purple spot Phal Sick?

[snowflake311]

I LOVE the White Phals with purple spots. My first one had bad roots when I got it and never recovered. I bought a new one and this one was not doing well limp leaves wilting flowers. I have only had it for a month. I checked the roots at the store and I did not see many. When I took it out of the pot I saw 90% of the roots were bad.

What is up with the white with purple spotted phals. Any other people out there have a hard time with them? All my others have been doing great and reblooming.

Am I just unlucky or are the white and purple Phals weak?

[campchi]

Pic would help.

[RosieC]

My first one didn't do well, but I've had others do well. I think you could just be unlucky.

That having been said I wonder if their roots need different conditions to some phals. Are you talking about the sort with big purple random splodges on the white flowers, or the sort with fine pattern of pink spots?

The ones with big splodges are often known as harlequins and they all have a common parent as I understand it, in fact all come from a mutation of that common parent. (Hopefully I've understood that right).

My main harlequin I've been told shows strong characteristics of the common parent in the lip, it also and importantly for you question, has much thinner roots than many of my phals, which do seem more susceptible to rot if the conditions are wrong than many of my others. They also seem to take longer to adapt to change of medium than many of my other phals.

I really don't know if it's genetic It's just a thought that struck me.

I grow mine in lecca (not S/H just plain lecca) and it does OK, but I'm not sure it's the best for it. However it's now settled in and it took a long time to settle and had a lot of root loss while it did. I don't want to change it now.

For yours I would suggest potting it up as you would other phals but then just giving it the best care you can and try not to disturb the roots. Good luck

[snowflake311]

It's this one
spottedphal by Sarah Ireland, on Flickr

I repotted it. Your are right the roots are thin compared to my others phals. It perked up a bit after repotting. The roots were in bad shape only time will tell if this one will be happy. thanks.

[Leafmite]

I grow my Phals in LECA currently and, in the past, in red lava rock. Surprisingly, as long as you give them a good soak when watering, they really love it (I always set them in water to try to keep the leaves from getting water on them).
This past winter, my first year growing under lights, I killed off a bunch of my Phals. The roots were still great but there was no hope for the rest of the plant. The irony!

[Orchid Whisperer]

I would suggest that if you are buying them in person at the local grocery or hardware store, don't be bashful about pulling the clear plastic pot out of the decorative pot that Phals are usually sold in. This give you a chance to look at the roots, through the pot, while you are in the store.

If the roots are OK and you buy the plant, re-pot immediately when you get it home. This won't hurt the blooms. Although I have the best results with coarse medium (usually bark) and clay pots, re-pot in whatever way works best for you.

The inspection and immediate re-pot is the best way to ensure that your plant starts healthy and remains healthy. I have a purple spotted harlequin Phal and it grows just as vigorously as other Phals.

[wintergirl]

I have one too and it's one of my best bloomers.

[snowflake311]

Well it seems to be doing ok after the repot. I do check the roots. With this one I just loved the blooms so much I bought it. I had a gut feeling lack of root might not be a bad thing. My healthy Phals always have too many roots and need a repot. This one did not have many I could see.

Only time will tell if it will pull threw. I was just wondering if maybe these white with purple spotted Phals were weak or if it is was just bad luck.

[RosieC]

Really lovely! No it's not the harlequin sort I was meaning. I've actually found my ones with pink spots like this have been quite vigorous in the roots.

Hope it pulls through for you.

[wintergirl]

Yours is different, mine is more the harlequin type too.