phalaenopsis leaf becoming brown

[Yaseen]

hello,

I have a phal plant whose leaf has become brown. Would anyone know what has caused this? and what can be done for it to survive? Put the plant outside for about two days, I don't know if it is sunlight which has caused this. The flowers are also falling. The roots don't look so bad though.

Is there any chance of survival for it?

[Island Girl]

Yep, that is sunburn. Don't let your Phal sit in direct light, and anytime you want to, or plan on increasing the light levels, you will need to acclimate it to higher light conditions slowly at first, otherwise it will burn again... The flowers could be falling off because of the slight shock of the sudden change in light intensity/sunburn, or it's just their time to go... This leaf will not recover, it will have this sunburned spot, until the phal drops that leaf, and replaces it with a new leaf.... Which is normal. Just make sure the sunburned spot doesn't get squishy, or wet looking, if it does, it's time to cut off that leaf, because infection has set in.

From looking at the last pic, I'd say cut off that leaf close (within ~30-40mm~) to the base of the plant, and dust the cut edge with ground cinnamon (the kind you buy at the grocery store, in the baking aisle, to seal the cut edge, inhibiting fungal, or bacterial infection.

[Bill U.]

I agree, that looks like sunburn. Phals do not like direct sunlight. Flowers don't tend to last as long in direct sun or warm temperatures, either.

I would take a read of the following thread for some more information:
http://www.orchidboard.com/community...ends-here.html

[Yaseen]

hi again,

got some bad news, followed your advice and cut off the damaged leaf, and put the plant in a shady spot. However, I cannot observe any sign of growth in the plant. Instead, another leaf is now becoming brown & spongy. In fact, the other 2 remaining green leaves are a little spongy as well.
I read that this may be due to underwatering or heat, but both of these are not applicable

Can anyone advise me how I can save the plant, and stimulate some growth?

[Optimist]

I guess you could try sphag and bag and see if your roots develop a new set of leaves. I have heard about leaves developing roots, but I do not know if the opposite occurs.

[RandomGemini]

Not underwatering.

OVERwatering. How frequently are you watering it? They really only need to be watered when their medium gets bone dry in the center, which happens about once every 7 to 10 days. If you're watering more frequently than that… I would suspect some sort of rot.

[Yaseen]

I am watering it every 7 days.

Is there any way of saving it? The roots are still green, but the leaves are a little spongy. I guess I should cut off the damaged leaf and use cinnamon to seal it?

[naoki]

I'm not familiar with the climate of Mauritius, but I'm assuming that air humidity is very high (>70%). Also the temperature is moderate. So it sounds like a climate where you can easily grow orchids outdoor. It originally looked like extreme temperature or sun damage, but this is probably unlikely.

The roots aren't great, but not bad. And the potting media look pretty open and chunky. So you may need to water more frequently. The environment influence the watering frequency, so we can't tell if you are over or under watering. You can try the skewer method or you can feel the weight of the pot to assess the moisture level inside of the pot.

By any chance, do you use a lot of air conditioner indoor (i.e. low air humidity)? If this is the case, I would keep it outdoor, where you can get good air humidity. You can put it on the south side of the house (or under tree), where you get no direct sun. Then after a couple months, you may be able to put it in a brighter area.

Also, do you know the quality of your water? In other words, how much salt is in there?

You might want to spray/drench with asprin water (cheap tablet, 325mg/gallon), which might help the stress.

If it is not infection, I wouldn't cut off the leaves.

[Yaseen]

I thought it was sunburn which has caused this, since I had put the plant outside for 2 days.

I would not know about the quality of the water

But I sure do not use any aircon.

I'll try the asprin water as you suggested.

[kindrag23]

Originally Posted by Yaseen

I thought it was sunburn which has caused this, since I had put the plant outside for 2 days.

I would not know about the quality of the water

But I sure do not use any aircon.

I'll try the asprin water as you suggested.

Worked grear on my bulbo with questiinable spots. Just did it again on my oncid alacra sunday best. Has questionable coloring....