Just over ten days ago, I was given two neglected phals to rescue. One of them really had just outgrown its pot and was several years overdue for repotting, and it is doing well.
This one was...disgusting.
That's scale all over the leaves, which I gently cleaned off with damp gauze over the course of a few days, as the leaves were so soft that even rubbing with a Q-tip was tearing them. I wound up removing the largest leaf, as I couldn't get all the scale off and it was tearing and turning to mush.
Then there were the roots...
Ugh. No words needed, really.
Here's what was left after cutting away all that rot...
I didn't have any plastic pots handy, so I sanitized the terra cotta pot that was outside of its cheap-o plastic wrap and repotted it straight in the terra cotta in a mix of bark, charcoal, and perilite.
Here's how it looks today:
The newest leaf and the one just below it are plumping up and becoming rigid again, slowly. The two larger leaves are better than they were, but still quite wrinkled.
These two are on a table well away from the rest of my plants until I'm sure the scale is gone!
My questions are...
Should I remove the larger two leaves so the plant can put is energy into new growth instead of healing them?
It has been about a week since I found any scale on this plant. When is it safe to put it with the rest of my collection?
I've received some plastic pots. Can I repot it again so that I can see the roots and they can get some light, or would that be too stressful?
Is there anything else I can do for it besides wait and see?
Suggestions for rescued phal?
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