Phal with sudden wrinkled leaves and shriveled roots

[praguequest]

Hello everyone, hope you're well and safe during this crazy time!

I am pretty new to orchids (I have mostly "winged it" when taking care of my plant) but have had my Phal (unknown species) now for just over a year. It was rescued from a friend who neglected it: shriveling leaves, fungus growth, rotting roots (see first photo). Before I get to the problem, I'll give a little background about the plant (you can skip to the part with the actual problem).

To rescue the plant, I did the following:
1. Watered/sprayed it with a DI water/copper solution to get rid of the fungus until it was gone.
2. Transferred it from the old, overfilled plastic pot to the glazed ceramic one it is in now (see other photos).
3. The majority of the roots were rotted, so I scraped away anything that was mushy, often leaving the very thin solid root intact.
4. I wrapped the remaining roots around bark chips (standard natural bark I use for mulching in the garden), and packed that together with some sphagnum moss. This was placed into the new pot, and filled with more bark.
5. The plant was watered (soaked for an hour or so) once a week (I live in northern California, where it is pretty dry, with cold-ish winters and hot summers).

The orchid revived, and shot out all the roots you see in the other photos, as well as roots into the new medium (plump new roots). New leaves appeared, and new flowers appeared from old spikes. (I think there were two flowerings). Sooo, good times...

------ The Problem ------

This past winter, I transfered the Phal from its perch next to a north-facing sliding door (cold draft, low light) to a south-facing window in a warm room (also under a heat vent), with a few hours of direct sun every day. Watering schedule remained roughly the same, with occasional very weak ballanced-NPK fertilizer. New leaves appeared, but the roots started shriveling/wrinkling up a bit. I thought low humidity, so I misted the plant daily.
As time went by and spring came, two new flower spikes appeared, leaves started shriveling a bit, and the roots didn't really change. I changed the soaks to once every two weeks, and used PK-dominant flowering fertilizer during each soak.
Currently, all leaves have wrinkled to some degree and appear wilted, some roots have started turning black, and the two spikes have an amazing 19 flowers and a new spike on the way (see photos). I have transferred the plant back to the north-facing side and started watering with DI water only (weekly soak until the medium is dark from moisture...it's pretty dry around here).
My questions are:
- Did I overwater/overfertilize my plant?
- Did I burn it with direct sunlight?
- Is this a humidity problem?
- Is there residual fungus that's now attacking it?
- Are the flowers the "last gasp" for life?

I feel like I did everything right to resurrect this thing and now it's somehow collapsing...except for the ridiculously awesome blooms. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!
Jan

[SouthPark]

The first thing to do here, and right away ----- is to unpot and check the roots ---- not just on the outter side, but directly under the plant ----- see if any roots are rotting, very wet, very soggy. Or see if the roots are very dry.

I've never used the soaking technique before - for watering. But may need to see if 1 hour is too long for a dunking of roots and plant in water.

[ghuylar]

An hour long soak seems like a long time, phals don't need much water. How long does it take for the media to completely dry out for you?
Wrinkles and wilted leaves can be a sign of both over and under watering. It does not look like you have a fungus problem, and fertilizer shouldn't affect the leaves as phals will tolerate just about any amount.
I water my phals roughly once every one to two weeks by holding the pot under running water for a minute until the media is soaked. Excess water should be drained from the pot so as to not cause root rot. They should be watered a couple days after the media has completely dried out.

[SouthPark]

Photo #1 shows what appears to be mold. If it is, you'll probably need to do a clean-up and pot into fresh media. And get some nice air-movement going in the growing area.

Also - some of these details may come in handy too:

Click Here and Click Here and Click Here.

[praguequest]

Thanks for the quick replies!

Originally Posted by ghuylar

An hour long soak seems like a long time, phals don't need much water. How long does it take for the media to completely dry out for you?
Wrinkles and wilted leaves can be a sign of both over and under watering. It does not look like you have a fungus problem, and fertilizer shouldn't affect the leaves as phals will tolerate just about any amount.

I haven't timed it, but I think it's just a few minutes when the water level is all the way to the top. The long soaks were when the water level was lower than the top of the pot. And no, there is no sign of fungus on top of the medium.

Originally Posted by SouthPark

The first thing to do here, and right away ----- is to unpot and check the roots ---- not just on the outter side, but directly under the plant ----- see if any roots are rotting, very wet, very soggy. Or see if the roots are very dry.

I'll see what I can do. I don't particularly like this pot since it collects water on the bottom (which I have to drain). I might just let it hang, open-root, in a glass vase with some water in the bottom for humidity. Will transplanting affect the blooms?

Originally Posted by SouthPark

Photo #1 shows what appears to be mold.

This is the old photo, when I rescued the orchid from a friend. There is currently no visible fungus. Only issue might be the darkening striations on some of the exposed roots (rot...new fungus?)

[SouthPark]

Originally Posted by praguequest

And no, there is no sign of fungus on top of the medium.

Just check on those regions pointed out by the arrows. See if that is mold.

[praguequest]

Originally Posted by SouthPark

Just check on those regions pointed out by the arrows. See if that is mold.

This is the old photo...of the orchid before I rescued it a year ago. The current setup (all the other photos) do not show mold or clear root-rot.

[aliceinwl]

I water most of my Phals by soaking. I often end up soaking for an hour if not longer. They’ve been fine with this for years.

My hunch would be that it’s the direct sun exposure. I put some of my Phals in a south facing window over the summer that was shaded by the eves so the sill didn’t get direct light, when the light shifted in the fall, the sill started getting direct light, the same thing happened to the leaves on my Phals. I moved them a bit further back from the window where the light wasn’t as intense and the leaves slowly recovered.

For mine, high light = lots of flowers. I think the shriveling on mine was due to the sun heating up the leaves. They were very warm to the touch when I realized there was a problem. If you want to keep it in the bright window, you could try a sheer curtain to limit light intensity, move it a bit further back, or get a fan and see if more air circulation keeps the leaves from overheating. I think your Phal looks very healthy.

[SouthPark]

Originally Posted by praguequest

The current setup (all the other photos) do not show mold or clear root-rot.

Thanks for mentioning that the particular photo that I saw doesn't pertain to the current setup.

In any case - if you do see signs of very significant dehydration, and the orchid had been growing just fine in that exact same location for all this time ------ then definitely unpot the orchid to check the roots ----- check all of the roots.

Also run through those general checks - such as temperature range, lighting intensity, air-movement etc.

[praguequest]

Originally Posted by aliceinwl

I water most of my Phals by soaking. I often end up soaking for an hour if not longer. They’ve been fine with this for years.

My hunch would be that it’s the direct sun exposure. I put some of my Phals in a south facing window over the summer that was shaded by the eves so the sill didn’t get direct light, when the light shifted in the fall, the sill started getting direct light, the same thing happened to the leaves on my Phals. I moved them a bit further back from the window where the light wasn’t as intense and the leaves slowly recovered.

For mine, high light = lots of flowers. I think the shriveling on mine was due to the sun heating up the leaves. They were very warm to the touch when I realized there was a problem. If you want to keep it in the bright window, you could try a sheer curtain to limit light intensity, move it a bit further back, or get a fan and see if more air circulation keeps the leaves from overheating. I think your Phal looks very healthy.

Thanks Alice! Yeah, I will wait to see if the leaves recover nd continue weekly waterings...or just when dry. I placed it back in the original spot next to the door, and it gets some quick direct light from a far window in the morning (see photos). Temp in sun is about 80F...I'll look into getting a diffuser.