Haraella retrocalla - yellowing leaves, brown cracks, premature bud opening
 

Hi Orchid Board. I bought this H. retrocalla from Andy's Orchids about 4 months ago. Since then, I've repotted it into semi-hydroponics and it seemed to be doing great. Each plant is growing a new leaf, and the mother division currently has three spikes.

However, I'm noticing that an increasing number of lower leaves are yellowing and crisping. I know that it's natural for vandaceous types to discard their lower leaves, but I'm not sure if this is the case here. Currently the mother division has two yellowing leaves (pictured). Additionally, a bud opened prematurely. It's still developing, which is kind of cool - I've been able to see the colors slowly form. I'm not sure if this is a symptom of anything.

Finally, one of the leaves of the daughter division has had a brown crack-like pattern near the tip. I've noticed that leaf is now starting to yellow at the tip. Should I panic or just leave it alone?

http://i.imgur.com/OtkJumz.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/dZMOwAq.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/bEDks4k.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/pDqCESm.jpg

I nearly killed one of these trying to grow it as a regular orchid (it did recover) so now I grow both mounted, in jars with the mount sitting on LECA and water on the bottom. The LECA wicks the water to the mount and keeps the roots damp, the jar keeps the air humid (these like plenty of humidity).
Here is a picture of the set up. It isn't pretty but the orchid is very happy in there. Both are currently under my T5H0 lights with the Cattleyas, this one has a clear lid and the other has a solid, metal lid. Hope that helps!

Your plant is shriveling because it's losing water through the leaves faster than the roots can take it up. The roots look OK but they don't seem to be able to keep up. I second Leafmite's assessment that low humidity is to blame.

The longer I have Vandas in vases the longer I am soaking them; I now soak their roots for 12 hours or so every 2-3 days when it's sunny and warm. If not, they shrivel right away. I don't think S/H would be able to provide this much water to the roots.

I'm not sure if this means anything, but I was able to get a regular healthy flower before this weird one. Same conditions as it is in now. I have another open now, although it doesn't have a smell (the first one did).

I'll heed your advice and try to increase humidity by putting a perforated plastic wrap on top of the pot. Hopefully they both stop shedding leaves :(.

Good luck with it. I really love these little orchids. One of mine came from Andy's, too (I think it is the one in the picture).

I have one of these too. I am still finding the perfect way to keep it in my environment. I put mine in a small basket with s/h beads and was misting the beads roots daily. Right away I could tell it did not like it. The older leaves looked drier, so I added some s. moss to the basket and put everything in a another small clay pot with s/h beads in the bottom and covered by a glass. We shall see. It came potted in s. moss, then I mounted it but it just didn't seem happy. I keep trying until I get it right....

Hi all, small update.

I've downsized the pot to a more transparent cup, and covered it with another cup. I'm much more pleased with how it looks now. It has three healthy open flowers, and no new leaves have fallen off yet. I'm hoping the worst is over now!

http://i.imgur.com/MRuwStj.jpg

It looks really good. My takeaway lesson would be this needs very high humidity.