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- - Help with Phal disease (http://www.orchidboard.com/community/pests-and-diseases/92759-help-phal-disease.html)

Congratulations on the new baby!

Phals don't much like being cold.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Selmo (Post 828702)

This does not look like mite damage as leaves would be pitted or have a silvery shine to them. Looks like it could be pseudomonas, one of the bacteria brown rots. How are you watering? Misting, watering from above or soaking pot in bucket of water? How long is the leaf surface staying wet? When are you watering, morning, afternoon? I ask these questions because, the more time that the leaf surface stays wet, the better chance of bacterial rots and fungal infections. Move infected plants aways from other plants as this spreads from splashing water. Water your plants by placeing pot/basket into bucket of room temp water up to crown of plant, keeping leaves as dry as possible. Water early in the day, this will give the leaves more time to dry. Do not water on cloudy, cool days. Increase air movement. You can use hydrogen peroxide or Physan, but don't think these are a cure all. Rots can move quickly, keep a close watch to make sure this does not move to crown or severe things can happen. If it continues to move toward the crown, remove infected area with a sterile sharp knife between the infection and the crown. These spots will stay and never turn back green, making leaf unsightly until the leaf drops. Good watering practices, better air movement will help avoid this in future. Hope this helps

Most of my Phals are mounted... so it's hard to soak the pot :p

I have good watering habits. Always in the early morning, room temp RO water, not in.direct sun, etc. I do mist the mounted plants, more the spag and aerial roots then the leaves... water splashing from one another is not really a problem except perhaps when I did the miticide... never have water sitting in crown, anyway that doesn't really happen with mounted phals... the potted hybrids that have the issue I soak the pot and never really mist the leaves... I might mist the top layer of spag between watering but that's all. I don't think my watering is the root cause. Can mites going from.one plant to.another transit the brown rot?

Quote:

Originally Posted by estación seca (Post 828712)

Congratulations on the new baby!

Phals don't much like being cold.

Thanks :-)

Some Phals actually enjoy cooler temps. I own a Phal Lindenii and it strives in my coolest windowsill in our harsh Canadian winters.
Yeah I know cold is not ideal for most phals, but my hybrids have normally handled really well the cooler windowsills and my species never really get cold, nothing under 20C at night... this year most of them show bruises of that nature. Some have just a spot or two nothing alarming. But some are really getting me worried and now seeing spots also on some of my species I'm getting really concerned.

So can cold actually cause bruises like this?? If this is Bacterial rot should I remove infected portions? What do I do??

cold water dripping on the leaves could cause cell collapse.

Keep in mind more experienced minds have already answered. My Phals are in a North facing greenhouse window. Some of them have pitting much worse than yours. They are now losing those lower leaves. The new growth looks fine. I also have some discoloration but the new growth is fine. All bloom reliably. My assessment is cold damage or physical damage. My window is over the kitchen sink. It is always humid and bright but even with two fans running it condenses. That cold condensation dripping on a leaf could cause spotting. My temps are 69 f during the day and probably 60 at night. I would monitor it.

Ok if the root cause of all this is cold dammage, I've already fixed that problem. All my plants are now on shelves away from any cold. My new issue will be providing sufficient light, which should be fixed with the LED system I'm currently installing them...

Any special attention needs to be givent to affected plants? If this is cold dammage, and I fix the temp issues, should this stop and not evolve any further, or can does spot keep getting bigger?

My spots did not get bigger but, I had many, and it involved the lowest leaves. Those leaves are now dying off. If I have learned anything from this Board, it is not to over react and be more patient. You may not have a problem at all. And, I do not mean this to be harsh or condescending. From experience only.

If it is cold damage, it is better to run them a little more on the dry side.

My thoughts, exactly.