Hi,

Over the last couple of weeks one of my phal orchids has gone
off.

The latest leaf has become brown and soft in the middle and
seems to be spreading quickly. So far the other leaves seem OK,
but a close look shows that one may be about to go the same
way.

Apart from throwing it away, is there anything I can do?

Hopefully, this is the link to a pictu

www.flickr.com/photos/139948773@N07

Sorry, but I can not work out how to put in a "proper" link.




--
Roger T

700 ft up in Mid-Wales

In article -
september.org, says...

Hi,

Over the last couple of weeks one of my phal orchids has gone
off.

The latest leaf has become brown and soft in the middle and
seems to be spreading quickly. So far the other leaves seem OK,
but a close look shows that one may be about to go the same
way.

Apart from throwing it away, is there anything I can do?

Hopefully, this is the link to a pictu

www.flickr.com/photos/139948773@N07

Sorry, but I can not work out how to put in a "proper" link.

Ignore the laast line of the initial message, the link does
seem to work for me at least!



--
Roger T

700 ft up in Mid-Wales

On 04/04/2016 22:17, Chris Hogg wrote:
On Mon, 4 Apr 2016 21:48:23 +0100, Roger Tonkin
wrote:

Hi,

Over the last couple of weeks one of my phal orchids has gone
off.

The latest leaf has become brown and soft in the middle and
seems to be spreading quickly. So far the other leaves seem OK,
but a close look shows that one may be about to go the same
way.

Apart from throwing it away, is there anything I can do?

Hopefully, this is the link to a pictu

www.flickr.com/photos/139948773@N07

Sorry, but I can not work out how to put in a "proper" link.

Link works OK if I copy and paste it into the address line of my
browser (otherwise my system tries to treat it as an e-mail address).
If that doesn't work for others, they can try double-clicking on this
http://tinyurl.com/jlwrcsz

Sorry, can't help with the problem, although I'm surprised it's
developing in the middle of the leaves rather than at one end or the
other. Could it be sun-burn or a cold draft? If mine, I'd cut them off
at the stem.


It looks a bit like orchid Brown Rot (scroll down link to see image).

http://www.orchidsmadeeasy.com/orchid-diseases/

This is just a quick response, but seems likely. There is some advice
given, but I would certainly remove the leaf if it were my plant and
keep the plant isolated.
I will check tomorrow if I can see anything else, but got to dash now.
--
Spider
On high ground in SE London
Gardening on heavy clay

"Roger Tonkin" wrote
Over the last couple of weeks one of my phal orchids has gone
off.

The latest leaf has become brown and soft in the middle and
seems to be spreading quickly. So far the other leaves seem OK,
but a close look shows that one may be about to go the same
way.

Apart from throwing it away, is there anything I can do?

Hopefully, this is the link to a pictu

www.flickr.com/photos/139948773@N07

Sorry, but I can not work out how to put in a "proper" link.


Before going down the route of bacterial infections I would look for a
physical cause. I expect the plant is on a windowsill, are those leaves near
the glass, have they touched the glass over winter and got frosted, have
they got water (condensation) on them overnight when it's cold, that sort of
thing.
--
Regards. Bob Hobden.
Posted to this Newsgroup from the W of London, UK

In article ,
says...

"Roger Tonkin" wrote
Over the last couple of weeks one of my phal orchids has gone
off.

The latest leaf has become brown and soft in the middle and
seems to be spreading quickly. So far the other leaves seem OK,
but a close look shows that one may be about to go the same
way.

Apart from throwing it away, is there anything I can do?

Hopefully, this is the link to a pictu

www.flickr.com/photos/139948773@N07

Sorry, but I can not work out how to put in a "proper" link.


Before going down the route of bacterial infections I would look for a
physical cause. I expect the plant is on a windowsill, are those leaves near
the glass, have they touched the glass over winter and got frosted, have
they got water (condensation) on them overnight when it's cold, that sort of
thing.

I was wondering about that, what had I done wrong.

