Phal. Cornu-cervi red crown rot?

[troydingle]

Today I sadly found out that the two top leaves of my phal cornu cervi have been dried off. And I wonder if the crown could be rot or something else. The whole plant looks actually fine. The other leaves are okay the roots are okay. No sign of anything rot. The flowers buds are also fully opened. So I don’t know what I could do wrong. And should I just be patient for the plant to get back on track or just get ready to find a replacement? Need some opinions please

[troydingle]

That was the plant just one day before. With the top 2 leaves of course.

[Dollythehun]

I find this interesting. I have a phal equestris alba doing much the same thing. It has three flower
spikes in full bloom and great roots. The first leaf got a yellow spot and prompt dried up, the second and third quiclky followed suit. I bought some of Ray's Inocucor and followed the directions, I put peroxide in the crown (no fizzing) and isolated it. It sat for two weeks and I thought it was cured but, a few days ago I noticed a lower leaf with a sunken spot which is rapidly turning yellow. I asked a couple senior members about it and they were stumped too. So, I'm anxious you hear what your verdict is.

[Roberta]

Crown is definitely gone, but if the roots are good, expect a basal keiki or two that will take off, probably fairly quickly. Phal. cornu-cervi definitely tends to makes clumps. I suspect that monopodial growths have a finite lifetime, then sprout those new growths at the base to keep the plant going. (I have to figure that's the course of nature... when have you ever seen a 2-meter-tall Phal cornu-cervi? Doesn't happen...) Just keep taking care of the plant and be patient.

By the way, this thread should be under Phalaenopsis/ Species instead of Hybrids. Perhaps a moderator can move it.

[troydingle]

I checked the plant again today. And the crown is definitely dead. The other leaves are about to go too. The roots are fine but stopped growing (no green tip). So unfortunate. Now I will just hope for basal keikis but I don’t think it’s gonna make it. The thing is, I was very careful with this one and still don’t understand why it got to this stage. Well...
Should I cut off the two flower spikes, which are on going? Or just leave it.

[Dollythehun]

Roberta told me, as she just told you, to keep taking care of the plant and keep it. I did isolate it from the others, however.

[Roberta]

I would leave the flower spikes - if they are green, the plant can re-use the energy stored there. They are helping the plant, not draining it.
Just this year I had a Phal. stuartiana of which I am quite fond, develop a terminal spike and once it was done, the growth started to fade. But a keiki started to form as the mother growth was dying, and it has developed very quickly. There is hope!

[estación seca]

I'll reiterate this plant might survive long-term by pushing new growth from low on the stem.

The commonest causes of trouble with this kind of Phal are root rot from airless wet medium - which seems not to be your problem - and too low temperatures. Big white and pink hybrid Phals tolerate much lower temperatures than the smaller star-flowered plants, which also much prefer high humidity. What have your temperatures and humidity been?

[troydingle]

I’ve been keeping it quite bright and warm together with other species. Temp 70-82F and 60% humidity so it was doing indeed very well. So I hope it might produce at least one keiki soon. Finger crossed.