One side of a leaf turning yellow on phal

[Fuzzy]

Hello,

My lovely Kaleidoscope Golden Treasure phal is not happy. One of the leaves is turning yellow on one side, starting at the crown. What could be causing this and how can I make sure this does not spread further? Am I going to lose this leaf? I hope not, the phal has only 4 leaves and they are all pretty weak. Another question - is there any way to encourage a phal to put out a new leaf? This phal has been in bloom since I got it in late March. Could this be the reason the leaves are not happy?

On a more positive note, the roots of this phal are looking good as far as I can see. It's even growing a new one I posted earlier about (the pic of the new root is attached here as well).

[Cym Ladye]

It appears as if part of that leaf broke away from the stem while it was maturing. Die back may well spread to the whole leaf as the leaf will be unable to get the necessary nutrients. Keep an eye on it and be doubly vigilant that no water sits in the crown. If it dies or turns really unsightly, you can gently remove it with a sterile single edge razor blade, but for now, just watch it carefully.

[tarev]

I would normally say it looks like natural leaf senescence, but it is the upper leaf. Usually it is the lower leaf first.

It is growing a new root, so hopefully it will grow a new leaf too.

I really do not go for sphag moss, but if you want to keep that media, you can consider removing some of it, keep the crown area a bit more loose, to allow the roots below to breathe a little more. I think it is too tightly packed, and the roots below are suffocated, hence the leaves are looking limp.

Phal roots like to be moistened but the roots enjoy lots of air circulation afterwards.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

I recommend removing all the moss and really taking a good look at the roots.

It does look suspicious the newer leaf is turning yellow.

It also does look like it's a little dehydrated.

Just because the plant looks dehydrated doesn't necessarily mean you should water it more. It might mean that the roots are so damaged that it can no longer provide the necessary amount of moisture to the plant.

Again, I recommend peeling that moss away and really looking inside to see if the roots are even still alive.

[james mickelso]

Looks like a store bought phal that has an old flower spike that has drained this plant of it's resources. The yellowing of leaves doesn't always proceed from bottom to top. When faced with dehydration and stress any leaf can become yellow/discolored. Wherever the plant can get water/nourishment, that is where the discoloration will occur. I agree with the root assessment only in that root issues are so prevalent with these store bought phals. I would cut the flower spike off now (it's about ready to start losing flowers anyway). Then I would slowly pull off the sphagnum moss and take a look at the roots. This plant is using the remaining energy it has to first throw a new root before it pushes out a new leaf. Moisture is what the plant wants as it has enough green left to photosynthesize and therefore doesn't need a new leaf. One way to hydrate this plant is to get a spray bottle of distilled water and spritz the undersides of the leaves a couple times a day.

[Fuzzy]

Thanks, everyone, for your replies! I want to clarify a few things. I got this phal in bloom at the end of March, and it's been blooming since. I got it from a reputable orchid site, and repotted it about a month after I got it. I put it in a dual-core pot and into a phal potting mix from Repotme, which is about half sphag and half perlite/bark/charcoal mix. The roots looked reasonable when I repotted it (I did remove some rotted ones, but quite a few were left), and the ones I see now through the clear pot look ok to me. I don't feel the moss is packed too tightly - any looser and the thing would start toppling over! Could it be that the orchid is drained of resources due to the prolonged blooming? I still have a big spike with 12 4-inch flowers on it.

I water the phal roughly every 8-9 days and fertilize weakly with the FeedMe fertilizer from Repotme. The leaves do look a bit dehydrated, as someone pointed out, but they've been that way since before I repotted. By the way, today the leaf looks a bit worse so it is looking like I'm going to lose the leaf.

Do you think this is something that might affect other leaves? Is this sort of leaf yellowing common?

[Fuzzy]

I've got a pretty sad update on my phal. Over the weekend the top leaf that was yellowing withered and it snapped right off when I touched it. And what's worse, now one of the bottom leaves is paper-thin and yellow. The orchid will be down to just 2 leaves by the end of this week. What's going on? How do I encourage it to grow new leaves?

[Cntry]

Fuzzy,try like some others have told you by remove the spike giving it all the extra energy it has to help itself out. You may even want to take it completely out of the media you have it in and place it into a vase with a bag and water in the bottom forcing it to root more for you. You may have to place it on a stick so it don't touch the water. Move it to indirect light and let it rest. Giving it higher humidity and hopefully a chance to live.

[Optimist]

Amazing insight here! The mass produced phals are bred for flowers and not for plants, and so it is expected that the plant dies?

[james mickelso]

Leave it where it is. Cut the flower spike off. It has drained the existing leaves and roots of moisture and sugars, and isn't going to do much but dehydrate more and eventually die unless you cut that spike off. Yes phals are bred for flowers but not at the expense of the plant. They grow slowly and respond to stresses slowly. By the time the plant drops the flowers because of environmental stresses it is sometimes too late. Cut the spike, leave it where it is, and water it when dry. There is no need to fertilize as it isn't taking up much moisture nor food. Give it what it needs which is moisture and warmth. Stop fussing with it. They are slow so it will take time for it to respond. The farther along it's demise the longer it will take to recoup.