New to Orchids (but Phalaenopsis has developed white patch on leaf)

[BigGreenLeaf]

Hello everyone,

I have been raising plants for a number of years now, finally reversing a streak of brown thumb when I was gifted a small pony-tail palm almost 8 years ago.

Since then I have raised a fair few (if I might say so) other species, including my prized possession: a 5 year old shamrock. Unfortunately that shamrock is going through a rough patch right now (if anyone knows anything about caring for shamrocks i'd love to have a discussion with you about it! Everyone at my local nursery is stumped about what's wrong, as is the internet it seems!)

During my brown thumb streak, probably about 8 years ago, I tried my hand at an orchid and promptly killed it.

But because I've been doing so well with all my current leafy wards I thought it was time to try again! I would buy myself one of those splendid plants I so longed to own and and see if I couldn't make it work.

About 2 months ago I happened to be wandering through a home depot for concrete when I passed by their plant section and found they were having a post Easter Orchid Sale (?). I know home depot is not an ideal place to buy an orchid, but I thought a discounted plant might be just what I needed to try my hands at the species.

I called up a friend of mine who at the time had about 5 orchids in her house and asked her what I needed to look for and how to select the best one. She told me to look for lots of leaves and said I wanted a good root system that was green. I searched every plant there in the size I wanted to buy and finally I settled on a cream coloured Phalaenopsis that had green roots, 7 firm leaves and some unopened buds.

Since then i've been steadily killing the poor thing.

It was doing very well, but then over a few short days the leaves became droopy and wrinkled. In a panic, having read about the dangers of over watering I moved it out from under my artificial light (sunglo) and placed it on the table in the kitchen that is in front of an east facing window, so the plant would get a couple hours of sun each morning, and then I stopped watering it.

Things, of course did not improve. So I went down to a local garden center and consulted them on the matter. The girl I spoke with suggested there may be a root problem and that these poor orchids in these big stores tend to be too tightly packed with moss, leading to root rot.

So I went home and ever so gently de-packed the poor thing (mildly shocked by just how much moss was in that little pot). I didn't find root rot. There was some black discolouration near the spike, but nothing mushy or rotten looking. Instead I found bone dry, white roots. I immediately held its roots under a room temperature, gentle stream of water, giving it a thorough soaking before carefully putting it back into the little container and packing maybe 1/4 of the moss in with it. I also put it over a humidity tray I had bought and filled with a layer of rocks. (This was about a week ago).

Over the next five days things really began looking better! The top leaves slowly began to firm up, the stem of the flowers had become upright again and all seemed good.

And then this morning, as I was inspecting it, I found it to be looking unhappy again. The top leaves are still firm, but one now has a big blotchy white spot (looks almost like dust and I actually tried to clean it off when I first saw it, thinking just that) and the flower stems are leaning again.
I can see the roots, and they do look green and happy, but obviously something is wrong.

I had been intended to go to the annual Orchid Show in my city to potentially pick up another one of these splendid plants, but now with this one dying on me, I feel less inclined...

My hope in joining this forum is that some more experienced growers can give me the advice I need to save this plant...

I've included a couple photos I just took, so if anyone has any thoughts, i'd love to hear them. (If you gys need other photos let me know, i'm happy to take as many as needed to try to save this plant).

In any case, hello everyone!

[dangerouseddy]

the leaves look ok to me, not sure about the white patch haven't seen any diseases that look like that.

the flower stems might need more support i.e. longer canes.

if the roots look good I'm not sure there's a lot wrong with the plant, might be just settling in if you haven't had it repotted long.

[BigGreenLeaf]

Here are some more photos i've just taken of each individual leaf as well as some photos of the roots (still in the pot though) in the hopes that may help. I really hope you are right dangerouseddy and that there is nothing really wrong.

You can see how the top leaves look fairly ok, but the farther down I go the more wrinkled and discoloured they look. The one photo shows some strange brown/black damage to the edge of one leaf (its only on this one, from what I can see).

The first picture of the roots looks like its casing is broken, but its still that green color, so i'm not sure if it's bad or not and in the very last photo you can see one of the roots inside looks like its gone a bit yellow? I don't want to pull it out if its not needed.

