Nice blooms, bad leaves! - Orchid Board

jen.kirsten · #1 10-30-2012, 10:56 PM

Well, I got home today and noticed the leaves on my Phal are looking pretty pathetic. I've never had orchids before so is it strange to have such droopy leaves and such nice blooms...along with two new buds? This was watered/fertilized on Sunday and this corner of the house gets nice and warm during the day, the plant sits on a humidity tray and gets filtered sunlight through the window blinds.

sithwitch · #2 10-30-2012, 11:24 PM

Those leaves look fine to me. Phals usually hang, crown down, from tree trunks or branches in the wild, so droopy leaves are quite normal.

In pots, a new leaf will grow up, then usually starts to angle towards the light and finally droop under its own weight naturally for the bigger phalaenopsis. A smaller species phal I own has thinner, narrower leaves and those grow upwards for now. So long as the leaves are firm, not wrinkly or spotty, they're usually fine

Of course, if the leaves were more perky yesterday and suddenly ended up floppy, then that's another matter that might have several different causes. And one that would need a more experienced person.

But your plant looks like one of mine, and it's been blooming faithfully for me every year, just expect it to grow leaning in the window's direction over time

jen.kirsten · #3 10-31-2012, 12:06 AM

Thank you! The leaves are not spotty or wrinkled so I guess everything is okay!

WhiteRabbit · #4 10-31-2012, 09:01 PM

I would check the roots

jen.kirsten · #5 11-01-2012, 03:33 AM

This Phal had horrible root damage. When I brought it home, it was packed very tightly in water-logged moss. I decided to re-pot it and upon taking it out of the moss I noticed that most of the roots were yellow and all tangled together. I tried to gently untangle them after I had carefully removed the moss and the yellowed roots began to fall into my hands. Completely rotted away. All said and done it had about 3-4 healthy green roots left. I've been checking the moisture of the bark daily and watering appropriately for a plant with so few roots. I'm assuming it's just very stressed from the re-potting and the significant root damage.