Oddly purple/red new phal leaf

[Erica0227]

Hello so I got a lil phal hybrid from my local farmer's market a couple months ago and it recently put out a new leaf. Problem is, it is weirdly red. The underside of the very small new leaf (1 inch maybe) is nearly all purple and it has purple spots on the top too. I would normally think it's sun damage (my friend got the same orchid as me but she accidentally left it on a southern windowsill so her new leaf was stunted), however my orchid is on a northern windowsill. The mini phals near it are all doing alright and producing normal leaves. Could it be genetics causing this? It had yellow fragrant flowers.

[Erica0227]

Also this is what my friend's phal looked like due to sun damage I believe.

[Dalachin]

It is likely genetics, as you suggest. Some phals have leaves that have a purple tint or purple freckles and distinctly purple undersides. It can be especially apparent in new leaves and when leaves are getting sufficient light.

[buzzlightyear]

hi erica, I think most would agree, ask anyone on here and they will say it's normal, mainly down to genetics and I agree with that, some seem more likely to do it than others.

We could leave it at that and I don't wish to confuse you. Some would say so why try? Why not, if we discover something new it might be worth getting confused once in a while.

I actually did a bit of experimenting when it happened to my phal and I managed to get rid of the purpling in the end. It took a while though.

Anyway I took a quick snapshot, in hindsight it's not the best, it's growing better than it looks on the picture, I took it at a weird angle to show the underside of the older leaves and I tried to get a bit of the new leaves which are now a nice lush green again.

Just in case you were interested. I cannot tell you how I managed to do it unfortunately. I have copyrighted that information. But maybe there is a member here who also knows and is able to tell you.

I know many do insist it is completely normal and I'd agree but then I have managed to make mine grow out of it. So I will just add the picture as evidence of what I am talking about. Pictures speak a thousand words right?

Sorry I can't be more help, I wish I could.

[orkkid]

Is the plant still purple-y?

I have a Queen Beer with very purple/red highlights & freckles. Only one, but she seems to take more sun than her peers.

[estación seca]

Phals. don't ever need any direct sun on their leaves. They produce more and larger flowers in low light compared to high light.

[rbarata]

It would be useful to read this.

[Optimist]

It is anthrocyanine, a pigment used by plants to protect their leaves, and usually means the plant is recieving the maximum of sun it should get, otherwise it is perfectly safe and healthy. Remember all that stuff about why plants are green? Green is a part of the light spectrum being rejected by the chromablasts (and chromaplasts) in the upper cells of the plant's leaves-- like melalin in people and animals. Color is a matter of "rejected" light waves. So what is happening is that the plant is also rejecting a bit of the red and violet light waves as well.

You can see that chlorophyll absorbs strongly in the blue and red parts of the spectrum, but absorbs almost no light in the green part – and that's why plants are green. Green light isn't absorbed so it gets reflected, and that's what we see when we look at a tree.

I was always told to place your plant where the leaves get just a touch of that red/violet color and they will be in a perfectly happy space. Cattleyas take quite a bit more and can be in full sun in most lattitudes, phalenopsis take much less, being understory plants.

This spring look at many of your plants in a garden and you will see that immature (unhardened) leaf growth is often red (this is very obvious in Roses).