phal help

[lissie0113]

recently i rescued a group of phals who had been planted into one pot together as a display/arrangement. the plants looked healthy, looked to be about five in the pot. all were in bloom and were beautiful. so when i got it home and took it apart to repot all of these guys.... i was surprised when i found it was actually SEVEN phals crammed into that small pot (it was 8 or 10 inches) the roots were in terrible array, but i replanted them all and hoped for the best. A couple that i didnt have high hopes for lost their battle pretty quickly..... but now a couple of them who stayed in bloom for over a month have started losing their leaves. i didn't think much about it when it was just one leaf, as that normally happens, but now a couple of them are on the verge of losing all of their leaves. any ideas/suggestions to help these guys?

[Stelios]

mabe they was not used to direct light on a window and they get sunburns?

[lissie0113]

i just moved it to the windowsill today... they were on a table not getting much light so i thought maybe that was what they needed....

[Ron]

Hi
My pennys worth of advice.
1; Get rid of the sphagnum moss, it kills more Phallies than any other mix.
I like to use an open mix of 15 mm bark (1/2 to 3/4 inch).
2; keep the temperature in winter above 62 F.
3; water when nearly dry.
4; I use a clear pot as the Phallie roots love the light on them.
5; Keep them in an area where you hand help a foot above them, just casts a shadow.
Best of luck as generally they are easy to grow if given the right conditions.
Cheerio
Ron

[lissie0113]

thanks for the ideas ron. a couple of things though..... the phals arent planted in sphag. i just have a layer over the top of a bark mix to help keep up the humidity inside the house. all of my other phals around the apartment have done well this way..... but maybe these dont need them. i was just worried about these guys coming out of that big group pot.... they seem to not be doing so hot. some are better than others though.....

now what happens if a phal loses all of its leaves? is it done for?

[englandfx]

If a phal loses all of it's leaves, it is basically done for.
Unless you have the time, and the patience to help that phal recover....probably gonna be 2 yrs...


Oh and the way ur phal looks, I personally think you have over-fertilized it.

[Ron]

I have dozens of Phallies, all in an open potting mix.
I never use the top dressing of spag. rather do not know why it is recommended.
I think the roots need to have access to fresh exchange of air.
My personal experience if you only water once a fortnight in warm weather, this will not kill the plant, they just look unhappy untill watered again.
If you lose all the leaves I suspect they will die, anyway recovery time would be a long time before they flower
Just my penny's worth.
Ron

[articuno75]

Lissie~ The Phal in that pic looks to have crown rot.

[lissie0113]

AAAHHHHHHHHHHH! i did notice when i got it that it had a funny little indentation at the crown but i have never seen crown rot before in person. now it all makes sense..... i guess it was doomed from the beginning....... THanks Jenny!