The plant is in a cold north facing bedroom, only heated if we
have family to stay. It is on a table near a window but not
close enough to touch it. We have had a water problem in a
corner of that room, in January with all the rain, but not near
the plant. Given the speed with which it has taken hold, I
don't think it originated in January. I water from the bottom
first thing in the morning, so I don't think it is me!

I have severed the offend leaves close to the plant, where they
look quite healthy, so just keeping my fingers crossed.

--
Roger T

700 ft up in Mid-Wales

"Roger Tonkin" wrote

I was wondering about that, what had I done wrong.

The plant is in a cold north facing bedroom, only heated if we
have family to stay. It is on a table near a window but not
close enough to touch it. We have had a water problem in a
corner of that room, in January with all the rain, but not near
the plant. Given the speed with which it has taken hold, I
don't think it originated in January. I water from the bottom
first thing in the morning, so I don't think it is me!

I have severed the offend leaves close to the plant, where they
look quite healthy, so just keeping my fingers crossed.




I water my orchids, except for the large standard Cymbidiums, by placing the
pots in a bucket of pot deep water, with fertiliser 3 out of 4 waterings,
and leaving them there for at least half an hour to soak. I then drain them
off thoroughly and place them back on their windowsills. I do this about
once a week, slightly more often in summer, slightly less in winter.
The growers use a flooding/draining system to their benches when they grow
orchids so my system is similar.
--
Regards. Bob Hobden.
Posted to this Newsgroup from the W of London, UK

"BobHobden" wrote

"Roger Tonkin" wrote

I was wondering about that, what had I done wrong.

The plant is in a cold north facing bedroom, only heated if we
have family to stay. It is on a table near a window but not
close enough to touch it. We have had a water problem in a
corner of that room, in January with all the rain, but not near
the plant. Given the speed with which it has taken hold, I
don't think it originated in January. I water from the bottom
first thing in the morning, so I don't think it is me!

I have severed the offend leaves close to the plant, where they
look quite healthy, so just keeping my fingers crossed.




I water my orchids, except for the large standard Cymbidiums, by placing
the pots in a bucket of pot deep water, with fertiliser 3 out of 4
waterings, and leaving them there for at least half an hour to soak. I then
drain them off thoroughly and place them back on their windowsills. I do
this about once a week, slightly more often in summer, slightly less in
winter.
The growers use a flooding/draining system to their benches when they grow
orchids so my system is similar.

It goes without saying that the water must be at room temperature not
straight out of the rain barrel.
--
Regards. Bob Hobden.
Posted to this Newsgroup from the W of London, UK

In article ,
says...

"Roger Tonkin" wrote

I was wondering about that, what had I done wrong.

The plant is in a cold north facing bedroom, only heated if we
have family to stay. It is on a table near a window but not
close enough to touch it. We have had a water problem in a
corner of that room, in January with all the rain, but not near
the plant. Given the speed with which it has taken hold, I
don't think it originated in January. I water from the bottom
first thing in the morning, so I don't think it is me!

I have severed the offend leaves close to the plant, where they
look quite healthy, so just keeping my fingers crossed.




I water my orchids, except for the large standard Cymbidiums, by placing the
pots in a bucket of pot deep water, with fertiliser 3 out of 4 waterings,
and leaving them there for at least half an hour to soak. I then drain them
off thoroughly and place them back on their windowsills. I do this about
once a week, slightly more often in summer, slightly less in winter.
The growers use a flooding/draining system to their benches when they grow
orchids so my system is similar.

I have a little pot (it was a decorators pot for decanting
paint) that is just a bit bigger than the pots the plants are
in. I bring the pot full of rainwater in overnight and water by
standing the pots in for roughly half and hour first thing in
the morning.

Frequency is far less than you suggest, usually 2 weekly in
summer and monthly in winter. I look at the roots in the see
through pots, and if all that I can see are greyish green I
water, if they have distinct green on them, I don't!


