Fungus on my Phal

[Rebecca]

Hi,

I am pretty new to the orchid world, but I have fallen in love! Unfortunately, I somehow always manage to kill my orchids one way or another. My first orchid got really severe root rot (I think my room mate was watering too without telling me and it came in the wrong kind of soil...which I didn't know at the time). My current orchid has a fungus which has been around for the whole winter. I left it untreated because I just didn't know what to do. I recently bought some fungicide called "Garden Safe" It says it's for use on houseplants. Is this one safe? It appears as thought the fungus is on the roots as well, so I was wondering, do I need to repot? It us currently growing new blooms, a leaf and roots, so I'm worried that repotting would cause too much stress to the plant. What is the best way for me to eliminate the problem? Fungicide? Repotting? Cutting off the bad spots? Any suggestions would be great!

[jkofferdahl]

I don't see anything that looks like a fungal infection. The dead spot on the leaf is quite possibly just an injury, and so nothing to worry about. The brown on the roots suggest to me that perhaps the plant could use more humidity.

[camille1585]

I think the roots look fine! Sometimes they get that brown color, not sure why. Many of my phals have roots like that and they are perfectly healthy! As for the leaf, has the spot been spreading? If so, at this point I would just be tempted to cut off the infected part (cut into the healthy tissue to make sure you got it all) and then put some cinnamon on the cut to seal it. if the spot hasn't evolved, I would let it be. Otherwise it looks like a nice healthy orchid, and congrats on the new spike!
And if you want to repot, now is actually the best time since it is actively growing. It probably won't even notice it was repotted.

[Rebecca]

Really, it doesn't look like a fungus?? I thought it was for sure. Other leaves have a slight brown color on the edges, but not nearly as bad. The damaged leaf also has a small black dot on the underside which you can see in the third picture. I'm sure it could use more humidity since I live in Minnesota and the winter was extremely dry. Should I still use a fungicide? Would I use it before or after I cut off the bad spot? I really feel like it's more than just an injury because both of my other plants on the same stand started getting patchy brown spots on their leaves. My once healthy mini rose plant is almost completely done for. I always assumed they had the same problem and it just spread from one to the other. Any suggestions about how to care for a Phal with a new spike? Like I said, I'm really new to this orchid world

[phearamedusa]

Is it possible that really cold water dripped on it from say the window(condensation) or was it touching the cold glass? Just a suggestion, since the overall plant looks healthy.