Yellowing stem on miniature Phal
 

I just picked up my second orchid. It's some kind of miniature phal hybrid, but it did not have a label so I'm not sure of the name. When I saw it in the store I noticed some yellowing on the stem. I knew I probably should've chosen another plant, but I couldn't resist the blooms on this one.

So, I'm wondering if anyone could diagnose this and tell me what treatment options I have. I'll be repotting shortly (I'm waiting on some supplies from RePotme).

The main question is really, would this be considered crown rot, and should I treat it like crown rot?

Aside from the yellowing stem and root rot, the plant seems fairly healthy. It has a new leaf growing and a budding root and the stem is still firm despite the yellowing.

Thanks in advance!

The information on what to do is already on the OB on numerous threads, including the stickies in the Beginner Discussion forum.

Please read the stickies.

And it also has a bit of bleaching from over exposure to the sun.

I read the stickies and I don't recall finding anything, but I'm sure it's there. I just missed it. I'll go back and reread.

The photo I posted is quite bright under the lights in my kitchen which I think makes the plant look a bit worse than it actually is. I do see the sun damage though. They had the plant in pretty bright and direct light at the nursery. The light back home is much more indirect so hopefully, once I take care of the stem damage, it can do okay. We'll see if I have the skill to tackle this one.

The recommendation would've been to repot immediately.

As soon as I get the materials I will. I just got the orchid a few hours ago and ordered the medium and pot as soon as I got home. Unfortunately, I don't have a good orchid nursery near me. The garden center I go to doesn't have clear pots at all (which is strange to me) or any medium fine enough for a mini.

I use the same size medium for mini phals as I do for the regular phals. I just pick through the regular sized stuff for the smaller pieces of bark and break up the moss with my finger tips.

Wish I'd have thought of that! Thanks for the advice, I'll definitely keep it in mind.

Also, I'd like to kind of revise the question I posed in the original post. I think what I'm mainly asking is, would this be considered crown rot and should I treat it like crown rot? (I'll edit that into the main post.)

It's not crown rot.

Over exposure to light - bleaching.

Oh! Now it makes sense. I thought that yellowing was the beginnings if crown rot. Okay. Thank you very much.

No, yellowing does not always mean crown rot. It can, but it could be something else too.

That's why I ask for pics all the time.

Different causes of the problem can look similar to each other. The differences between symptoms can be very subtle sometimes.

Pics = more reliable diagnoses + faster diagnoses

No pics = educated guesses that may or may not be entirely accurate

---------- Post added at 07:56 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:51 PM ----------

Btw, I'd also recommend cutting the spikes with sterile cutters and putting the flowers in a vase.

Just in case there are other problems, the plant can save up energy.

You don't have to cut the spikes if you don't want to.