--
Roger T

700 ft up in Mid-Wales

An update on my phal

Having amputated the rotting leaves, after a bit of a sulk it
has now put on a spurt of growth, with a new flower branch on
the old stem, and intriguingly some change to the couple of
aerial roots. These seem to have made a "pinch" at the end then
started to turn green above. Not sure what is happening, but
will watch with interest.

All photo's at http://tinyurl.com/zkfdl57



In article -
september.org, says...

Hi,

Over the last couple of weeks one of my phal orchids has gone
off.

The latest leaf has become brown and soft in the middle and
seems to be spreading quickly. So far the other leaves seem OK,
but a close look shows that one may be about to go the same
way.

Apart from throwing it away, is there anything I can do?

Hopefully, this is the link to a pictu

www.flickr.com/photos/139948773@N07

Sorry, but I can not work out how to put in a "proper" link.



--
Roger T

700 ft up in Mid-Wales

"Roger Tonkin" wrote

An update on my phal

Having amputated the rotting leaves, after a bit of a sulk it
has now put on a spurt of growth, with a new flower branch on
the old stem, and intriguingly some change to the couple of
aerial roots. These seem to have made a "pinch" at the end then
started to turn green above. Not sure what is happening, but
will watch with interest.

All photo's at http://tinyurl.com/zkfdl57


Healthy roots should look like that with a greenish bit at the end, it means
they are growing.
--
Regards. Bob Hobden.
Posted to this Newsgroup from the W of London, UK

On 09/06/2016 22:36, BobHobden wrote:
"Roger Tonkin" wrote

An update on my phal

Having amputated the rotting leaves, after a bit of a sulk it
has now put on a spurt of growth, with a new flower branch on
the old stem, and intriguingly some change to the couple of
aerial roots. These seem to have made a "pinch" at the end then
started to turn green above. Not sure what is happening, but
will watch with interest.

All photo's at http://tinyurl.com/zkfdl57


Healthy roots should look like that with a greenish bit at the end, it
means they are growing.


But, surely, that reddish tinge is a sign of stress? Usually drought
stress, in my experience. The root tip should be green.

--
Spider
On high ground in SE London
Gardening on heavy clay

"Spider" wrote

BobHobden wrote:
"Roger Tonkin" wrote

An update on my phal

Having amputated the rotting leaves, after a bit of a sulk it
has now put on a spurt of growth, with a new flower branch on
the old stem, and intriguingly some change to the couple of
aerial roots. These seem to have made a "pinch" at the end then
started to turn green above. Not sure what is happening, but
will watch with interest.

All photo's at http://tinyurl.com/zkfdl57


Healthy roots should look like that with a greenish bit at the end, it
means they are growing.


But, surely, that reddish tinge is a sign of stress? Usually drought
stress, in my experience. The root tip should be green.


Reddish tinge on Phals is normally down to too much light but not anything
to get too concerned about. They take a lot more light than growers expect
in the UK as our sun is so weak compared to where they grow naturally in
this world.
--
Regards. Bob Hobden.
Posted to this Newsgroup from the W of London, UK

On 11/06/2016 08:13, BobHobden wrote:
"Spider" wrote

BobHobden wrote:
"Roger Tonkin" wrote

An update on my phal

Having amputated the rotting leaves, after a bit of a sulk it
has now put on a spurt of growth, with a new flower branch on
the old stem, and intriguingly some change to the couple of
aerial roots. These seem to have made a "pinch" at the end then
started to turn green above. Not sure what is happening, but
will watch with interest.

All photo's at http://tinyurl.com/zkfdl57


Healthy roots should look like that with a greenish bit at the end, it
means they are growing.


But, surely, that reddish tinge is a sign of stress? Usually drought
stress, in my experience. The root tip should be green.


Reddish tinge on Phals is normally down to too much light but not
anything to get too concerned about. They take a lot more light than
growers expect in the UK as our sun is so weak compared to where they
grow naturally in this world.


Understood. I'd read somewhere that the stress was down to drought, not
excess light. I usually see it on my phals when I've been a bit tardy
with the watering. I bow to your superior knowledge, as always.

--
Spider
On high ground in SE London
Gardening on heavy clay