Phal with floppy, shriveled leaves...again

[bballr4567]

I agree with silken on this one.

Mist the leaves, keep airflow good and stop repotting it! lol

[The Mutant]

Originally Posted by silken

It's possibly not liking the multiple re-pots. I know Phals are pretty good for being re-potted in bloom and whatnot but maybe twice in a few months was more than it wanted. If there are any surface roots you could mist those to help it get some moisture while it settles in.

The only reason I re-potted it now again was because I had to take it out of the pot to check its roots and because I thought its condition could be due to the roots maybe not getting enough air, otherwise I wouldn't (I HATE potting/re-potting the mini Phals, it's so dang hard to get it properly done since the pot and roots are smaller as compared to more normal sized Phals, but the pieces of bark are the same size). It doesn't have any surface roots that I can mist.

Since I don't know why it's in the condition it is (lack of water, or too much), I'll just wait and watch for any sign of either improvement or deterioration.

[silken]

I hear ya, when they go down hill it's good to check roots. Do you use a kebab skewer in the pot? I leave one in and then it is as wet or dry as the bark and a very good indicator. If it is bone dry every two days, you likely need to water more often till the new bark starts absorbing more water. If it is still wet after a week, don't water, even if normally you do water every week. It's an almost foolproof watering tool for me.

[Wynn Dee13]

It's probably has to do with all the transitions the plant has gone through. Like the shipping to the store, the terrible care stores give the plants, the different environments it has had to go through, the repotting, and the range in care it has gone through between it's original home to yours. It might just need to get used to its new environment and care. If it doesn't get better I would cut the spike. It takes a lot of energy for it to bloom so you might want to make it put its energy into recovering than blooming. Phals can be known to bloom themselves to death. Good luck and keep us posted on how it does.

[The Mutant]

Originally Posted by silken

I hear ya, when they go down hill it's good to check roots. Do you use a kebab skewer in the pot? I leave one in and then it is as wet or dry as the bark and a very good indicator. If it is bone dry every two days, you likely need to water more often till the new bark starts absorbing more water. If it is still wet after a week, don't water, even if normally you do water every week. It's an almost foolproof watering tool for me.

I use the skewer method on the larger pots and on my Paphs. This guy is in a 2.5" pot so it would be kind of tight with a skewer in the pot together with roots, stake, and medium...

So far I've used the "check for moisture on the inside of the pot" method on my smaller potted Phals and it seems to work fine on all except this one. I really don't know why it looks so sad, but I'll try to keep it a bit drier for a while and see if it helps.

Originally Posted by Wynn Dee13

It's probably has to do with all the transitions the plant has gone through. Like the shipping to the store, the terrible care stores give the plants, the different environments it has had to go through, the repotting, and the range in care it has gone through between it's original home to yours. It might just need to get used to its new environment and care. If it doesn't get better I would cut the spike. It takes a lot of energy for it to bloom so you might want to make it put its energy into recovering than blooming. Phals can be known to bloom themselves to death. Good luck and keep us posted on how it does.

Interesting to note is that this guy was the one in the best shape of the four mini Phals I purchased at the same time and at the same store. The one that was in the worst shape (with practically no roots left) has started to perk up and do a bit of growing now. The thing in common with the other three is that I've cut their spikes, I think it could have a lot to do with their different conditions. As a matter of fact, I'm wondering if this guys condition hasn't grown worse since its spike started growing again? I'll let it keep it for a while longer, but I'm very tempted to cut it.

I'll keep you updated how it goes!

[Becky15349]

oh shoot, sorry guys! still getting used to this app im using to read the forum posts guess i missed a few!! duh!! well good luck with the phals anyways haha...

[james mickelso]

Pictures of the roots!!! Pictures of the roots please !!!!! They tell more of the story than pictures of leaves. Phals like it warm, windy, and humid. Not wet. Just humid. You don't need to water the heck out of them. Water them once, and then let them dry out. Not desicate them, but just dry out. And most orchids wnat to be potted once, and then be left alone to get used to the new environment. If it is dry in your house, just get one of those plastic trays that go with the plastic pots, about a 5 inch diameter tray, fill it with gravel or even sand, fill it with water to the top, and place your potted orchid on that. Don't fill it so the bottom of the pot is emersed. Just below that point. Or you can mist it daily or so. Especially the underside of the leaves where the stoma are located.

[jai_star]

I think its really to over and unerwater with Phals, they like to be watered when approaching dryness but not total I over watered a Phal last year thinking once a week was needed turns out when i repoted a lot of the roots had gone mushy so i had to mount it. I'm very wary of overwatering with Phals now have you tried the bamboo skewer trick?

[The Mutant]

Originally Posted by james mickelso

Pictures of the roots!!! Pictures of the roots please !!!!! They tell more of the story than pictures of leaves. Phals like it warm, windy, and humid. Not wet. Just humid. You don't need to water the heck out of them. Water them once, and then let them dry out. Not desicate them, but just dry out. And most orchids wnat to be potted once, and then be left alone to get used to the new environment. If it is dry in your house, just get one of those plastic trays that go with the plastic pots, about a 5 inch diameter tray, fill it with gravel or even sand, fill it with water to the top, and place your potted orchid on that. Don't fill it so the bottom of the pot is emersed. Just below that point. Or you can mist it daily or so. Especially the underside of the leaves where the stoma are located.

I REALLY don't want to take it out of the pot again since I have disturbed it so much already. If I can just remove a bit of the medium and take a picture of the root system I'll do that, otherwise you'll just have to take my word for it when I say it has a nice looking root system.

I know I should've taken a picture of the roots while I was re-potting it, but unfortunately my brain wasn't with me that day.

I don't let the humidity drop below 50% in my growing area (pfff... "growing area" it's my windowsill and nothing else ) and the only plants I have on humidity trays are my Paphs. For my other 20-something Phals, the humidity seems to be okay. I don't know, maybe this guy is more sensitive.

Originally Posted by jai_star

I think its really to over and unerwater with Phals, they like to be watered when approaching dryness but not total I over watered a Phal last year thinking once a week was needed turns out when i repoted a lot of the roots had gone mushy so i had to mount it. I'm very wary of overwatering with Phals now have you tried the bamboo skewer trick?

As I wrote in a previous post, the pot is so small, 2.5" that I don't think I can squeeze a skewer down into the medium without hurting anything.

[bballr4567]

The skewer is going to be the size of a root so it'll be easy to get it in there. What I normally do is just kind of lift it out of the pot a little and slide it in there. It really is the best way to check how you good you are at watering the little guy.


I have one mini that I water every other day and one that takes 5 days. There is no difference in the potting material or pot at all.