Crown rot?

[Leafmite]

Isopropyl Alcohol evaporates completely and doesn't need poured off. Hydrogen peroxide becomes into water and oxygen so you need to use a new bottle of it and pour off the excess afterwards. I have better success with the alcohol.
You would destroy the plant if you try to get a better view. Just pour the alcohol in each day for few about a week and keep the center completely dry. The quicker you do this, the less the rot will progress. Good luck!

[NYCorchidman]

Originally Posted by Jenn4a

What's the best way to tell if the rot is further down? It's a pretty tight "pocket" so I can barely see in there.

Well, you can only peek into the center of the crown so much.
For now, just wait and hope it isn't deep in there spreading.

Whether it's alcohol (which I am against) or hydrogen peroxide, the action is killing off the organism on the surface, so once the rot sets in and progress inside the plant tissues, there is no stopping unless you cut off that entire affected plant part.

[Jenn4a]

From the way it sounds, it'll be awhile until I know how the phal is.
I'll watch for any changes; like if the next leaf at the top starts changing colors by the crown. If that's not a good indication of spreading, please correct me.

Thanks! I think I might know the culprit: There was a couple days where I was moving around some of the chids, and I left the phal by my two phrags for a couple of days. I'm not sure how much the temperatures fluctuate in there, but it's possible that it got colder than the phal could handle. I definitely made it worse by soaking the phal in the afternoon, if it was too cold. Since the bark I used is terrible at holding moisture, I would have to water it daily, or I would have to re-soak the bark again. **Now I know I can't treat my phals like "box-store" phals. box store phals seem much more tolerant of normal house conditions, while most phals need warmer temps otherwise (I could be wrong). I also repotted him with more sphag so he doesn't need to be watered so often. (A reminder: he came potted in a retentive mix of sphag and possibly peatmoss?) I don't think he was happy that I moved him into the bark.