[dangerouseddy]

I've bought a couple of phals with dehydrated leaves they take a while to get unwrinkled, the plant looks in pretty good shape really. the roots might be yellow if they were hidden in the pot and not exposed to light, they should green up.

somebody with more experience hopefully will post In a while.

[BigGreenLeaf]

Unfortunatly I dehydrated the plant by accident. But I started watering more like I said in the OP and added the humidity tray and the leaves have begun to firm up and lose some of the wrinkles, but then this white blotch appeared and now i'm very worried for the plant.

I'm hoping some other might chime in as well, all oh my friend are stumped. I'm very nervous it's either powdery mildew disease or the dreaded necrotic disease (I pray to all the plant gods this is not what this is.... as mentioned, I have MANY other priced plants in the house...)

The orchid is currently in a separate part of the room, and not near any of my other plants and i've been washing my hands after touching it. It's been in isolation for about three weeks, but for the previous one month it been living in my house it was extremely close to my other plants (though never touching) after it spent its initial week in isolation 'just in case'. Sigh...

[Miss Flower]

I thoroughly enjoyed reading your post...you have a knack for storytelling! And you document very well too! Do you have a job in law enforcement, any kind of detective work or science field?

Back to the plants...

I think the plant looks ok...sometimes these guys have weird things happen to them but they get over it if they are properly being taken care of... which by the way sounds like you are so far.

The most wrinkly bottom leaves are likely to turn yellow and fall off so don't panic about that if it happens.

I find that phalaenopsis do best when you don't move them and you just water once a week (roots totally underwater for 30 min). Mine stay on a windowsill that gets either morning sun or afternoon sun but not both. Every month they get some orchid fertilizer as per instructions and in the summer or when it's super hot I spray them in the morning with a mist bottle thingie. They have time to evaporate during the day so there is no issue with over watering even if I mist them every day. On ridiculously hot days (32 Celsius +) I lower the blinds so the leaves don't get burned.

Other than that don't keep the roots in the water days at a time and let nature do its job!

all the best

PS_change the substrate to bark ...dump the moss

[Jungeoma]

Your Phal actually looks quite healthy. You have to remember that these plants have been travelling and have been stored not always under ideal conditions. Most of them experience major stress.
It is normal for the bottom leaves to eventually turn yellow and brown and then fall off. Otherwise the leaves look fine. I checked the St. Augustine Fl. Orchid society for the spotting and they did not list it. http://www.stauorchidsociety.org is a valuable resource for orchid growers, especially new ones. You did not say if it is a "just add Ice" orchid. Home Depot sells them here in the States and folks promtly kill them over time by freezing them to death. The crack in the center of the leaf is nothing to worry about and neither is the bit of black on the side. Remember they travel in close quarters and if it was on the discount rack it probably has been handled a lot. Give it some time to feel at home and it will surely perk up. One last caution thou, never let water stand in the crown, if some should get in there while you water or mist, soak it out with the tip of a piece of paper towel. So best of luck to you and your pretty orchid, she shure has beautiful flowers.

[BigGreenLeaf]

Originally Posted by Miss Flower

I thoroughly enjoyed reading your post...you have a knack for storytelling! And you document very well too! Do you have a job in law enforcement, any kind of detective work or science field?

Back to the plants...

I think the plant looks ok...sometimes these guys have weird things happen to them but they get over it if they are properly being taken care of... which by the way sounds like you are so far.

The most wrinkly bottom leaves are likely to turn yellow and fall off so don't panic about that if it happens.

I find that phalaenopsis do best when you don't move them and you just water once a week (roots totally underwater for 30 min). Mine stay on a windowsill that gets either morning sun or afternoon sun but not both. Every month they get some orchid fertilizer as per instructions and in the summer or when it's super hot I spray them in the morning with a mist bottle thingie. They have time to evaporate during the day so there is no issue with over watering even if I mist them every day. On ridiculously hot days (32 Celsius +) I lower the blinds so the leaves don't get burned.

Other than that don't keep the roots in the water days at a time and let nature do its job!

all the best

PS_change the substrate to bark ...dump the moss

Hi Miss Flower!

