Wilting leaves on my Monster Phal

[susiep]

Do you all remember my "Monster Phal" that I repotted a couple months ago? It is still having wilting leaves. They are green, but soft as banana peels. Not all of them are wilted, but 1 or 2 on each plant are. Some are top leaves and some are on the bottom. There are 4 plants still attached to the one rhizome. It may be tired out from all the blooming. It ended up with about 40 flowers at one time last month. It still has spikes and buds to go but it is slowing down. I am thinking of taking it out of the basket and maybe mounting it on a large branch. I could wire the rhizome to a piece of wood very easily. Maybe the roots need more air. Here are a couple pics of the rhizome and the new basket. I don't have a pic of the wilted leaves. You can't tell by just looking any way. It is only when you touch them that it is apparent. It doesn't seem to be just a water problem. Any suggestions?

[philoserenus]

well the brown coloured roots do look kind of suspicious... although i do still see some greenish-white ones, which is a good sign... have you been keeping it bit too wet lately and have caused some rot?

and wilting leafs from my experience is generally b/c of the plants getting dehydrated, but definitely try also giving more light, the leaves seen a bit dark to me even though it has enough to produce flowers. plants dun take water into themselves without light.

just my two pennies worth, good luck

[susiep]

Nick, I trimmed off all those old brown roots after that picture. It had plenty of new, green ones on the other side (top). It is a dark plant. However I was wondering the same thing so I moved it outside a week ago. No improvement yet, in fact it is more wilted. Being out side is causing the white flowers to get spots and age quicker (it has been breezy lately). It still has 35 flowers on it and a new spike starting. Should I cut them off?

[Ross]

While lots of folks here (myself included) promote growing Phals under pretty high light (2000+ FCs) I would not be inclined to move it outside that quickly, especially if the roots are not able to support all that top growth.

If this were my plant (and please don't take this as a recommendation - just something to mull over) I would cut the spikes, repot into new coarse fir bark (remember this is me) that has been soaked overnight in a repotting stregth dilution of KLN, pour the drained KLN solution through the bark, then set back in same location (or just a tad brighter if possible) as before. Every week I would move it closer to the bright light as the leaves start to lighten up. If need-be I would also place a large plastic bag over the whole plant/pot setup to hold the moisture a bit higher. I would never subject the plant to full sun, but dappled sun or light coming through an overhead arbor should be OK.

[susiep]

That sounds reasonable. In fact the bathroom where it was is probably bright enough, so it is going back in there today. It hangs in the corner of the room with 2 glass block walls on each side. South and west. Airconditioning probably keeps the humidity a little drier than it would like. I have soaked, misted, drenched with the hose, everything. I can't seem to get the water into the plant! The problem also is all the roots are coming out the top (where the plants attach to the rhizome and they are growing up and out, not down into the media. It is hard to keep them as hydrated as my other phals (who cooperate by keeping their roots covered up a bit). Here are some pics. You can see the progress of the drying on the very biggest bottom leaf of the bigger plant. You can actually see the ribs in the leaf! This is so perplexing!

[Ross]

I see your point! Mine are in pretty low humidity (30-45%) but maybe yours are lower? Overall, the leaves look great, just a bit stressed. I guess at this point I'd check the roots (a good plug for clear pots, where you can check without removing the plant). If you have good viable roots (with phals these will be whitish - maybe a bit of light brown, but not mushy) then just repot. Just my 2 cents.

[susiep]

I'm going out to repot now. But what will be best? The problem is that rhizome. It is about 12" long and 3" in diameter. It is sitting diagonally across the basket now. So finding a proper container is difficult. It needs to hang. Is the coco liner bad for it? I'll look at the roots and post again.

[Ross]

Originally Posted by susiep

I'm going out to repot now. But what will be best? The problem is that rhizome. It is about 12" long and 3" in diameter. It is sitting diagonally across the basket now. So finding a proper container is difficult. It needs to hang. Is the coco liner bad for it? I'll look at the roots and post again.

Can you find waterlily baskets at Home Depot or Menards? These come pretty wide and not too deep. I have one in a 8" basket that is like 6" deep or so. Then use large bark. I wouldn't try to break up the plant. It's a specimen sized plant which is uncommon. It will send out multiple spikes next time (like this time) once it gets its new roots and gets acclimated to new environmnet. Phals like lots of moisture but must dry out between waterings to keep air to the roots. It's not the dryness, it's the air to the roots. Think KLN!

[susiep]

Alright! It looks good under the bark. There are very few roots to cut off. There is about 6 weeks of new growth on the old roots (which is right). They are white because they are underground. I have pictures of the above and below ground roots. I never liked the look of the above roots. They are bumpy and just don't look like what I am used to. No sign of any bugs or mold or odor or anything bad. I am still puzzled. What about this idea? If the roots just need air... I could replace the coco liner with metal mesh (ie metal window screen) and put the phal mix back in. More air would get in but it could still drain properly. I'm off to home depot!

[Gin]

I have several Phals. in the baskets like yours the only thing i do is cut/poke holes in the liner . Gin