Phal Orchid leaves turned droopy and limpy

[allison823]

I bought the orchid several weeks ago. When I bought it, the moss was still a little wet, so I went two weeks without watering it. I think it was under watered because the flowers were droopy and the leaves limped. I've attached some before and after pictures. I am now watering it every Friday and letting it drain. The flowers have returned to its normal beautiful self, but the leaves did not bounce back.

What can I do to restore the leaves to its former glory??

[Island Girl]

Hi! to the OB! I'm sure you will love hanging out here, and learning. Everyone here, is really nice, and loves to help!

Sometimes, the leaves never recover. You might want to repot this guy, and check out the roots... It should be fine, most Phal hybrids are fine with being repotted while in bloom. If you choose to wait, then I'd suggest not watering it until the medium is almost dry. Try searching the "skewer method" here on the OB, it can help you with knowing when to water. Everyone's conditions are different, and media dries at different rates, based on how old or new the medium is, so you can't just say, oh "water this phal once a week", because even week to week, media dries differently (sometimes its hotter one week than another, humidity changes). So, it may be that it was underwatered, or it may have been overwatered, and have root rot... There's no way to know, unless you unpot it.

[rvalkenburg]

The first thing I would do is move the location. Phals do not like direct sun light. After that getting a better pot and better media is your next step. I suggest that if you want to keep the ceramic pot, get a slitted plastic pot that will fit inside of the other pot to house the orchid. this way it has better ventilation and easy for you to water, drain and put back into its location. I use all semi-hydroponics (PrimeAgra) but you can use more of a traditional bark-charcoal-perlite media that will breath better than moss. Moss is the worst media to plant orchids in, if they are mounted with moss that is fine but never in a pot. Once repotted water every 7-10 days, and to help place the pot onto a tray with small stones and water for humidity, the leaves will thank you for that.