Phalaenopsis - leaves distorted/drying up

[Roberta]

The calcium and pH are great. The "wild card" is sodium, which is a bad actor if it is high. But while soapy water won't get rid of spider mites for long, it will certainly slow them down while you are waiting for "reinforcements".

[Fuerte Rav]

Close examination and Watering day today:

5 out of 6 of the affected Phals have started new flower spikes. All of them have new good leaves and/or have new basal growths. One of the basal growths has 2 flower spikes forming. This is in addition to all having new root growth.









The Phal without a flower spike forming was the worst affected - it went down to one wrinkled leaf, a dried out crown and 1 root. It now has several roots and 2 basal growths.



All the Phals had thorough Neem oil solution sprays and horticultural soap solution sprays once a week for 4 weeks. No other chemicals.

I've still not had a report from my water supply company. I've continued to use my filtered water and as they are all recovering I can only presume that either the water was poorly desalinated at the time of the problem occurring, or it was pests/mites that got controlled by the Neem & soap.

I've never had more than 2 Phals in bloom at one time so I'm super excited that I may have 4 or 5 together!

Thank you all so much for all your suggestions and encouragement.

I nearly bought another inbloom Vanda today at our garden centre, it was gorgeous, but I thought 74€ for a NOID was a bit much. (I think that works out to about 80$). So I bought a NOID mini Phal instead, 5€ as it had finished blooming. Fits the purse and the growing room much better!

If 'Bil' reads this - please can you share the name of your 'megadeath' product(s)? If it's available in Spain hopefully I can get it in The Canaries, if not I am visiting the mainland in May and could hopefully pick some up then. TIA.

[Roberta]

Looking great! Congratulations!

[Chemtiger]

Wow!! I think you did a great job, I think you’ve definitely made a BIG difference, and got to it just in time!

[Fuerte Rav]

Some of the new blooms from the plants affected last year:

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This last plant has amazed me, the 2 old flower spikes from the original stem that now has no crown, branched and budded and the new basal growth has thrown out 2 spikes of it's own.

2 of the other survivors got bud blast and I only had a couple of blooms open on each in the end but the plants themselves are doing well.

I now have a new problem. I had started to change over to clay pellets as a medium as the only bark available here was pretty useless being small and quite soft - it wasn't lasting long before it started to break down. Now my only garden centre has stopped selling the clay pellets. I've looked online at Amazon etc and either suppliers won't send here or they want roughly £10 for a 10L bag and £30 postage! So I ordered a bag of bark online instead, advertised as 'chunky bark for orchids', paid £6 with £10 postage. It has duly arrived (3 weeks delivery time) and the 'chunks' are flat and less than 1/2 inch square - useless! Is there anyone in Spain or the UK that can recommend a properly chunky bark that I can order online please? I currently have 2 orchids in dire need of repotting and no medium to use.
It's almost getting to the stage where it would be worth me taking a 4 hour flight to the UK to fill a suitcase with orchid supplies. I could get a return flight for £60, but then I'd need accommodation for a couple of nights until the return flight, hire car etc so perhaps not

[Roberta]

Those plants look great! Congratulations!

Alas I can't help with supplies from this side of the pond... but I had a thought... Can you get chunky (at least 1/2 cm, bigger is better) pumice? It has many characteristics in common with other inorganic materials, but it weighs a lot less (helping with shipping cost)

[Fuerte Rav]

Thanks for the suggestion Roberta, I'll have a look for pumice. I'd really like to use lava rock as I live on a volcanic island so it's plentiful and free but it's all so jagged and sharp that I'm sure I'd damage the roots.

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by Fuerte Rav

Thanks for the suggestion Roberta, I'll have a look for pumice. I'd really like to use lava rock as I live on a volcanic island so it's plentiful and free but it's all so jagged and sharp that I'm sure I'd damage the roots.

Several contributors to Orchid Board have had great success with scoria, which is a form of volcanic rock. I don't know if it has less of the sharp edges that you have on the local stuff. I'm sure that somebody who is using it will post, and perhaps have some insights on the subject of managing the edges.

[WaterWitchin]

Well Congratulations Fuerte Ray! How thoughtful of you to post updated pictures showing the recovery of those Phals. From uh-oh to blooming in a matter of months!

Great job!

[Arizona Jeanie]

How about cork chips for repotting media?