HELP!!!! Phal leaves and spike seem to be filled with water. HELP!!!!

[Leafmite]

Did you get water on the leaves? What type of lighting did your orchid get with those temperatures?

[willie_woo]

Light comes from a window. Not direct sun, but fairly bright sun, cast a distinctive shadow.

My girlfriend said she got some water on the plant, right in the center, when she watered it last... could that have been bad for it somehow?

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[tarev]

What type of media is your Phal growing in?

[kindrag23]

Phals actually grow what we would consider upside down in their natural habitat. So the water does not actually sit in the crown it runs out. So it is best to try as hard as you can to not get water in the crown it sits in there and cause what is called crown rot. If I do get it in there I GENTLY use a q tip or 2 and dab it out as best I can. Accidents do happen we just have to be careful and fix them.

I think you should be able to post pictures now after posting 5 times.

[willie_woo]

It is in sphagnum.

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---------- Post added at 06:53 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:43 PM ----------



Here is what the last leaf looked like.

I cut the spikes off and I am taking all the old media of and repotting it in a terra-cotta pot with fresh sphagnum.

[tarev]

Now that makes sense, I think your sphagnum moss is very wet. So your plant is overwatered. Dunking root zone works good if media is bark mix, it drains fast..with sphagnum, it will absorb more, stay wet more, and you said some water also got into the crown..all the more too wet.

You may want to consider changing your media to bark mix. It will also help your plant dry out from being too overwatered.

And run your ceiling fan right after watering, to help with air circulation too.

[Orchid Whisperer]

Soft, watery leaves is bacterial soft rot (such as Erwinia). Rot spreading into the stem does not sound good.

When you can post pictures, that would help in assessing if the plant can be saved or not.

[willie_woo]

Orchid Whisperer, how do you treat soft rot?

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[Brooke]

The Whisperer is correct. You have a bacterial infection and it is highly contagious to other plants. I don't know if the infection can be stopped but you can try either a 1 part bleach to 10 parts water or Physan poured into the crown.

I lost a gigantea to this scourge. The first leaf to get the soft wet spot I removed and treated with Physan. A few months later I had another spot appear, removed the leaf, used the bleach water, and then several months later, it appeared again and I had to throw it out.

The gigantea was mounted and watered daily. The spots always appeared from one day to the next. This is a VERY fast moving bacteria. Also my spots were never in the crown, it was always a couple of inches away. Good luck with it.

Brooke

[Orchid Whisperer]

Originally Posted by willie_woo

It is in sphagnum.

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---------- Post added at 06:53 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:43 PM ----------



Here is what the last leaf looked like.

I cut the spikes off and I am taking all the old media of and repotting it in a terra-cotta pot with fresh sphagnum.

Sorry, I did not see this picture when I posted. Bacterial rot in the leaf where it joins the stem is a bad sign. A picture of what remains of the plant is what is needed. If there is anything left to treat, try what Brooke suggested. Any tissue that shows signs of this bacterial rot need to be cut out immediately, with the cut through healthy tissue in a wide margin around the rot.

If this has progressed into the leaf bases (close to the stem) on the other leaves, time to throw out this plant and maybe try again with a new one. Before your next orchid purchase, there is a lot of good advice in this thread: http://www.orchidboard.com/community...ends-here.html With a new plant, best treatment is actually prevention; re-pot into well-drained medium, don't over-water, keep water out of the crown of the plant.