When to mist, how to clean leaves

[EkkieMom]

Hello,
I have four phals, they are all on a table facing west. Since I am in northern CA (Sacramento) it gets pretty hot here but I have a shade I pull down in the afternoon.

I never misted them because for some reason I thought it would harm the leaves. I will start to mist after reading this forum. Is it a light mist or enoug so I see the leaves are wet?

The leaves are a little dusty, how can I clean them? Water and paper towel?

Thank you,
Robin

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Misting a Phal is usually not recommended. It will eventually cause problems with something called crown rot if you don't dry out the crown, and if you keep trying to prop the Phal upright.

You can clean the dusty leaves by wiping with a wet paper towel. So yes, water and paper towel.

There is also a leaf shine product, and that works just as well on the leaves.

I also recommend reading this sticky from beginning to end:

http://www.orchidboard.com/community...ends-here.html

	Mistking Looking for a misting system? Look no further. Automated misting systems from MistKing are used by multitude of plant enthusiasts and are perfect for Orchids. Systems feature run dry pumps, ZipDrip valve, adjustable black nozzles, per second control! Automatically mist one growing shelf or a greenhouse full of Orchids. See MistKing testimonials

[EkkieMom]

Thank you. The Sticky is very informative and I will not mist.

[james mickelso]

A little info here. If you mist any orchid, the place to mist them is the underside of the leaf. That is where the stomata are located. Those are the pores of the leaves where gasses are exchanged. Their lungs. Misting the undersides of the leaves helps keep the plant cool and hydrated. Misting the tops doesn't really do anything other than slightly raise the humidity just around the local leaf surface and that effect is very short lived. But mist the undersides and the benefits are quite good. Mist until dripping. Crown rot is usually dangerous to the phal when it is cool and humid. The water that gets in usually dries fairly quickly if it is warm. But it is something to always be onguard about when watering phals. Why take a chance?

	Mistking Looking for a misting system? Look no further. Automated misting systems from MistKing are used by multitude of plant enthusiasts and are perfect for Orchids. Systems feature run dry pumps, ZipDrip valve, adjustable black nozzles, per second control! Automatically mist one growing shelf or a greenhouse full of Orchids. See MistKing testimonials

[RosieC]

I only mist the arial roots on phals and avoid i on the leaves. Too difficult to get the undersides without accidentally getting some in the crown, but easy enough to get the roots and sometimes catch the underside of the leaves and not worry.