Leaves shriveling overnight? Sunken/pitted areas

[Orchidreamer]

I have a Phal violacea that was shipped to me. All the other plants in the same box are ok, but this one has started showing strange symptoms.

The lowest leaf just shriveled overnight...which is strange because the plant has nice roots and is neither overwatered nor under watered. I thought, ok, fine, it's just shedding its oldest leaf. Nope, boy was I wrong. This morning, I noticed some pitted/sunken areas on the undersides of the two largest leaves. And these pitted areas are starting to feel soft to the touch...I'm afraid they're going to shrivel too!

I'm growing it indoors, at 70 deg all day and indirect sunlight with supplemental T8 lighting. It is potted in the mix it came in, consisting of perlite, charcoal, and peat moss (which I plan to switch out of). Roots look fine, and I watered it and sprayed with physan.

Could it be cold damage? Or some other disease? I've seen my fair share of cold damage but never anything like this!

[greengarden]

Your photos aren't working but given the speed with which the other leaf shrivelled and that you have already treated with fungicide my response would be pretty drastic. First I'd move it well away from my other plants and then I would cut off any leaves that were showing any signs of infection. If it still continued to spread after that I'd turf it.

[Orchidreamer]

Thank you. I've isolated the plant in a room by itself.

I don't know if I can just post the links to the photos:
photo 1
photo 2
photo 3

I'm worried about cutting off the two larger leaves because if I do...it'll be nearly leafless. I will keep an eye on it.

[greengarden]

They don't look as bad as I was imagining they might but definately keep a close eye on things. They look a little like they might be having absorbtion issues with the roots but I can see a couple of short air roots that look OK, what do the ones in the medium look like?

[Orchidreamer]

I agree, the leaves remind me of the classic rootless Home Depot rescue phals.

Which is strange, given the roots, which I think are ok? Here are the roots, taken before the shriveling started. I always check the roots of my new plants, and never had an ill side effects before...

securedownload-5 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

[greengarden]

They look pretty good, but quite wet? Unless that photo was taken right after watering I'd wonder maybe whether the medium was holding too much water. A watering regime that suits your potting method might be too much for someone who uses a more water holding medium.

[Orchidreamer]

Yeah, I had just watered the plant after I received it. I was surprised at how wet the medium became so I unpotted the plant to check out the roots, and took the photo. I do want to repot it into my favorite fir bark mix.

This whole situation would make more sense if the roots were rotten or dried up. Not that I want rotten or dried up roots, lol.

[silken]

Was your plant subject to cold temps during shipping? It doesn't look like a black rot or anything. And the roots look good. Hopefully no more leaves will do that.

[Orchidreamer]

Temps were pretty warm in the vendor's region. Here, the temps are in the 40s. The plants were shipped in a styrofoam box for insulation, with more styrofoam inside, and packed with cotton-like polyester. The box arrived quickly in 2 days, and I was at the window waiting for the mailman so he could directly hand the box to me.

That's what I first thought...cold damage. But it looks different from the cold damage I've seen in the past. I've had many orchids shipped to me in December and January in the past, and never had any cold damage issues. But I guess seedling phals are more sensitive

[silken]

Can't think what else it could be. It might be worth contacting the vendor. They may be able to help.