phalaenopsis yellow leave and mushy stem! help! - Orchid Board

spiffyangel · #1 09-09-2012, 01:57 PM

I don't know what I did wrong. I have several orchids. 3 paphs. and several phals. This particular one is my favorite. I got it from lowes and it was almost dead. It came around rather quickly after I repotted in orchid bark and sphagnum moss. I have had it for about 4 months. It did not have a tag but the closest match I could find was phal. brother pepride. within one week the leaves are yellowing and falling off of the crown and the stem has turned to mush. Prior to this the leaves were very firm and looked beautiful. Anyone have any advice??

WhiteRabbit · #2 09-09-2012, 10:50 PM

I'm afraid that sounds like crown rot, and probably not much to be done for it at this point, except hope for a basal keiki down the road a bit

RosieC · #3 09-10-2012, 05:30 AM

It does look to me like crown rot, and if not crown rot it does look from the pictures like the crown is dying as all the leaves are yellowing from the centre.

A likely cause of this is leaving water sitting in the crown. Phals grow more sideways in nature so water can run out, that doesn't happen when potted upright and they don't like the water sitting there.

I've also had them look similar when root rot has got so bad the whole plant has started to go yellow from the centre like that.

Unfortunately I don't think you will save this one. If all the leaves fall away but the roots look healthy then you can try caring for the roots and hope for a basil keiki as Sonya suggests.

Don't give up on orchids though... treat this as a learning experience and try again. We all kill them at times!

spiffyangel · #4 09-10-2012, 11:16 AM

I don't know how it happened though. I have read about crown rot. I don't let water get on the crown. When I potted the this orchid it had a very healthy root system and when I took it out yesterday they were all mushy. I don't know what I'm doing wrong. Most of my orchids have very little roots.

cbuchman · #5 09-10-2012, 11:22 AM

The most common reason for mushy roots is over watering, and its really easy to do.

Some ways I keep myself from over watering is to use clay pots or clear plastic ones so I can see the roots. I also wiggle my finger into the medium a little bit before deciding to water and I have learned the hard way - if you're not sure if water is needed, wait another day. There is also the weight of the pot, if it is "heavy" don't water. For clay pots, if the pot feels cools, it is still wet inside (evaporation cools the pot).

So, don't give up and do try again

Every plant (success or failure) is a learning experience.

RosieC · #6 09-10-2012, 11:43 AM

I think it's come up from the roots if you are careful about the crown then. It might not be anything you've done wrong though.

I have 20+ phals growing well, but still some of these rescues seem OK for about 4-5 months then suddenly go downhill with mushy roots and yellowing leaves.

It might be if the roots are mushy that you've not let the moss dry enough in the centre. Does the pot have holes in the bottom (several that can let the air in are good). You can use a wooden skewer to push into the pot, leave for a bit then pull out, if it's damp (cold on your cheek or back of your hand) then it's still wet and should not be watered yet. It's best if the moss dries within about 7 days, too much longer and it could be a sign there is not enough air around the roots (which will cause them to rot).

However as I said above, sometimes rescues are already having root problems that it's very difficult to recover from long term, I've had this happen a lot with rescues, and I've experimented with all sorts of ways of getting them back to good health with only limited success.

Mervin · #7 09-10-2012, 11:55 AM

Agree with all that has bee said.

Don't lose heart and try again.

Good luck

naoki · #8 09-10-2012, 02:20 PM

I think Rosie gave you good advice. It looks like you have lots of sphag in your mix. Sphag is great for experienced growers, but it could be difficult at first. You might want to increase the proportion of bark. I'm not sure where you are located, but how freq. do you water?

The crown rot looks quite advanced, but you might want to spray bactericide. You could carefully open up the crown, and if inside is rotten, you can scrape it with tooth pick, and spray. Physan-20 worked for me (and the plant recovered). Or if you don't have it, you can try humidifier bactericide. See:

http://www.orchidboard.com/community...ubstitute.html