Phal leaves yellowing? - Orchid Board

butterfly_muse · #1 07-14-2013, 11:55 AM

Morning, everyone.

I have a phal that is yellowing its leaves and I can't figure out why. The very bottom one yellowed and came off, which is normal, so I didn't think anything of it.

But now the second one up is yellowing in the middle. The roots are strong and there are many of them. I repotted a few days ago into a sphag/bark mix, as solely bark was drying out way too fast with the a/c running and the hot days that have crept up on us.

The phal is in front of a west facing window, which has its blinds down all day. There is an a/c vent next to the book case it's sitting on but it's not near the edge, it's on the other side of the book case from it...still, the air is cool (generally around 70-75 by the a/c vent) and circulates, so I'm not sure what's wrong.

I water about once a week and fertilize every 2. What am I doing wrong? Is it getting too much sun? They used to be in a shaded south window at our old place and were happy. Ever since we moved they have been not happy.

Should I maybe move them away from the window? As an experiment, I moved one of my phals to a bookshelf about 3-4 feet away from the window hoping maybe that would help. I am really lost as to what to do.

butterfly_muse · #2 07-14-2013, 06:34 PM

Anybody??

james mickelso · #3 07-14-2013, 06:41 PM

Hello muse, This looks a little too dry. I know the media is new but the plant looks dry. You might be able to water twice a week especially with AC running. The color of the leaves is about what they should be other than the yellowing. When orchids get repotted no matter how careful we are there is some minor damage and the media isn't the same. It's not mycohzial (?) fungi which changed but just the micro environment which changed and this may have a slightly deleterious effect on the plant until it re-establishes. Just wait and see how it reacts.

butterfly_muse · #4 07-14-2013, 06:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by james mickelso

Hello muse, This looks a little too dry. I know the media is new but the plant looks dry. You might be able to water twice a week especially with AC running. The color of the leaves is about what they should be other than the yellowing. When orchids get repotted no matter how careful we are there is some minor damage and the media isn't the same. It's not mycohzial (?) fungi which changed but just the micro environment which changed and this may have a slightly deleterious effect on the plant until it re-establishes. Just wait and see how it reacts.

I will try. Mostly I'm just concerned because this is exactly how the loss of the other leaf started out. =\ I picked them up today and they're still slightly heavy and the skewers in them are still slightly moist. I guess I could run a little bit of water through it, though.

james mickelso · #5 07-14-2013, 06:53 PM

Muse, if there is no water condensing on the inside of this clear pot then I would say it is dry. My clear pots have moisture inside the pot until it becomes dry and then I water. Also are you using good water on it? Bottled or tap that is low in dissolved solids? And it cpould be that the plant only has enough root mass to support a certain number of leaves and so tosses one away. That is usually what those leaves look like. The plant switches from supporting the leaf to drawing out it's reserves of starches and sugars. The leaf stops photosynthesizing and turns yellow.

butterfly_muse · #6 07-14-2013, 07:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by james mickelso

Muse, if there is no water condensing on the inside of this clear pot then I would say it is dry. My clear pots have moisture inside the pot until it becomes dry and then I water. Also are you using good water on it? Bottled or tap that is low in dissolved solids? And it cpould be that the plant only has enough root mass to support a certain number of leaves and so tosses one away. That is usually what those leaves look like. The plant switches from supporting the leaf to drawing out it's reserves of starches and sugars. The leaf stops photosynthesizing and turns yellow.

I am using tap water, but we've got a filter on the faucet. I can switch over to distilled if I need to, I just feel like it's wasteful to buy a bunch of gallons to pour through the plant until it's nice and wet. =\ That said, distilled is pretty cheap, so it's not like it would be too horrible.

It has gotten hotter here quite rapidly, though, and with the a/c running I can see that it'd be too hot. I will try to start watering them 2x/week and see if that helps. Only 2 of my guys had condensation inside their pots, and those were the ones in my kitchen (which is far, far away from any air vent).

Also, it already ditched one leaf...so would it ditch another if it didn't have enough roots for them? And if so, why is it growing a baby leaf? (And why do all my new baby leaves - with the exception of my mini phals - end up splitting??)

james mickelso · #7 07-14-2013, 08:20 PM

I've seen the splitting before and other than genetics don't have an answer. The baby leaf is not as much a drain on the root system as a mature older leaf. I have a theory and it is just that with no solid facts to back it up. Phals usually grow then go dormant. When coming out of dormancy they need moisture and starches/sugars. Leaves are where they store them. I've noticed that my phals sometimes throw a leaf as it gets ready to push a flower spike. Only a theory. I've seen phals with 10eaves and seen some with one. But the majority I've seen growing happily have around 4. Must be a reason. Aside from root issues yellowing leaves are just losing their photosynthesizing ability as their energy is drained.

butterfly_muse · #8 07-14-2013, 08:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by james mickelso

I've seen the splitting before and other than genetics don't have an answer. The baby leaf is not as much a drain on the root system as a mature older leaf. I have a theory and it is just that with no solid facts to back it up. Phals usually grow then go dormant. When coming out of dormancy they need moisture and starches/sugars. Leaves are where they store them. I've noticed that my phals sometimes throw a leaf as it gets ready to push a flower spike. Only a theory. I've seen phals with 10eaves and seen some with one. But the majority I've seen growing happily have around 4. Must be a reason. Aside from root issues yellowing leaves are just losing their photosynthesizing ability as their energy is drained.

Is there some other reason, like a disease or bug, that could be causing it to do that? It will have 4 leaves with the baby one even if it drops this leaf, but I'm worried about it systematically dropping each leaf one at a time..=\

WhiteRabbit · #9 07-14-2013, 11:04 PM

Judge when to water by the skewer. In dry air, there will be no condensation in the pot, but can still me moisture in the media. Or judge by the root color.

Last week, we had here temps in mid - upper 90s (reaching as high as 90 indoors for a bit in the late afternoon - early evening), low daytime humidity (mid 20%s or lower), and my Phals were fine, so, I don't know that heat has caused this (tho I cannot say positively it did not)

I, too, water with tap water - I can't say how the quality of ours may compare

james mickelso · #10 07-15-2013, 03:14 AM

Sonya, you get your water from Hetch Hetchy in the sierra. Very low in TDS. Should be around 50ppm TDS. Yours even tastes good compared to our poison down here. That is excellent water for orchids. Your Japanese maples don't get the burnt leaves like ours do. Here if you can keep the leaf looking like a leaf past august you are gold. I would think Maryland would have water that is very good too. Cumberland river?

---------- Post added at 01:14 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:04 AM ----------

I would think your water is good. Out here in the west we tend to think of tap water as too alkaline or has too much dissolved solids to use to grow orchids. I blend my water that I use to grow orchids and do so because of past problems. My club had a well respected grower or orchids talk to us about hybridizing and he said that the orchid needs enough weater to wet the roots and not soak the media. He stated that it needed enough water to fill the voids in the pot with about 20% extra. For a 6 inch pot filled with say bark, that is not much water. One way you could water without wasting is to place the pot into a pan and run enough water through it to fill the voids and a little more. I dip all of mine but don't recommend that as a good way to water unless you have a miserable collection like mine.