I am a novice, is this sunburn?

[dmagnan]

I'm fairly new to orchids, and about a week ago my wife saw some phals in the store and liked them, so now we both have one. I've been reading about good care, but it seems one week in and I already need to ask for advice. Mine is in a West-facing window which gets direct sun all afternoon, and just today I noticed the edge of one of the new leaves is yellowing. Now from the little I know, I think this could be/probably is sunburn, but I just wanted to get some more experienced opinions.

I tried to be careful by leaving it in a slightly shaded area for a few days, but maybe that wasn't long enough, or maybe the window is just too bright even for a well-adapted plant. Is that even possible?

Additionally, someone suggested that this is a phal hybrid, but I honestly don't know, so excuse me if this post is in the wrong place.

Thanks in advance for any help

[PaphMadMan]

First, yes this is definitely a hybrid Phal, probably of the type that was called Doritaenopsis, but is now just Phalaenopsis because the genus Doritis got merged into Phalaenopsis. Yours is a complex multi-generation hybrid and a precise identification will never be certain if it came with no name.

It might have been better to post your question in the beginner discussion section because it might get more attention, but it isn't a problem here.

Yes, it is possible to sunburn a Phal in a west window that gets direct sun, but I don't think you did. It really takes weeks or months of gradual change to adapt a plant to brighter light, but it probably was raised in a greenhouse with very bright light anyway, for fast growth.

Sunburn would usually show up as a broad patch on the flat part of the leaf that happens to catch the sun straight on for too long. The yellow edge you see is more typical of physical damage that sometimes happens to tender leaf edges when plants get moved around - one rub of the thin edge against a harder surface or edge, like the inside of a box, or a stake it slides against, and a strip just a few cells wide gets bruised. Usually not serious at all, just a little unsightly.

[dmagnan]

That makes perfect sense, OK, thanks very much!

[astrid]

That doesn't look like sunburn. I have a phal that I've been trying to recover for over a year now (nearly two years) and it has been doing nothing.
Now it's developed those yellow edges around the sides of the leaf and its growth is even more slowed down!

If your phal happens to be sick and doesn't seem to thrive after a few months, there is no harm in getting a new one!

I don't agree with paph madman's idea of the yellowing edge being mechanical damage. I think this is some kind of illness because it appeared on my phal as well. I have quite a few orchids that I am growing now, so I am not pulling this out of thin air!

You can see in this picture that one orchid has stunted leaves and growth compared to the other (and the one in the back is a mini, while the one in the front used to have leaves twice as big as the mini phal had!!)


And here you can see that same yellow edging:


I think you should enjoy the blooms on that one, then toss it and get a new one. I don't think this is a condition that will let it thrive. As for sunburn, lol, I'll show you a sunburn!!


That sunburn happened over the course of 3 hours while I was away, through a little slit in my blinds. We have clouds all winter, and it was the first bright sun in springtime, and this zapped it! It's just like running around in the sun after a winter of no tanning. You burn first.
...except with orchids it can leave hideous scars like this and you have to tolerate them until they age and shed old leaves.

Good luck!

[AnonYMouse]

Astrid, looking at your pic #2, yours might actually be variegated. Do you know if that plant has amabilis or aphrodite in it's background?

[astrid]

Originally Posted by AnonYMouse

Astrid, looking at your pic #2, yours might actually be variegated. Do you know if that plant has amabilis or aphrodite in it's background?

It is not variegated. This yellow edging appeared all of a sudden and the plant has quit thriving. I think it is a symptom of an illness. The plant has plenty of healthy roots but quit growing its new leaf, while its neighbor has been just vigorously growing.

The plant was all green for over a year, then this showed up and the plant is behaving as though it is ill now.

[dmagnan]

well I'm not going to just toss it, regardless, although I hope it's nothing serious like you're saying. Worst-case scenario sounds like it just doesn't grow well or takes a long time to recover, that doesn't seem like a good reason to kill it.

Anyways, after getting it I did actually take it out of the pot to check the roots and loosen the dense ball of moss around the roots, so it seems likely that between that, transportation, and being in the store, that it could have been damaged. But it hasn't lost any flowers or buds and buds are still developing at about 1 every 2 days, so I'm not going to worry about its growth just yet.

(I also drilled a hole in the bottom of the ceramic pot and got rid of the flimsy plastic pot inside the ceramic--it really couldn't be more obvious that the nurseries are selling flowers and not plants)

[astrid]

Originally Posted by dmagnan

well I'm not going to just toss it, regardless, although I hope it's nothing serious like you're saying. Worst-case scenario sounds like it just doesn't grow well or takes a long time to recover, that doesn't seem like a good reason to kill it.

Anyways, after getting it I did actually take it out of the pot to check the roots and loosen the dense ball of moss around the roots, so it seems likely that between that, transportation, and being in the store, that it could have been damaged. But it hasn't lost any flowers or buds and buds are still developing at about 1 every 2 days, so I'm not going to worry about its growth just yet.

(I also drilled a hole in the bottom of the ceramic pot and got rid of the flimsy plastic pot inside the ceramic--it really couldn't be more obvious that the nurseries are selling flowers and not plants)

Fun fact:
When you're new to the hobby, you might develop this incredibly strong aversion to growing things in sphagnum moss because "roots need to breathe" and "they'll all rot off" HOWEVER it can be used as a proper growing media without issues.
I grow my paphiopedilums in it, and while my phals are blooming and new from the store, I leave them in the sphagnum moss.

The issue is that people tend to be heavy-handed with watering and that will cause the roots to get sick and rot off if done in combination with the water-retentive sphagnum moss.

Each potting mix is suited to a certain climate in combination with certain watering habits, and if you match all the factors up, you can grow a number of orchids in a number of different potting mixes and they'll be just fine.

Also, if you see an orchid potted in "dirt" this is actually probably promix, which is water-retentive but not harmful to the orchid unless you overwater it!

Hmm... one other thing!
When you're new to the hobby you may think, "Oh I just can't toss it, that's heartless how could someone do that!!"
Haha but once you're in it for a while, you think, "I should toss that... no ... let's wait another 6 months and watch it die slowly, then toss it!"
Also if you ask all the weirdos on here, they'll tell you that "the more orchids you kill, the better! It teaches you how to care for them..." what a morbid bunch!!

The moral of that story is that even experienced growers kill their plants on a somewhat regular basis and that's just the way things go!!

[dmagnan]

I'm familiar with sphagnum moss and watering schedules because I grow venus flytraps. I've got hundreds of them, some in pure LF sphagnum. So I'm not too worried about growing in pure sphagnum, but several posts suggest making sure that it's less dense than what comes home from the store. So I took out about 30-40% and made it nice and fluffy. Thanks!

[PaphMadMan]

Not all yellow leaf edges are created equal. I suggested the mechanical damage because the plant was recently purchased, and such plants have been through a lot of rough handling along the way - and it looked like characteristic edge damage.

Astrid - I agree your plant does not look like mechanical damage. Slight nutrient deficiency coming on perhaps.

Thanks for posting the perfect example of sunburn, and the comment on how easily it can happen. Leaf temperature is the key. The leaves should never feel distinctly warm to the touch when in the sun. Good air movement goes a long way in keeping them cool, something those commercial operations that grow in brighter light always have.