A couple of problems

[garynail]

I've attached a couple of pictures of two orchids that aren't behaving very well or I'm not takingcare of them right. The first is the phal who began good this winter with a new spike and headed for flowers and then all of a sudden the spike started to turn black, it then died and then the leaves began to dry out and shrivel. I checked the roots, they were bone dry, so I've been watering a little more. It seems to be responding though be it slowly.

The other is ?? i'm not sure. I bought it at an orchid show and its leaves began to turn black. They looked like they were burning off from the outside in. I read somewhere they may have been over fertilized so i sat it in some fresh water for 15 minutes a couple of nights in a row then ran some fresh water through the pot then back to normal watering. It has gotten better although very slowly.

All my orchids are in an east window and I'm from Wisc. I water about every week alternating between un-softned tap water and a fertilizer mix of 13-3-15 (1/4 tsp per gallon of water).

Any help would be appreciated. Sure don't want to loose these.

[janet_a]

left to right, photos 1 2 3:

photo 1, i don't know; if those white spots on the leaves aren't fertilizer stains or something i'd toss the plant (pot and all); looks like it may have some sort of disease.

plant in photos 2 & 3 looks salvageable; you say you're in Wis? i'd hazard a guess your humidity is way low? if these were my plants, i'd yank 'em out of the pots, wash them down well with a bleach solution and/or H2O2, put them in plastic baggies with damp sphag (see post below on bagging) for a couple weeks, then repot in plastic pots with a pretty much straight sphag mix. (packing peanuts on the bottom.) i think your medium may just be too porous for your conditions.

that 2d plant putting out all the aerials--have you looked at the roots in the pot? are they ok? sometimes plants run amuck with the aerials when the roots in the medium has rotted.

(then again, some just like doing aerials.

either way, yank 'em out of the pots and check the roots. (again. and you can take off that yellow leaf; the old leaves die and new ones grow--it's normal.)

[Willc73]

Did you leave them in the sun too long? That may be why the leaves are desacating. The arial roots look ok just a little dry. You should check to see if you killed the roots in the mix. Just pull them out. If there are mostly dead roots, repot with a couple inches of styrofoam peanuts in the bottom and no more than 3 or 4 inches of bark. Watch your watering let the mix almost dry before rewatering. If it is sunburn, water normally.

[arleneg]

If the Phals are in direct light, I'd move them a little to the side of the window. They do better in indirect light, or low light, condition.

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

That first plant looks like it may be a semi-terrestrial, in which case it probably needs to be kept a bit damper than the Phal. If it has always had spots, it could be a natural pattern to the plant. I have at least one semi-terrestrial that has light spots like yours. Could just put a baggy over the Phal, and mist those roots more, but I am not much of a Phal grower. Also, I have had a number of problems with some kind of wilt that I am treating with Phaton 27. Think of it if you eliminate everything else.