wrinkly leave on a phalaenopsis

[annierj]

what does this mean?? I know that leaves are the indicators of how healthy your plant is....but I can't tell what the heck is going on....too wet? Not wet enough?
I have rescued several phals from Lowes and repotted them in orchid bark. I have new leaves emerging from the center but the leaves are at first wrinkly, and then limp.
Green but not the waxy consistency that it should be...
They are placed in a south/east window and watered about every 10 days to two weeks. Roots are green and solid....

Suggestions??
Thanks.

[mimigirl]

Wish i had some advice cause i feel bad for you. At least we know where to come with our questions! Good luck

[WhiteRabbit]

Hmm... if the roots look good, I don't know, sorry.
Hopefully some other members have an idea.

[lotis146]

Sounds to me like you're not watering enough, especially if it's in bark and you're only watering 10 days or more. In my limited experience limp/wrinkly leaves are evidence of dehydration. After your next watering put a wooden skewer in the middle of your pot. Pull it out a couple days later and see how moist it is or isn't. Keep checking it daily until it's dry or almost and that will tell you when you should water. Orchids need more water especially during the growing season, which I believe we're coming to the end of. It sounds like your watering schedule is better suited to winter, the off season.

[tarev]

Agree with lotis..that interval of watering is far too long. Try to adjust, shorten it like every 5 days instead. As long as water drains out, and you give good air circulation, it should help. But the already wrinkled leaves may not regain its former turgidity, the new ones hopefully will adapt.

[Dendy83]

I mean the watering frequency is going to depend on a lot of other factors, like medium or location. I see you're in Kentucky, maybe it's just humid enough to water that amount of time. I recommend the skewer trick to see if the bark is really drying out, if it is you should probably increase your watering schedule a little bit.

Secondly, what do the roots look like? If they were rotted from the previous owner then obviously the rotted roots won't soak up water, so that would give the rescued plants wrinkled leaves. Sometimes recovery takes a long time and hopefully, if your watering schedule is good, the new leaves will come back nice and firm. My experience is generally if a leaf is wrinkled it won't become unwrinkled.

[Ray]

Wrinkly leaves is definitely from the plant's inability to take up enough water - either from underwatering, or from a compromised root system.

I suspect that you're a victim of learning from those that have misinterpreted observation:

Early on, we are taught to "let orchids dry out between waterings, or you will rot their roots." Water does not cause root rot. If it did, phalaenopsis, who mostly originate where there is daily rain, if not seasonally-constant rain, would all be extinct.

In reality, it is suffocation of the roots that is most often the cause of root death and rot, and that comes about from old, compact, decomposing media, or those that are simply too fine in texture.

When we water, most pours right through. Some is absorbed by the medium and the roots of the plant, and some is held by surface tension in the voids between the particles. If those spaces are large, it's no issue, but if they are small, surface tension can completely fill the voids with water, cutting off air flow and suffocating the roots.

Now then, if that's the case, and you let the medium dry out, that water is absorbed or evaporates, the airflow pathways to the roots reopen, and the plant can recover. Hence the "dry out" recommendation, a solution that addresses the symptoms, but not the problem.

[lotis146]

Great information Ray, thank you for sharing your expertise! I think it helps to know a little more about this fine balance from a scientific perspective, at least it did for me.

---------- Post added at 12:53 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:49 AM ----------

Oh, and I have to add that I have had one plant with wrinkled leaves return its vigor. Its root system was completely compromised. Now its leaves are almost 100% and it has grown a new leaf & MANY new roots. I repotted it in an orchid mix of lava rock, medium bark, charcoal, and I added in coconut coir & a little moss. I then basically overpotted it in a painted ceramic orchid pot which has "decorative" holes all around the pot and a hole in the bottom.

That's just one plant so far, but my point is, I've seen it happen and I'm not the most experienced - AT ALL - of collectors.

[campchi]

If you have enuff ventilation, you can water it every other day, if the weather is hot

[james mickelso]

Phals can be watered nearly every day provided most of the water drains out. As Ray's says, phals are in constant or nearly constant state of wetness in nature. It is imperative that the roots breathe. If you media is light and airy you can water every other day or so. But...... phals can also dry out thoroughly with little harm provided it is not too hot or dry.