Phal leaves and identifying problems

[HuniGems182]

I have two phals, one with nice plump grass green leaves and the other with darker green leaves with purple hue. The color doesn't concern me as much as the leaves lookin floppy. They don't grow strong and straight like my other phal. They are repotted in sphag, and I cut the spike after flowers fell and spike turned brown. It looks better than it did before repot. I kept reading it was underwatered but in my opinion I was maybe over watering. Any insight would help...maybe it's fine and this particular orchid just has darker leaves but I doubt it.

[Dri312]

I would guess the roots aren't doing well on the one with wrinkled leaves. Repot on sphag moss wouldn't be my choice of medium. I use bark (better gro orchid mix). And it's very handy to have a wood skewer inserted towards the middle of the pot to make sure the medium is dry ( or nearly to) before watering again.
You will learn a lot if you spend some time and read the stickers note on this board, "the abuse of Phals ends here" and the one about wood skewers.
Read some of the threads on Phal problems as well. I'm a beginner myself and I got a lot of useful information on this board.
Welcome to the board by the way!


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[fudJy23]

Agree. Check the roots in the sphag. I don't have issues with sphag and in fact had a phal do really well in it for a few years. It was also handy cuz it meant I only watered it once a month, handy when I was doing a lot of traveling since that was the only orchid I never worried about! The thing is that you have to be careful to not pack it in too tightly and suffocate it. So, even if it's in sphag and getting plenty of water, if the leaves look wrinkly, it could be because those roots were over watered and died.

[itrainedcold]

I agree with fudJy23. I have no issue with sphagnum either and phals seem to do pretty well for me in it. I have some in bark and some in sphagnum. Make sure your moss is always fluffy and not soaking wet. If it dries completely out it's hard to get fluffy again which it needs to be in order to breath. That might be what happened. Don't pack the sphag as mentioned. It's best to pot it in a clear pot with some holes if you're not 100% about its care so you can keep an eye out for healthy green roots.

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