palaeonopsis top leaf turned brown and fell off
 

Hi all,
I received a palaeonopsis last year around June 2013. When I recevd the plant it had atleast 6 beautiful hot pink colored flowers. Within 2 months, all of the flowers and the 3 new buds all fell off.
Just to get you caught up-I have watered the plant with orchid food fertilizer since day one. I have always used the precaution of immersing it in fertilizer water for 10 minutes, taking it out then straining all of the water out of the clear container it sits in. I know I made a mistake many months ago by getting the very middle top leaf wet, so inadvertently it turned brown, shriveled up and fell off. Does that mean that I should throw the plant away, since the main lifeline is dead? Plus, it hasn't flowered since last June. Shouldn't they bloom from winter through spring? There is now new growth. It just looks like a dead tree. The leaves are beautifully dark green, and the stems are still darker green. no spikes or buds since last June.
Any advice would be great...I hope I was specific enough.
Thanks so much,
Sandi

Now, I am no expert but from my understanding dark green leaves may indicate that the Phal. is not getting enough light. Would you happen to have any pictures?

This just happened to me with a mini phal and I'm not throwing it away. The hope is that it will grow a basal keiki but you're correct, you probably won't get any new leaves from the main plant anymore. It's up to you if you want to throw it away or wait for a basal keiki.

Not sure if it will grow a new leaf at the top or not as this hasn't happened to me personally nor have heard from others. However, three things do strike me.

1.) What is the balance of the fertilizer you are using and are you doing it as instructed on the label? Generally speaking, we tend to cut the recommended amount in half in the amount of water they recommend. So "weakly, weekly." Dang it though, I can't remember the appropriate balance at the moment so I hope someone can chime in on that.

2.) If you bought yours in bloom in June or July, it may either produce spikes later than others due to whatever species used to make it, or it may have been forced to bloom and could potentially skip one year. They typically bloom once a year in the later part of winter throughout spring, but there are some that bloom at other times of the year. I'm guessing it is spending time recuperating from the leaf issue and it may just skip this year, but I have some that are just now starting to send out spikes so you never know.

3.) Does your orchid feel temperature differences so it knows the difference between winter and summer? We try to let our Phals feel temps as low as 60F generally speaking for a few weeks. The lower night temp tells them what season it is and helps them to realize when to initiate their flower spikes. However, generally they say if an orchid isn't blooming then it's typically an issue with light (too low), not enough humidity, fertilizing issues and/or temperature problems.

Hope that helps a tad.


Paul McMahon
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