No Leaves - is it to late

[2orchid]

recently I had one of my small phals lose all of its leaves in one day!! (I'm pretty sure it must have had water sitting in the area where all the leaves meet, and I think they rotted and fell off).

If there are still a few healthy roots, is this guy saveable? Or should I give up and try again with a new one?

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

1. Post a pic.

2. A leafless Phal is not necessarily a dead Phal.

I may be mostly dead, but not all dead. If its all dead, then there's only one thing you can do…

[jcec1]

There are always two camps on this issue;

1. Save it and nuture it back to health which may take a few years before you get a decent flowering size plant again. You will learn a lot about caring for your orchid(s) this way.

2. Throw it in the bin, buy a new one and hopefully learn from past cultural mistakes.

The choice is yours, if the orchid is not particularly special, then I prefer option 2, even if it is special I usually prefer option 2 as I don't have a lot of room, and don't really want to be looking at recovering plants for years, I grow orchids for their blooms, not for testing my horticultural and parenting skills.

[bil]

Meh, water in the crown? I don''t see why that's a problem. I wwash my phals every day whhen I water them, and I FILL every crown out of spite. Never lost one yet from crown rot. Now if you water at nnight and the crown gets too cold, then that may do it, or if it gets too hot, - in short anything that damages or chills the crown may well initiate rot, buut I fail to see how wetting the crown will do it any harm.

Oh yeah. I still haven't found a phal whose crown will hold water, as it all drains out.

[Subrosa]

Originally Posted by bil

Meh, water in the crown? I don''t see why that's a problem. I wwash my phals every day whhen I water them, and I FILL every crown out of spite. Never lost one yet from crown rot. Now if you water at nnight and the crown gets too cold, then that may do it, or if it gets too hot, - in short anything that damages or chills the crown may well initiate rot, buut I fail to see how wetting the crown will do it any harm.

Oh yeah. I still haven't found a phal whose crown will hold water, as it all drains out.

I think that your Spanish climate has something to do with your Phals being rot proof. I wouldn't recommend your watering regime to those living in the Pacific Northwest or coastal areas of northern Europe!

[Cntry]

Originally Posted by 2orchid

recently I had one of my small phals lose all of its leaves in one day!! (I'm pretty sure it must have had water sitting in the area where all the leaves meet, and I think they rotted and fell off).

If there are still a few healthy roots, is this guy saveable? Or should I give up and try again with a new one?

What has got me wondering you said the leaves all fell off in one day. With rot I have never seen that happen in just one day. Usually the leaves yellow and fall off but not all at the same time.

I would look at the root system and see if there is roots left and how many that are still in good condition. I would also use a fungicide on the orchid and repot it with new medium as well as a smaller pot for now. Cut off all the dead roots making sure you sterilize your cutting interment of choice first. Then all you can do is wait and see if it will grow for you once again. It can take a few months before you will see any sign of a new leaf. Best of luck.

[bil]

Originally Posted by Subrosa

I think that your Spanish climate has something to do with your Phals being rot proof. I wouldn't recommend your watering regime to those living in the Pacific Northwest or coastal areas of northern Europe!

So get a cheap NOID one and experiment. That's how we learn.
Northern Europe? Cold and damp for so much of the year. In the 5 summers before we moved to Spain, we had 15 days where the sun shone all day. You would not BELIEVE how vile the English climate is until you pay attention to it.

The sun would shine for 30 minutes, and everyone would be saying "Isn't it a lovely day?" I'd be saying "No, it's a drab day with half an hour's sunsine to rub it into your faces how nice it COULD be.

I used to grow pelagoniums, the regal geraniums. Every day I had to go outside, and pick all the fallen petals off the leaves (the leaves were moist all the time, and the petals would stick to them). If I didn't pick the petals off, they would rot, and the so would the leaf, and if I was unlucky, so would the plant.

Under thos circs, I can imagine there being LOTS of problems with orchids, but in their wild state they get their crowns wet all the time with rain and mist, and before someone points out that their crowns hang down, capilllairy action will pull water into the crevices in between the leaves and the crown.

Cold, excessive heat, watering late in the evening all these I can see as problems, but getting the crowns wet, how exactly will that cause a problem, providing the plant is healthy, and not kept in a pot rammed full of moss??

Seriously. Give me a reason how water alone in the crowns will cause rot? I'd be fascinated to hear it.

[Cym Ladye]

Crown rot occurs under multiple conditions: Upright plants + water standing in the crown + temps below 65F over a few days at a time + high humidity + lack of air movement = crown rot. If water can drain from the crown, no problem.

[Subrosa]

Epiphytes in the wild normally orient themselves in a more horizontal or even pendant attitude than we normally pot them. And although I've admittedly never seen them in situ, I suspect that they occasionally succumb to rot there too.

[2orchid]

Thanks for the thoughts guys, I think I may just let this one go and get a new one :P