Damaged central leaf fell off
 

Hi, I've received this phal a few weeks ago and when I got it the central leaf was very damaged, brownish and limp, almost transparent. I left it alone and after a few days it just fell off. Now I've read that if the central leaf goes, the plant won't produce anymore leaves and will basically stop growing altogether but can't find that information anywhere again. There is no sign of crown rot. Is anyone able to advise on this?

I've converted this one to semi hydro when I got it so it's still adjusting, hence the state of the roots :lol: . It seems to have a keiki underneath as well but I couldn't separate it yet when I repotted in semi hydro so left it for now. Hopefully will be fine to separate next time I unpot :)

Looking at your photos, I doubt your plant will stop growing. It could only stop growing if the meristem gets damaged and that is deep into the center of the plant beyond the base of the newest leaf.

I would be watchful of the brown spot on the base of that fallen off leaf though. Make sure that does not advance. It sounds like the reason the leaf fell off was erwinia since you said it got soft and transparent which is a very contagious bacteria.

Are these photos of the plant in its current (present) state? If something happened to the newest leaf, then it will be beneficial to take a look at growing conditions - temperature, lighting, humidity etc, and considerations on air-movement around the plant, and watering of the orchid.

And have some treatments like cleary's 3336, agri-fos and copper sprays --- just in case.

I sprinkle cinnamon into the crown when this happens. It works well to dry things up and makes things less hospitable to fungi and bacteria. If the crown is okay, it’ll push a new leaf. If the crown has been damaged, a new side or basal growth usually appears within a few weeks.

The leaf had the same type of damage as the 3rd picture but it was much worse and spread on all of the leaf. I haven't noticed this current damage spreading any further but should I cut the leaf off just in case it's bacterial or fungal?

---------- Post added at 12:38 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:37 AM ----------

This is the current state of the plant. I will do, thanks for your help.

If it is not spreading at all, it should be fine.

That 3rd picture does not really look like bacteria. Is it soft or mushy? Bacterial rot makes the leaf look like paper with big wet, slimy, flimsy patches. It is like a piece of paper towel that had water spilled onto it. Your picture does not appear like that to me from what is visible.

I am hesitant myself to cut things as that itself could introduce a disease. I would just keep a close eye on it.

Thank you so much for your help! This one isn't soft or mushy, hope it stays that way. I will definitely keep a close eye on it as I want to avoid cutting the leaf unnecessarily.

Meh... it looks okay to me other than a bit of trauma/drama. It's a Phal... they're pretty resilient. And yeah, I've had a Phal or two with absolutely no leaf, just a base column, and a couple with one tiny little leaf. They're still alive and now growing again. They were NOIDS I was experimenting with, the no-leaf ones had suffered a lot of indignities being mounted, stuck into an aquarium, removed from an aquarium, taken off the mount, put back in semi-hydro. They're a good tough orchid to experiment with, play with, learn with.