What's wrong with this phal?

[Orchidpeeps]

Hello Orchid Growers

I bought this orchid at discount 2 days ago. I repotted it instantly and sprayed the roots and leaves with hydrogen peroxide.
The leaves I used half diluted lemon juice and water to clean the salt deposits from the leaves.

There were not many dead roots, although the orchid did suffer from under-watering. I woke up this morning to a dark soft spot in the upper second leaf of the orchid. When pressed, it feels like the leaf is dead. Should I cut this part off? Should I spray hydrogen peroxide?


The roots don't look very healthy, they turn green but they are a bit soft (pliable) and the velamen does not feel "hard" like my normal phals; BUT - they are definitely not rotten.


There's a new leaf emerging but its stuck in place - it seems to have stopped growing.

I've places pieces of sphagnum moss to create more humidity.

I need to stimulate root and leaf growth.
How can I bring this orchid back to health?

[estación seca]

Welcome to the Orchid Board!

It looks like your repotting job is good. It is now a matter of keeping the plant warm and humid so it can grow new roots. Water when almost dry. There is a lot of good information on Orchid Board in the beginner's forum, which you can access from the left menu on the page, Forums. There is a thread specifically about how to grow Phalaenopsis

here.

There is a thread about how to use a wood cooking skewer to check moistness deep in the pot

here.

The leaf is mostly very pale green, which suggests to me it's been kept in too much shade for a while. The linear nature of the injury looks as though part of the leaf was exposed to bright sun, and sunburned. Any chance it was close to a sunny window on the ride home, or at your home?

I don't think it's a good idea to spray things on plants without a clear reason for doing so. Almost no plants you get from a store will need dunking in anything, or a total-body spray. 3% hydrogen peroxide burns tissue, especially soft succulent tissue such as orchid roots. 3% hydrogen peroxide is used to sterilize soft contact lenses. It kills the germs on the lenses. It may kill roots.

Lemon juice is extremely acid, and can also burn tissue. You can kill weed seedlings with lemon juice (and cooking vinegar, by the way.)

If I thought I had a fungus problem I might treat a very limited part of the orchid with a dab of hydrogen peroxide, but only the affected part. If I didn't have a definite fungus problem I wouldn't use it. Your roots may have been damaged by the peroxide.

I wouldn't use straight lemon juice on plants, period. I would leave salt deposits alone until the plant had adapted to my environment before using chemicals to clean them off. Often the salt deposits come off with pure water and gentle dabbing with a cotton swab.

Most plants do much better without a lot of fussing.

[Orchidpeeps]

Thank you!

MissOrchidGirl on youtube cleaned her leaves with half lemon and half water - which I did. Now, I think it may have been too acidic for the leaves. Also, I did leave the orchid in a hot car for about 10 minutes for grocery shopping so maybe the sun affected the leaf.

Do you think I should cut the effected part of the leaf?

[Whimgrinder]

I agree: Hydrogen Peroxide is an indiscriminate oxidizer: it is used to kill things, and you risk doing so when exposing sensitive root tissue to it. If you used undiluted H2O2 straight from the bottle, you are really asking for trouble. There's simply no need to do this. Same goes for lemon juice. It's a harsh acid. You could have done the job with plain water, I expect.

PS: if you need to include a disinfectant in your arsenal, better to choose something intended for the job, like Physan 20

[Luizacft]

I don't think that mark
is a serious problem - I would observe for some more days to see if it spreads, if it's only sunburn, or if it's an infection.


---
Do. Or do not. There is no try.

[camille1585]

Half water/ half lemon juice is really effective at removing water marks on leaves, and the concentration of juice isn't strong enough to cause damage.

Sunburn does seem possible since you left in in the car. The soft spot shouldn't spread any further in that case, unless it caused a secondary infection (I've had that happen once). I'd leave it alone for now, that area will eventually dry out. If you do see it spreading, the best course of action is probably to cut out that section. (cut in the healthy tissue, you don't want to leave infected bits behind to restart the problem).

[Orchidpeeps]

Do you guys have any thoughts on seaweed extract/kelp extract for promoting root growth?

[estación seca]

A lot of people here use kelp extracts. I use the brand KelpMax from First Ray's. If you use the Search function in the maroon bar at the top you can find a lot of threads explaining how people use it.

[Orchidpeeps]

Hey guys, thanks for the comments. The orchid seems to be okay for now. I am going to purchase seaweed extract tomorrow.

Also, the dark spot on the leaf does not seem to be spreading further along the leaf - that should be a good sign.

[Orchid Whisperer]

The dark area on the leaf (left side of photo) may be rot, such as Erwinia. I can't tell from the photo, but is there a yellow or yellow-green margin next to the dark soft area? That would confirm Erwinia or something similar.

I would cut off that half of the leaf. Whether you cut the leaf or not, watch the plant closely to be sure nothing is spreading.