My phals

[love2cee]

I bought some phals, they were spent and the store priced them to $2.00 a piece so I bought all 5. They also looked real stuffed and because they were in clear pots I could tell that the bark in the pot had began to wear and break away from the roots. Also the roots were rotten underneath in the bark but the roots on top by the leafs of the plants were nice and green. So I bought a clay pot and planted 4 of the 5 in the pot and set them outside in the shaded part of my back yard. I put the last one with my cymbidiums in full evening sun. None of them liked those areas at all, so I brought them in the house. I put them under a window that gets evening sun, but they sit on the floor so there is NO direct sunlight that hits them and they are perking up. The leaves are white but hardy feeling. How long will it take them before they recover?

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

Well, Phals should have a great deal less light than Cymbidiums, as you have found out. Or maybe I should make it clear that Cymbidiums take a lot of light. Your next to last sentence doesn't make much sense. Maybe you would like to rephrase that. I don't think that putting more than one plant in a pot is a good idea. The problem is that the pot has to be too big. You will probably have watering problems, won't dry out fast enough. But it is up to you if you want to try and work that out. Cynthia, Prescott, AZ

[jerrymeola]

Your white leaves may never recover. The chlorophyll has been killed in the leaf. It is what we call burn.

If the plant is strong enough to survive you will see new growth begin and this growth will develop bright green. The old leaves will then fall off.

Multiple Phals in a pot can grow but watering needs to be very careful. The large areas of bark without roots holds water too long. Water only around the base of the plant rather than the whole pot and it can work. As the roots grow to fill the pot it can be treated normally. It is not the easiest way to grow Phals but it can be done.

Because of the burn I would water very little until I see new growth and no fertilizer. Without chlorophyll in the leaves the plant will use very little water (just enough to prevent completely drying out) and can not use fertilizer now.

[love2cee]

Thank you, the plants are just kind of stagnet at this point. The white leaves are still alive, i.e. they aren't wilting and to touch they are strong. If I can ask one more question, did watering outside cause the white leaf of did too much sun cause the white or a little of both, how did I loose the chlorophyll?

Thanks Jerry