leaves falling off

[gsodell]

My son gave me 2 Phals in Feb. both were blooming. From Lowe's I think. when the flowers died on the first one I cut the stem all the way. a new leaf grew. On the second one I cut it at the first node and got new flowers. My question is that in the last week both have gotten wilty and lost leaves. I removed some of the spag (thought maybe over water and suffocating) seemed to help some on the smaller one but a little more serious on the slightly larger one. They have been in the same place since Feb. morning light. I checked with a scope and I don't see any kind of bug or anything. maybe need repotted?? Can someone help?

[Lucinda Brown]

The best way to find out what's going on is to take them out of their pots and check to see if the roots are healthy and happy. If they're black and mushy, it's been overwatered,they should be fat and white if dry, fat and greenish when wet.They can 'get wilty' from lack of water and overwatering,both. So checking the roots will help. Did they turn yellow before they dropped or just fall off? Water sitting in the joints of the leaves or overwater[rot] can cause that. Yellow before they fell or were cut off is usually underwater or mites. Good luck.

[mayres]

I agree with Lucinda - best guess from what you have said - roots in poor condition from too much water. As she says, remove it totally from the current media and check them out. If she is correct, remove all the bad root materal and repot in fresh media. mike

[Maddy]

Check how they're potted, too - several I bought from Lowe's were double-potted (plastic in clay) and the roots were staying a LOT wetter than I thought. I lost two because of it - but the third one, the first of my survivors, is now in spike again.

[gsodell]

Thanks for all the help. I took the worst of the two out of the pot and like Maddy said plastic inside of clay. It's been 10 days since I watered and the roots were still damp I'm pretty convinced they were over watered I really don't think its mites. The "crown" of the least healthy one fell off just now and though the leaves were still green the part that broke off was black. so I would say its ROT. I wish I would have found this forum sooner. maybe I could have save that one. however the other one seems to be doing better so maybe I caught it in time. thanks again I'll keep you posted on the results

[atcrosby]

If you haven't repotted the smaller one, you may wish to do that. Give the roots a good inspection and with a sterile cutter, clip the rotten roots. You may want to presoak the new medium to allow it to absorb moisture since it usually will not readily absorb water. The best way to do this with bark is the day before repotting, soak the bark overnight in a bowl with very warm/hot water. This opens the pores on the bark so it can absorb some water.

I made the mistake of not doing this and my phal started to be underwatered. I was mystified until a grower showed me the error of my ways. I now always keep a baggie with moistened bark at the ready in the event I have a potting emergency.

Keep us posted on the Phal's progress.

Link to set of instructions: LINK

[Aniko]

After re potting, try Cynthia's skewer method to control moisture; easy and safe - you can avoid over watering again .
Aniko.
www.orchidgeeks.com/forum/newbie-questions/1099-skewer-use-for-watering-of-orchids.html