Blue Orchid losing leaves

[maxie]

Good Evening,
Hope all is well and you enjoy the long week-end.

I have had several orchids years ago and at one time very successful growing them. I would adopt my friend's orchids because they lose their flowers and she would leave them outside to die.

I have lost my magic and need help. My Blue Orchid, Phalaenopsis has over a dozen elegant flowers but it is losing its leaves. I have lost 4 leaves in the past 4 weeks. Help



Thanks

[MattWoelfsen]

Without a picture, I would guess you need to check the plant's roots. Sometimes, plants cast off leaves when it cannot support those leaves with comparable healthy roots. Flowering plants sometimes sacrifice their leaves in order to maintain blooms--that's survivor mode. It could also be crown rot--if you water the plant close to dark fall or allow water to remain on the crown, this sometimes causes rotting which results in leaves falling off the plant. I hope this helps you diagnose the problem with your plant!

[maxie]

Hello,

Thanks so much for your quick reply. There is not a great of space between the bottom leaves and the potting mixture so watering maybe the issue. I hope the cases you sited are what is happening.

Can the orchid survive if all its leaves fall off but there are blooms are still plentiful and healthy? I am working on getting a photo posted.

Thanks again!
Maxie

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

1. Check the roots, as mentioned. Heavy root damage can force the leaves to drop.

2. Remove the spike with a sterilized pair of cutters. The plant is wasting precious energy it could use for recovery by using that energy for reproduction.

3. Please post a pic so we can see what's going on. A post with a pic will get a far faster and more accurate response to the problem than a post that's asking how to solve a problem but it doesn't have a photo.

4. It is crown rot. But crown rot is usually not a cause of the problem, it is usually a symptom of the cause to the problem.

5. Yes, a leafless Phal is still alive as long as it has enough living/healthy roots to support a little piece of tissue in the center of the root mass called a meristem.

6. Please read the sticky: http://www.orchidboard.com/community...ends-here.html from the very beginning.

7. Sorry to break it to you, but I'd rather tell you the truth about this instead of having you believe in something that's not true at all...

There is currently no known Phalaenopsis that is naturally true blue. The flowers are the result of people dying them blue.

[shaelyn]

you have 5 posts, you should be able to post pics now.

[jesscorine]

Originally Posted by King_of_orchid_growing:)

There is currently no known Phalaenopsis that is naturally true blue. The flowers are the result of people dying them blue.

^^yeah that, if you read (past tense) the tag, it says at the very bottom that any future blooms will be white they look so fake now that I know they're dyed...