Aha well I am glad you enjoyed my post. I have a background in a bit of law but i'm also a writer, and I feel very passionately about my plants!

Regarding the Phal. I am glad it sounds like I'm doing everything right (now atleast!) I will continue to do what i've been doing then, unless someone else suggests otherwise.

I have been reading about the differences in substrate and I am curious to hear others opinions on this as well. I was considering moving it into bark or some other orchid specific substrate as I should have the opportunity to pick some up at the Orchid Show next weekend. Thoughts on this are most welcome.

I'm still terribly worried about that white patch. The leaf feels strong and firm, but that patch has a different texture (kind of rough/dry?). I will leave it over the humidity tray for now as the bottom of the pot does not touch the water. I've noticed improvement in the leaves since putting it under (and taking out the 3/4 of that moss!) with the exception of this sudden white blemish.

I dread the shedding of it's leaves, thats terribly sad. What is the leaf turn out rate on a Phal? Obviously it won't be bothered with becoming leafy while it's in flower, but are they slow to leaf out, out of curiosity?

Originally Posted by Jungeoma

Your Phal actually looks quite healthy. You have to remember that these plants have been travelling and have been stored not always under ideal conditions. Most of them experience major stress.
It is normal for the bottom leaves to eventually turn yellow and brown and then fall off. Otherwise the leaves look fine. I checked the St. Augustine Fl. Orchid society for the spotting and they did not list it. [Link] is a valuable resource for orchid growers, especially new ones. You did not say if it is a "just add Ice" orchid. Home Depot sells them here in the States and folks promtly kill them over time by freezing them to death. The crack in the center of the leaf is nothing to worry about and neither is the bit of black on the side. Remember they travel in close quarters and if it was on the discount rack it probably has been handled a lot. Give it some time to feel at home and it will surely perk up. One last caution thou, never let water stand in the crown, if some should get in there while you water or mist, soak it out with the tip of a piece of paper towel. So best of luck to you and your pretty orchid, she shure has beautiful flowers.

Thank you for the link Jungeoma! I will add it to my bookmarks for sure. This is not a "Just Add Ice" orchid, or if it was I have not been doing that. I remember reading that it just shocks the plant over and over again and ends up killing it. I'd never bring an ice cube near any of my other plants so I decided I wouldn't do that to this one either. Sounds like that was the right choice.

I did read a thread on here about using skewers to check when they need water, so I've put in a wooden skewer for that purpose. I also used an extra one to prop up the larger flower stem as dangerouseddy suggested.

I will keep in mind to remove any water that might get stuck in the crown, that makes sense, as it would lead to rot I assume. I will pay extra attention when watering.

I am curious though, this plant has been in my home for two months, as I mentioned, would it really still be developing symptoms from stress and rough handling? Usually when people I know buy other, less temperamental species and ask for my advice I tell them that if they've had it for a month and it seems healthy, they are pretty much in the clear (except for the introduction or parasites and disease due to poor sanitation and contamination of course, but water, potting, lighting and general care wise).

Again I am very thankful for everyone's replies so far. It is helping to put my mind to ease but I am still worried about that white patch.... but still feeling better haha. I hope to hear from more people as well.

Thank you everyone who has replied thus far!

[Miss Flower]

Hi again,

About the patch: Think of it like a mole or a rash...on our skin it feels different too! If you really want to be sure, you can always do a virus test: https://www.agdia.com/testing-services/Orchid.cfm


Rooting Media: The simplest type of orchid media works, something like medium bark mix. If you go to an orchid show, you will for sure find something appropriate.

Good luck and don't worry

[BigGreenLeaf]

Thanks for the reply again Miss Flower,

Since I posted the white patch hasn't spread at all, and the leaves have continued to recover from the mini drought of Unexperienced I subjected them too, so I suppose you are all correct, since it doesn't seem to be causing any other side effects. I'm still keeping it isolated from the rest of my collection for awhile.

However, I feel much better about still going to the Orchid Show to see what other little leafy wards I can welcome into my home.

As for mediums; I've seen a couple people on here mention they use lava rocks or those clay balls (which I actually have a bag of sitting around). I'm very curious to know if something like the clay balls with some strands of moss mixed in would be a good medium....

Regards!