Does my phalaenopsis have thrips?

[akhenenra]

Originally Posted by Dimples

That looks like sunburn/heat/light damage. Thrips don’t produce straight lines of color difference like that. I’ve zapped leaves from green to yellow on my ficus lyrata through a south facing window slowly over one winter. The plant was happily growing so I didn’t notice until the yellowing was pronounced on a few leaves. It’s not hard to do with direct light that’s a little too strong.

I appreciate this response. Only thing that trips me up there is that it's on the lower leaves which is counterintuitive for light damage. I was wondering if maybe while the plant was upstairs under lower light (for 3 months) it adapted to that light level and basically when I put it back in the tent it was extra sensitive and was burned before it adapted to the more intense levels again? Does that make sense at all?

Alternatively I have wondered if any of my fertilizer, physan, quantum orchid etc treatments could make the leaves more sensitive to the grow bulb. Has anyone else ever experienced burning they attributed to chemical treatment?

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by akhenenra

I appreciate this response. Only thing that trips me up there is that it's on the lower leaves which is counterintuitive for light damage. I was wondering if maybe while the plant was upstairs under lower light (for 3 months) it adapted to that light level and basically when I put it back in the tent it was extra sensitive and was burned before it adapted to the more intense levels again? Does that make sense at all?

Alternatively I have wondered if any of my fertilizer, physan, quantum orchid etc treatments could make the leaves more sensitive to the grow bulb. Has anyone else ever experienced burning they attributed to chemical treatment?

It does make sense - orchids hate abrupt change. So if the light level increased sharply, it would be very possible to toast leaves a bit. Phals are low-light plants, so would tend to be particularly sensitive.

I doubt that your treatments had anything to do with it.

[akhenenra]

Originally Posted by Dimples

That looks like sunburn/heat/light damage. Thrips don’t produce straight lines of color difference like that. I’ve zapped leaves from green to yellow on my ficus lyrata through a south facing window slowly over one winter. The plant was happily growing so I didn’t notice until the yellowing was pronounced on a few leaves. It’s not hard to do with direct light that’s a little too strong.

I appreciate this, thanks, after examining the leaves again based on the pattern of the damage I'm now pretty confident it's light related somehow. I'll be more careful moving plants around. Thank you!