gigantea arrived today... Worried

[jkt97401]

Hello,

I purchased a phal gigantea from Clown Alley Orchids and it arrived today! I was very excited to open it up but when I did, it just didn't seem right! The first thing I did was take to OrchidBoard and post photos for you all and ask for advice. Pretty much all but the top two leaves appear to be dying and the bottom leaves have some weirdness to them, do they look diseased to you? Anyways, on to the pictures! Any advice is appreciated.

[RJSquirrel]

natural senescence IMO.. old leaves and you can pull them off if you like or they bother you. The top looks very good and healthy. Bottom leaves almost always are reduced to skeletal remains for food to feed the growing plant. I would not worry. Clown Alley are good people and wouldn't send you any sick plants. Sometimes they dont look so great but you might learn to get over that. I havent

[jkt97401]

Thank you so much.... I trust them as I have been communicating with John for a while now but my fears come from giganteas being known for susceptibility to disease. The top leaves are lighter in color, I will take another picture and show you. I know that silvery coloring on these guys is good but I want to be sure that's what is it!

Again, I appreciate your input!

[jkt97401]

Here are the extra pictures! It was hard to get accurate colors with my lighting but these are close.

[RJSquirrel]

thats a great lookin gigantea and you got a very good price on it too Johns a good man.

heh I used to help plant some of his flask and would re pot older stuff up from the greenhouse and I just worked for orchids and to learn

he has some really cool nice small dendrobiums that are fairly odd and hard to find. I love going thru the greenhouse and digging stuff out that he occasionally would forget about. I learned a lot from working around John and his sidekicks. They are all just one big happy orchid growing bunch over there. He does a lot of shows to so you might even catch him close to your home one of these days

[sweetjblue]

I sure hope you got a great deal on the gigantea, that looks nasty. As a seller I'd be ashamed I sent that.

RJ maybe right, that the bottom leaves are dying due to natural senescence but what has me concerned are the rings that can be clearly seen. Are those from fertilizer? If not, the plant could be virused.

Then I'm not sure what's going on here, but if you look closely you can see little white specks (circled) on the leaves. Do you have any way, like a loupe or magnifying glass, to check these out?

I'd also be concerned with the change in color on the leaf (lined), can't really tell what's going on there.

Just in case anybody suggests that you repot, please know that gigantea resent repotting. You should really only do so when the plant is in active growth and is sending out new roots. A popular way to grow is by mounting which allows for proper draining so water does not collect in the crown. Giganteas are very susceptible to crown rot.

I know from your other post you really didn't want to have to spend alot, but sometimes it pays to spend a few more $$ to get a good plant. One of the reasons I suggested the plant listed on Ebay. For $70 it was a really good price for the size and you could see the plant beforehand, looked healthy and no yellowing leaves. Plus Peter is a seller you can trust!


Wishing you luck that whatever issues it has can be resolved.


Judi

[jkt97401]

Judi,

Thanks for bringing that to my attention, I did some research on Clown Alley and they seem to be trustworthy. These signs, the rings are what worried me most. How can I tell what they are?


Someone told me that giganteas will have a silvery sheen to the leaf when grown in correct lighting, I had assumed that area you lined was a part of the leaf that faced away from the light and didn't take on the silvery sheen. That leaf does curl under just a little due to the weight of the leaf.

I spent nearly $70 on this guy. It is a good size so if it indeed turns out to be healthy, it was a good deal.

[jkt97401]

I am feeling very relieved!

I reached out to John at Clown Alley for guidance, he told me that there was something on the leaf of another gigantea at his greenhouse (probably fertilizer) and water caused the weird shapes. Sure enough, I lightly scraped the surface of the leaf and it came off! The leaf now looks like what I'd think a dead/dying leaf should look like. The circles are gone! This is the same leaf with the circles on it, the same side.

Thank you again Judi for bringing that to my attention!

[Bulbofett]

Are Phal. Gigantea normally pretty expensive? I have no idea so I'm asking. I spent $20 on mine which I thought was reasonable. Personally, I'd be upset if I received a plant that looked like yours. Normally, I agree with the posters here on OB, but I have to disagree with RJsquirrel on this one.

I hope he is right that the plant is healthy. I'm a huge fan of Clown Alley Orchids, but even the best make mistakes sometimes. Just because a nursery is known for healthy plants doesn't mean they are free from error. I would be in contact ASAP with the nursery to see what they say.

[LovePhals]

That leaf just looks dead and the top ones look pretty good to me. If it has good roots it will probably be fine. Good luck with it
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