I rescued a Phal. from Lowes...

[frostychic]

It was HUGE and had two flower stalks on it with 6 white flowers still hanging on each stalk.

I knew it was in trouble by the look & feel of the leaves... they had a wilted look & feel to them but I got it on huge discount and since the leaves/plant was so large I hoped I could save it. I brought it home and did a little research and even though it still had blooms on it I decided that I'd better get it repotted... sure enough when I got it out of its pot it had been totally crammed in there sooooo tight and most all of the roots were either wilted and dead or totally black. I cut off everything in the way of roots that were done for and repotted. I've been really careful to keep air circulating around it and low & behold it held it's blooms for quite a while... even went on to grow the little buds out and I thought I was gonna get 3 or 4 more blooms off of it... nope. Blooms just all of a sudden wilted, dried and fell off. But I thought... that's ok, cause the leaves were starting to fill back in and become semi solid as they should be.

Now is where the problems have come in ... over the course of the last week two of the leaves have turned yellow and dropped off. The base of the plant looks to me like it is turning dark and dying... I see no root growth coming from the plant. I have been very careful not to overwater and as I said keep air circulating... the two flower stalks are still looking healthy and I am now down to one very large mature leaf and one leaf that has been the same size (not growing) that is new... both of these have gotten their (almost) normal feel back to them rather than that wilted feel I mentioned.

I've also noticed something that looks like salt or mineral deposits forming in the spahgmum... when I lift them out they are crunchy... almost powdery.

Can someone lend advice on what I should do at this point?

thanks!

[kninum]

i'm going to say re-pot and find out what you've got for roots ( ie condition and such)- if there is what looks like a mineral build-up it is probably time to freshen up the media anyways

i have had most of my phals loose 1-2 of their oldest leaves in the last few weeks (i think it may just be a seasonal thing,since they are otherwise very healthy)

[Tarad]

Yep my phals are dropping their bottom leaves as well Tara

[lmartiny]

I have an established phal that is also starting to lose a leaf from the bottom. But it has plenty more so I'll go with the seasonal thing.
I salvaged a phal from Lowes that was out of bloom but looked like it had two plants and a possible new spike. It was a spike, so I tried to hang on and not repot. But it wasn't happy, losing an old and newer (but not newest) leaf. Then someone munched on him. (in the patio) I decided to repot and there were two plants. One with the old spike and one with the new. I potted them separately into bark and they seem to be doing OK. I think they have too much wet moss packed into them when they come from the stores. That probably maintains them well for the grower and gives them an initial chance once in the retail setting. ?? I really don't know.

[brookn]

Hi, could you get a pic of the plant? If it is dropping more than one leaf, I would be somewhat concerned. I have one that puts out a leaf, and drops a leaf, but rarely do any of mine drop more than one leaf unless they are stressed.

[phalaephila]

You may want to consider cutting the flower stems off so that the plant directs its energy into new root growth. If the plant regains its health, it will put out new spikes later.

[frostychic]

I was thinking that maybe I should cut the bloom stalks... was just worried that I should let nature take it's course but I will clip-clip right away.

I hate to disturb it if I don't need to by taking it out of the pot (again) as I'm worried that I'll harm any new and fragile root growth that might be there... did I read someone suggest that I should cut off the lower part of the plant where there are no roots any longer? I've wondered about that before when I transplanted another phal.

Yes... I can probably get a photo and then describe from there...

LOL on having something munch on your plants... I had my catt. out in a nice location this summer and one day (ok, more than once) the goats got out and they seemed to like it well enough to take one bite out everytime they passed it. Luckily, the catt didn't miss a beat... looks a bit ragged though.

[lmartiny]

Oh, goats!! Much bigger than my pest, likely a snail (?) But they can really do some quick damage.
I left our Jack-O-lantern on the porch too long and when I came back from out of town this Tues he was a rotting, collapsed mess. There were snails all over it. It was disgusting.

[frostychic]

Ok... per the advice I have cut the old bloom stalks off... Here are a couple of photos... the phal in question is on the right hand side of the photo... small upright leaf and one large hanging leaf in the front... plus an up close of the base...

[frostychic]

Soooo... any suggestions? What (if anything) should I do to encourage new root growth?

Should I mist the base of this plant without getting water up in/on the crown?

Should I not mist/spray at all?

Should I take it out of it's medium and inspect (again) to see if there are any living roots? Let's say I do this and there are no living roots... what then?

Should I just hold my breath, cross my fingers and hope it pulls thru?

[frostychic]

I think I've just solved the problem... mealy bugs.

I hope it's not too late

[frostychic]

It was too late for me to save this plant. When I went to take it from it's pot every leaf fell from the crown.

It's done.

[Tarad]

Aww that is too bad. You did everything you could really though, at least you got to enjoy it's blooms for awhile. Tara