Unknown cause of necrosis in Phals

[Drosha]

Hi Everyone.

l have been growing phalaenopsis for 6 years and they have been doing great. l used to grow them in my dining room and lounge until l got a hothouse 2.5 years ago. Since then l have got a huge problem. Come winter, cells are collapsing in the leaves and l can't find the reason behind it. l water them every 5-6 days, never on the leaves, temperature ranges between 16 and 28 degrees. Come spring the new leaves are fine and they all are pushing flower spikes now. They look very odd something like 1 leave, 1 spike. this is not happening to all my phallies. Some of my phals are just fine old and new. Can anybody help?

[Call_Me_Bob]

Originally Posted by Drosha

Hi Everyone.

l have been growing phalaenopsis for 6 years and they have been doing great. l used to grow them in my dining room and lounge until l got a hothouse 2.5 years ago. Since then l have got a huge problem. Come winter, cells are collapsing in the leaves and l can't find the reason behind it. l water them every 5-6 days, never on the leaves, temperature ranges between 16 and 28 degrees. Come spring the new leaves are fine and they all are pushing flower spikes now. They look very odd something like 1 leave, 1 spike. this is not happening to all my phallies. Some of my phals are just fine old and new. Can anybody help?

that happened to one of my phals, i didnt do anything different to it.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

For something this unusual, it helps alot to post a pic.

[Drosha]

Hi Phillip

I'll see what I can do pic wise. I'm actually asking on behalf of a friend who is not so computer literate.
Thanks

[Drosha]

I went to see the sick phals, and I can describe them a bit better now. some of the phals are sick, not all. Pitted areas occur on top of the leaves, with signs of chlorosis and necrosis. Sometimes these areas start going pinkish. The roots are healthy. Some of the sick phals are pushing flower spikes. The sick leaves ooze a sticky sap from the affected areas but there are no signs of any bugs, mites, flies or anything of that nature. The temperatures are in Celsius, forgot to mention that, and we are based in the southern hemisphere.
Could it be a virus that only manifests during stressed conditions?

[Call_Me_Bob]

mine doesnt look like that bad.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

I don't think it's viral.

It could be sunburn. Or it's bacterial. Maybe even from not watering enough as well.

[camille1585]

All I can saw is 'wow' when I see that picture. Whatever it is, it's bad. It almost looks like chilling/cold damage that got infected by fungus/bacteria. Are you certain that the temperature is not dipping any lower than 16C? Is the greenhouse getting very rapid fluctuations in temperature? Phals are tropical plants, and it doesn't need to be freezing for the cold to affect them. Anything belong 10°C certainly damages them, and even temps up to 12-13°C can cause damage if it's prolonged or if the humidity is high.
That being said, it's only my best guess.

As for virus, I'm dubious. Symptoms would be visible year round, and the new leaves would show symptoms are soon as they appear.

[Drosha]

Thanks for the advice!!
If there are signs of improvement I'll post what changes were made, hopefully it may be of some help in the future.

Best regards from the far south.

Drosha

[Call_Me_Bob]

this is mine, its gotten worse, and lost its bloom after 1 week and a half between in bloom