New Leaves Not Growing on Phalaenopsis

[estación seca]

Welcome to the Orchid Board!

It looks good. The warmer they are, the faster they grow. My Phals continue making leaves all year. What are your growing temperatures?

[Cheddarbob14]

I'm pretty sure your orchid has a severe case of "my owner as ants in the pants". All of my orchids have the same medical diagnosis as well. I treated this problem with.......buying around 20+ additional orchids over the last couple years, visiting this site (primarily) on a daily basis, absorbing as much knowledge as I can, and applying it to my growing conditions. I've had heartbreak (death of my zygo and miltionopsis), and great reward (reblooming of multiple orchids). You will be rewarded with the wisdom you gain here, and patience. Welcome to the Orchid Board, enjoy your stay, it's gonna be a while!

[Caroline_81]

First off, thank you to everyone who responded. I really appreciate it! I just wanted to post an update.

I actually ended up taking my plant to the flower shop where it was purchased. Upon close inspection, I found a tiny amount of white mould in the bark... As I suspected, it was time for it to be re-potted. The media was very broken down and didn't drain properly.

I think it's going to do much better in this slightly larger pot and new media. I'm hoping to see some growth in a few months.

[Caroline_81]

Originally Posted by fishmom

Caroline, welcome. Your roots do look healthy, as you said. You didn't mention if you had repotted the plant after the blooms dropped. Although your medium does not look badly decomposed, I have noticed that my phals often reward me with new growth shortly after I repot.

Also, if it is possible, you might want to put them in a location where they get some morning sun. It's true they are low-light plants, but "bright" to a plant is not the same as "bright" to a human. They may not be getting as much light as you think.

In nature, phals like warmth and humidity. Anything you can do to improve those elements might help also.

Thanks! Actually, I ended up taking it to a flower shop and they suggested it was time to upgrade to a pot. I think it looks much better. I actually found a bit of mould in the bark yesterday and panicked. I really wanted to do everything I could to save it. Hopefully it will start to grow once it adjusts to its new home.

---------- Post added at 03:54 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:48 PM ----------

Originally Posted by Cheddarbob14

I'm pretty sure your orchid has a severe case of "my owner as ants in the pants". All of my orchids have the same medical diagnosis as well. I treated this problem with.......buying around 20+ additional orchids over the last couple years, visiting this site (primarily) on a daily basis, absorbing as much knowledge as I can, and applying it to my growing conditions. I've had heartbreak (death of my zygo and miltionopsis), and great reward (reblooming of multiple orchids). You will be rewarded with the wisdom you gain here, and patience. Welcome to the Orchid Board, enjoy your stay, it's gonna be a while!

Thank you for the welcome! There is certainly a wealth of information here. And I'm already thinking of purchasing more orchids. I can understand how addictive it can become as a hobby. And very rewarding as well!

---------- Post added at 04:02 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:54 PM ----------

Originally Posted by estación seca

Welcome to the Orchid Board!

It looks good. The warmer they are, the faster they grow. My Phals continue making leaves all year. What are your growing temperatures?

Thanks for the welcome! To be honest, I'm not sure what the temperature is in my home at the moment. But it gets quite warm here in the summer. Up to 95 degrees in July and August. However, I do have air conditioning. It's probably around 68-77 degrees inside. This is a very humid climate, so I'm hoping it will benefit from that. Our winters are quite dry, especially with indoor heating. I certainly don't have a perfect growing environment, so we'll see how it does over the next few months.

[estación seca]

68 degrees all the time would be low for a Phal. That would keep it from growing as well as it would at a higher temperature. The relative humidity in an air conditioned house can be low, but this doesn't keep most hybrid Phals from growing.