what causes new phal leaves to grow smaller ?

[No-Pro-mwa]

I have it happen at times also. For me I do know it is sometimes not enough water and if the roots aren't good. But other times I'm at a loss.

[charlesf6]

Originally Posted by Evendozen

picture

you did it, you did it!

[malteseproverb]

I am having the same problem and was coming to the Orchid Board to post about it! I have a gigantic phal that I've had for several years, which blooms regularly. Last year it pushed out 50 huge blooms. Now it's in spike again and I'm tempted to just cut off the spike so it can work on its leaves! It used to have 10 huge leaves, and it has the most extensive happy root system of perhaps all of my plants. The roots grow like wild every summer but the leaves barely have in the past two summers. The only thing I can think of is perhaps the too much light thing. Each of those two summers the plant has gotten to the point where the leaves begin to almost burn and I have to move it (it sits in an east-facing window). So perhaps this has made the plant... wary???

[katrina]

Evendozen- looking at your phal, I would guess it had a root issue in the past and is now recovering and your leaves will eventually return to a larger size. When significant set backs occur, the plant sometimes act like a seedling again.

Maltese - yours looks like a classic case of the plant responding to more intense light. The leaves are closer together and they are fatter, rounder, very glossy, and look exceptionally healthy.

Just my best guesses based on the pics compared to what I've seen in my own collection over the years.

[Evendozen]

Katriina you are exactly right!

[camille1585]

I'm not convinced that Maltese's is stunted due to too much light. For one the leaves are very dark. I keep most of my Phals in very bright light (south facing windows) and they have never looked like that. All the 'stunted' leaves are only slightly shorter than the older leaves, and the biggest difference is the width of the leaves, which gets narrower to reduce surface area. If I really gave a Phal too much sun, then it starts to look very yellow and the new leaves smaller than what I usually see in high light, but never extremely stunted. (I accidently left a Phal outside in full sun last summer!)

I have had a few Phals in the past with leaves stunted in the extreme way seen in the photo. For one plant the cause was a poor root system, and improved once the plant grew a decent root system. Another had a bad mealy bug infestation. For yet other, I never knew why it did that. Roots were healthy and numerous, and the plant was growing in lower light since my shelves in front of the window were full. It eventually reverted back to normal, and still don't know why.

[Ray]

Summarizing...

If the newer leaves continue to be smaller than the previous ones after maturation, then something in the culture is lacking. This is also true in sympodial plants if the new growths are smaller than the old ones.

If the leaves have taken on a different morphology, on the other hand, but do grow to full size, it is -again - due to a cultural change, but in that case, not an inadequacy. Katrina's experience matches mine; it's most often a change in lighting.

[malteseproverb]

Like I said, my main problem has been the leaves burning in the summer. I actually lost a phal last summer from sunburn. It burned right up. I kept them alongside cattleyas (all of which bloomed), probably not a good idea. Some of the newer leaves are flecked with purple. They grew in like this during the summer, not recently. The roots, however, grow like mad all year. Don't know why. So does anyone think I should cut the spike that's developing right now? Or is that a bad idea?

[katrina]

I'm not saying it's too much light but rather better light and the phal is responding in a positive way.

As for cutting the spike...i would not. It looks very healthy so I would let it flower, for sure.

[Roberta]

Don't cut the spike... won't help the plant, will just deprive you of flowers.