Please help me identify this yellow and pink Phal

[spiregrain]

I got this at Ikea... I couldn't help myself, they were 2 for $12.99... but the roots were a MESS. Broken, rotting, randomly severed. Why would you even bother growing an orchid if you're going to do that to it? It seems insane to me.

Anyway, I want to see if I can rescue this one and it's buddy (which came in the same pot but was not flowering). I'm sure the flowers will drop soon because the plant was in such bad condition, but I'd like to pin down what it is before that happens -- just on the off chance I am able to resurrect it.

The petals are light lemon yellow, definitely not that light green color you see on a lot of orchids. I couldn't get a good close-up that was in focus, but I think the colors are pretty true.

[RosieC]

Unfortunately unidentified (NoID) Phals are impossible to identify most of the time.

There are so many hybrids which all look like each other, and often they can be one-off hybrids which never get made again.

Yours is very pretty and I hope you manage to save it, if you have any questions about how to deal with it's problems I'm sure someone here will be able to help.

[mehitabel]

As Rosie said, you can't be *sure* on an ID, because so many hybrids are similar to each other.

But I wanted to offer you this hint: a lot of yellows fade a lot before they drop off, and also many phals have a much stronger color when the buds develop in higher light.

So your phal could be a muchly faded dark yellow/gold/even orange color when the flowers are fresh.

You will probably be astonished at the color you get when you have fresh new flowers, especially if you use higher light for your phals.

[spiregrain]

Thanks guys. That's really interesting about the color fading. I am basically new to phals, I have an onc and a vanilla that are good. How much light do you think they need? I have my other two in a moderately sunny window and they're really happy there. My understanding it that phals like somewhat less light than oncs but I'm not sure how much less to start with.

[cabnc]

Kerry's Orchids is a major supplier for 'big box' stores. And they start each phal pot with two plants. Kaleidescope looks like a close match when you factor in the fading flower color.

Kerry's

Charlie

[mehitabel]

That's funny, Charlie. An aging Baldans K was my first thought, too.

Spiregrain, here's what I would do: put your phal in the same window where you have your onc, but about 1 foot further away from the window than the other orchids are. At one foot away, it is getting half the light the onc is.

Feel the leaves while the sun is shining in the window. If the sun is too bright for it, the leaves will feel warm. If they are warm, move it another 6 inches away. If cool, you can move it a few inches closer to the window.

Repeat and repeat til you have it where it seems to get maximum light while the leaves stay cool. That way you don't risk burning it, but you are giving it the best light you can.

My guess would be your phal will do fine with the other two orchids, or just a few inches further away.

My mistake when I first started with orchids was to interpret "bright shade" as shade. They are talking about greenhouses, where bright shade is very nice light indeed.

[Los Christabel]

I am willing to bet that your NOID is probably Phal. Chian Xen Queen, cultivar unknown. Hope this helps.

[No-Pro-mwa]

Sorry I'm sure they will never see this as this thread was back in 2009.

[Los Christabel]

Wups!