way too much for phals. Only takes a few hours or less to do the damage. As a comparrison, I have an encyclia (which can take extremes of light normally) that I left in full sun while I was in the Keys this spring. The leaves turned all purple and looked like they were gonna fall off. After several months in south window behind window screen (maybe 2500 Foot-candles) they have perked up and started turning green again. I doubt a Phal could have taken that at all. The bright side though, if this is sunburn as we all suspect, the only damage will be the yello areas which will look gross for a while. It won't kill the plant. It might progress a little depending on how much of the leaves were, in fact, damaged. New leaves should be fine and should adjust to the new lighting. Don't do anything drastic like overwatering. The only damage would be the sunburn spots which will forever live with those particular leaves - they won't spread like fungus. It's not rot, so no need to cut anything. Hope I'm right and hope this helps.

[flhiker]

Thanks everyone, lesson learned.