Withering leaves and buds

[Neurotic Norman]

Hello everyone!

I recently bought an orchid from my grocer. Out of all of them, it was the healthiest, and I thought that particular kind was quite cute.

Anyway, looking at it a couple days ago, I noticed its buds were looking shriveled. To-day I noticed that one of its leaves was looking sad. I realized that the orchids in that group were generally suffering from dehydration, so I'm hoping it'll spring back with some TLC, but I wanted to know if I ought to quarantine it from my other orchid.

I've attached photographs to aid in diagnosis.

Thanks in advance!

[WhiteRabbit]

The leaf in your photo doesn't look dehydrated - I'm not sure what that damage is - could be cold damage ...

Bud blast and flower drop can occur from the environment change, but there definitely are other causes as well. Is there warm/hot air blowing on this? It looks like this is potted in a clear pot ? If so, what do the roots look like? How often do you water?

You may also want to read the first few, to several, pages of this thread http://www.orchidboard.com/community...ends-here.html

[wintergirl]

My guess is cold damage too. Your leaf may never look the same but it should be ok.

[tarev]

I agree it will recover in time. I have similar leaves in one of my noid Phals. It really took its time, but now it is on the mend. Just have to be patient, and continue to care for the entire plant, roots and all. I always check the roots of Phals when I bring them home, just to see the overall condition and repot if needed. Blooms and buds may blast or maybe just on their way out, but if taken cared of well, it will grow back a new spike next season.

[Neurotic Norman]

Thank you all very much. I was just a little afraid he might not spring back.

The roots look bright green, plump, and healthy. Which was very reassuring. I water once weekly, or at least as close to that as I can manage. Generally I look at the roots and substrate and see if they look like they've dried, but I've found from personal experience that takes around 7 days. I generally feed them with a very dilute solution about twice a month. And I make sure it's the kind of made especially for Phals.

Thanks again!

[Neurotic Norman]

As an aside, I watered it a some time ago, over a week, I'm sure. The potting medium still feels damp. Is this normal? Should I replace the potting medium?

If so, should I go with a larger size or stick with the one it came in?

[NYCorchidman]

Potting medium being damp after over a week is not good.
You might want to repot or just take the plant out of the pot, loosen up the mix (I assume moss?) and put the plant back in.

If the root ball fits the current pot, then you don't need to go larger. I only use larger pot if there are so many roots that the current pot seem too crowded.

Flower blast is quite common for phals.
It can be due to a few different things, most often change of environment or bringing the new plant in bud in cold weather....

The leaf damage doesn't look good. Keep an eye on it.
I have seen that on many phals at the stores.
Did it come this way or it happened under your care??

[Neurotic Norman]

It came like this, unfortunately. I am hoping it'll bounce back with the right kind of TLC.

I'll take a look at the roots tonight and update the status.

Thanks again!

[Neurotic Norman]

So, the substrate they used was very tightly packed moss, so that explains a lot. It's been replaced with a bark mix, and is in recuperation at the moment. My only concern would be that more of the roots may be a little more exposed than they were before. But by and large I think it'll be an improvement.

[wintergirl]

I recently repotted some Phals bought from Lowes that had little pieces of rotting sponge in the top of the root ball. The media was also broken down. They were noids but $10 and pretty. Any newbie that bought those could start off with problems.