Twisting leaves and overall health

[TheSource674]

Does anyone know why the leaves are curling that way on the fist pic? Its a Phal with no id, also general health comments are always appreciated.

[dounoharm]

it looks like you have a dendrobium, phal type or hard cane....and it looks a little wet in the medium, and not enuf light....gl

[Bud]

This happens to other kinds of orchids, as well, not only to this Dendrobium Phalaenopsis hybrid... especially when there is strong light only from one direction...its like turning a plant on about face & result in twisted & turned leaves.

[TheSource674]

Ah it was a gift from a friend i could sworn it was dend. thanks then! its most likely lack of light although the potting medium is crap. something from stop and shop or w/e i need to get it bark chips or something

[TheSource674]

@Bud
Can I rotate the plant every so often to diminish? It was just winter here so it had to be inside. Now that its out will it go away?

[Wynn Dee13]

It might straighten a little but probably not completely. Some plants just grow that way. It doesn't really matter. If it grows new growths in a place where the light is overhead and not in one direction the new growths should be straight but it also could be how that plant grows. Dendrobiums need more light than Phalaenopsis too.

[RosieC]

Just to clear up name confusion. This is a Dendrobium.

However one of the subgroups of Dendrobium is called phalanthe (shortened to phal).

There also used to be a Dendrobium species called Dendrobium phalaenopsis (or Den phal) but it's since be re-named to Dendrobium biggibum. This is in the phalanthe group.

For this reason people often refer to Den. phal types which are ones that look similar to the Den biggibum species and are in the Den phalanthe sub-genus.

These should NOT be confused the Phalaenopsis genus of orchids which are completely different. Note that Phalaenopsis as a genus has an upper case P but phalaenopsis as a species (as it used to be) has a lower case p.

[RosieC]

As for the twisting leaf, I wouldn't worry too much. My phal type Dens do this sometimes. Not much you can do to straighten them but it's not a sign of a problem, just as others have said down to light direction.