[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

Wieb, it looks normal to me too. Personally, unless you have to make something look good NOW, I'd let them fall on their own. Don't need to sterilize tools for that.

For the Phals, are you avoiding neem oil and other horticultural oils? They have caused so much other damage, I would not be surprised if they didn't cause Phal leaf fall too in particularly susceptible plants.

Weib, the terms Phal type (or warm growing type) and nobile type (cool growing type) are named after the two species Den. phalaenopsis and Den. nobile, which characterize the culture of the two types, and are usually heavily represented in the parentage of hybrids of the 2 types. Dendrobium phalaenopsis gets its name because the flowers are shaped like a Phalaenopsis flower. No actual relation other than the flower shape exists between Den. phalaenopsis and the Phalaenopsis family.