Help Save my Phalaenopsis - Crown Rot?

[JJC18]

Greetings,

After repotting my 4 year old+ phalaenopsis and cutting off rotting roots, I noticed a couple leaves turning yellow. I had originally thought it may be old leaves falling off at the bottom but not another leaf closer to the top is yellowing.

I noticed some dried spots that may be rot or some disease? I have sprayed the spots with hydrogen peroxide 3% so far.

Hopefully I caught this problem early enough to save my plant!

Any help will be appreciated!

J

[JScott]

I don't see anything that resembles crown rot. Crown rot occurs at the top of the plant where the new leaves emerge. You don't show that part of the plant in the picture. If you are worried about disease, treat the plant with Physan, but I don't think you have crown rot, or at least you can't see it in the pictures. Your plants actually look pretty good.

[JJC18]

More photos of the roots. I think I should be trimming a few more but unsure if there’s rotting or disease with the splotches.

I did take a look at the diseases sticky and I am not sure which of the problems it may be as I see symptoms of multiple different problems.

[JJC18]

And here’s the top and closer views.

My main concern was those drying grey splotches on the stem which is on the upper yellowing leaf. The edges of the leaves are turning yellow.

[estación seca]

Your plant looks fine. Phals in houses seldom carry more than 4-6 leaves unless temperatures, humidity and watering are excellent. They drop older leaves as new ones form. The older leaves turn yellow as they die, then fall off.

Crown rot is usually caused by suffocating the roots, which require air; or very high humidity, higher than in almost any home, combined with poor air flow.

You probably removed or damaged a lot of healthy but old roots, and then the plant couldn't support all its leaves. Dead Phal roots are dark brown or black, and slimy. Anything light brown, wiry, or papery when dry, is probably alive. I don't remove roots unless I'm certain they are dead. I usually can't tell, so I almost always leave all the roots.

When you ask questions it helps to tell us what your growing conditions are: temperatures and humidity day/night, light, where it is (windowsill, terrarium, greenhouse, light room) how you water and fertilize.

[JScott]

Yeah, you don't have crown rot, or even a sick plant. Maybe a little neglected, but it will be fine. Repot it in a good bark based mix and get those roots that are inside the pot covered. Any aerial roots, you can just leave out in the air. Your roots don't look bad. You just have a good plant that's maybe lived a hard life. If you treat it right, it will recover beautifully and reward you with years of blooms.

---------- Post added at 04:09 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:06 PM ----------

Don't use the orchid bark from Lowe's. Orchiata is a great brand of bark. You can get it online from a number of places, including Amazon. Repotme.com has a great selection of mixes, and they are great quality, but they're pretty spendy, but if you only have one plant, or just a few plants, the cost may be worth it.

---------- Post added at 04:12 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:09 PM ----------

If you can, when you repot the plant, pot it a little deeper so that the lowest green leaf is as close to level with the potting mix as you can get it (but not under the potting media). If there's some dead stem at the bottom of the plant that has no live roots on it, you can trim that off to make it easier to pot the plant lower in the pot.

---------- Post added at 04:13 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:12 PM ----------

When you're ready to repot, unpot the plant, clean off all the old medium, and take some pictures of the entire cleaned, unpotted plant, and we may be able to give you further tips on how best to pot the plant.

[JJC18]

Thank you all for the feedback and advice.

I was getting worried because the edges of the upper leaf with the splotches are starting to yellow out so I though there was rotting going along the stem.

I keep the plant in a repotme slotted pot facing a West/Northern window and just moved it to a repotme mixture for Phals a couple of weeks ago. I guess I did cut a few good roots because I didn’t change the potting material for almost 3 or 4 years until now.

I water it once a week using tap water in New York City. It has been very hot and humid as of late here.

[estación seca]

The roots in the last photo are bone dry, and the leaves I see are not shiny and full of water. I try not to let my phals get that dry. If they dry out that much between every watering, they might only carry 3-5 leaves.

People worry about overwatering. The problem isn't too much water, it's too little air at the roots.

[JScott]

Originally Posted by estación seca

The roots in the last photo are bone dry, and the leaves I see are not shiny and full of water. I try not to let my phals get that dry. If they dry out that much between every watering, they might only carry 3-5 leaves.

People worry about overwatering. The problem isn't too much water, it's too little air at the roots.

ES beat me to it, but the next thing I was going to say is that Phal roots should never be that dry. Ge those covered up with a good, quality bark based mix and that will help keep them moist. Remember, they don't want to be soggy, but they never want to be completely dry either.

---------- Post added at 01:40 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:38 PM ----------

I have a lot of Phals that I water every day when it's hot. And too little water could explain the yellowing of the leaves.

---------- Post added at 01:50 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:40 PM ----------

I told this story just a couple days ago, but it seems worth telling again here. In the late 80s or early 90s before home internet was a thing, I used to get my information from books. They all talked about the dangers of overwatering. They stressed it so much, it never occurred to me that you could underwater an orchid.

Then one year my family went to visit my aunt and uncle in Des Moines, Iowa. There, I visit my first real orchid nursery, Iowa Orchids Inc. The owner was there, and I talked to him for a long time and told him how my plants were slow to grow, the bulbs were shriveled, and the new growths were stunted, and of course no flowers. I assured him that I was not over watering.

He asked how much I was watering, and I told him like once a month in the summer when they're outside, and maybe every six weeks in the winter when they are inside. He was absolutely taken aback. He explained to me that "dry" doesn't mean bone dry like a cactus. It just means no droplets of water filling in the air spaces in the medium. Plants need to get dry-ish between waterings, but never bone dry. He said I was not watering nearly enough. I bought a few plants from him, and he threw one in for free. He was a great guy. I don't know if that nursery is still around. This was a long time ago and he was pretty odl then, but he was super nice and helpful, and was thrilled to help a young orchid enthusiast find his way.

I took his advice and started watering more. The pseudobulbs plumped back up, the growths started growing faster, and they even got big enough to bloom. He was totally right. I simply was not watering enough because I was so afraid of watering too much. So take what you will from that. Overwatering can certainly kill an orchid, but underwatering is also certainly possibly. You don't want to do either. Find a happy place in the middle between wet and bone dry, and keep your plants there.

[Dollythehun]

I hate to stick my toe in this water but... In the first two pictures, on the third leaf from the bottom, there is a dry looking area where the leaf clasps the body of the plant. That is the area the OP is worried about.

I agree, the plant is dry. If it were my plant, I would watch that area. Don't get that area wet. It may be mechanical damage. If so, the leaf will fall and the plant will go on. I would water more, and worry less. I have lost leaves higher up on the plant, not often, but it has happened.