Too much light for P. stuartiana?

[Izzie]

Thanks trdyl and Connie, that's very helpful!

Connie- patient is right. This better be worth it !

[camille1585]

I agree that higher light will prompt smaller leaves, but in my experience it's not small leaves like you describe. In high light the new leaves on my phals always grow out to be the same length as the previous leaves, but they are much much narrower. Fore example, I have one phal who grew leaves in low light, those are about 11cm wide. When I moved the plant into higher light, the new leaves came out only 7cm wide.

It could be that the leaf on yours has just stalled, for whatever reason.

[Izzie]

Thanks Camille...hmmm. more to consider.

[Connie Star]

Another thing about mine- I had it out last summer on my shade table and a small area of one leaf got too much sun and now it is brown- fortunately it is only a small area.

[greenbean]

I've had a stuartiana for a couple years now. In my relatively cool indoor environment (highs of 67-72F in winter, rarely over 76 in summer) my plants don't grow very fast, but the stuartiana especially loves to torture me by putting on a half inch or so of growth and then stalling for a while before the new leaves grow any further. It repeats this several times until the new leaf is full size.

The anthocyanins are normal. The purple spots on the upper surface should turn green as the leaf matures. I have a philippinensis also that has some purple spots even on mature leaves, but no burning, bleaching, or any other signs of damage. They are just very colorful plants.

[Izzie]

Originally Posted by greenbean

I've had a stuartiana for a couple years now. In my relatively cool indoor environment (highs of 67-72F in winter, rarely over 76 in summer) my plants don't grow very fast, but the stuartiana especially loves to torture me by putting on a half inch or so of growth and then stalling for a while before the new leaves grow any further. It repeats this several times until the new leaf is full size.

The anthocyanins are normal. The purple spots on the upper surface should turn green as the leaf matures. I have a philippinensis also that has some purple spots even on mature leaves, but no burning, bleaching, or any other signs of damage. They are just very colorful plants.

This is wonderful to hear, exactly like I've been experiencing!!! Thank you greenbean!

[greenbean]

You're very welcome!
One thing I've noticed is that you can roughly judge the rate of growth by looking at the base of the new leaf. At least with mine, you can see a band of light green where the newest part of the leaf has emerged from the center of the plant. As the tissue matures and is pushed out by the rest of the leaf, it turns purple. The wider this band of youngest tissue is, the faster the leaf is growing. A very thin band means it's growing very slowly.

[Izzie]

That's really interesting. I'll take a peek today.