Help with my Phal

[morphiii]

I bought this beautiful Phal from Home Depot. It is flowering and a few buds.

I put it in a shower the first night I got it, and after a few days I noticed small white holes on some of the flowers.

It got worse and worse and I think I might have some kinda of bug that is eating the flowers.

I tried mild detergent not knowing that it might be toxic!!

I finally went back to Home Depot and get a 3 in 1 fungicide that has 99% Neem Oil.

I sprayed it on and drying it out now.

I am just wondering if those white spots that turned into tiny holes are caused by bugs or virus or are they flower burns?

My previous experience with Phal has not been a success. I didn't have enough air movement and too much water. The plant eventually developed fungi and root rot.

This time around I was very careful not to drown the roots and even have a humidity tray set up, but now I have all these holes in the flowers.

This is very frustrating. Please help.

[mayres]

Welcome Morphiii -
Can you post a pic of the flowers and holes? I have never seen what you describe. Have you examined the underside of the leaves and the back side of the flowers and the stems of the flowers? These are likely places for insects to reside that like to chew on phals from my experience.
Also update your profile to include your growing area if you don't mind. It helps in giving suggestions to know where you live.
If you want to stay with the non-toxic (more natural) insecticides many of us have found worm tea to work nicely for the easier to kill bugs.

[morphiii]

Thanks mayres for replying. My digital camera doesn't work for some reason so I can't post any pictures yet, but scrolling through the forum I found a picture of something similar.

The flowers have small holes (2 to 3 mm) like the the big ones on the left of the picture and they seem to be spreading.

I did water the whole plant when I first got it ( in the evening) and I didn't dry it off.

Is that the reason why?

Could there be some kinda bugs that causes damages like this?

[morphiii]

Originally Posted by mayres

Welcome Morphiii -
Can you post a pic of the flowers and holes? I have never seen what you describe. Have you examined the underside of the leaves and the back side of the flowers and the stems of the flowers?

They all look clean to me but one of the leaves have a white spot (2 mm) and seem to be getting a little bigger.

Also some of the leaves also have tiny white spots now. sigh!

Originally Posted by mayres

Also update your profile to include your growing area if you don't mind. It helps in giving suggestions to know where you live.

Well I live in New York, in an apartment facing north with eastern sun.

I put my phal on top of my speaker, about 4 feet off the floor and 6 feet from the window.

[mayres]

In regards to updating your profile, click the users settings at the top of the page and then click update profile - if you put "New York" or some such verbiage in here everyone will know where you live in future posts - thanks!
Hopefully someone will weigh in concerning the large white spot on the dendrobium leaf you posted - looks to me like a chemical burn - sometimes associated with a combination of water/spray (chemical) and interaction with strong sunshine. The location you described actually sounds pretty good. When you get your camera going try again to post a pic of your plant. Neem oil and bright sunlight will burn (as I've read in previous posts) - just reread some of your previous post. You might do a search on this and read the associated posts. Good luck. mike

[morphiii]

I am just wondering if these watering stakes and globes actually works.

http://www.orchidlight.com/l103.html

http://www.orchidlight.com/aquastakes.html

[19419n]

Originally Posted by morphiii

I am just wondering if these watering stakes and globes actually works.

http://www.orchidlight.com/l103.html

http://www.orchidlight.com/aquastakes.html

no and no
roots on orchids need to dry out and if you have a constant supply of water on them then they will rot

[mayres]

You might want to start a new thread with this one. I have no experience with them - don't know that I would want to try it with orchids.......?

[brookn]

Hi I have seen leaves like that before on the forum can't remember where. I do know that the post showed this same thing and the person had watered and left the house without making sure the water was dry on the leaves something like that. Mike is right about the light and water. Essentially the water was left on the leaves and the sunlight acted as a magnifier and burnt the holes in the leaves. If you have strong light it is best to dry the leaves or water in a location where they can dry out of the light. Watering early in the morning also helps. I also think I would be reluctant to try those stake things.

[morphiii]

Originally Posted by brookn

Hi I have seen leaves like that before on the forum can't remember where. I do know that the post showed this same thing and the person had watered and left the house without making sure the water was dry on the leaves something like that. Mike is right about the light and water. Essentially the water was left on the leaves and the sunlight acted as a magnifier and burnt the holes in the leaves. If you have strong light it is best to dry the leaves or water in a location where they can dry out of the light. Watering early in the morning also helps. I also think I would be reluctant to try those stake things.

I think you might be right about that. I messed with the plant so much these few days I can't imagine the stress the plant is under. The few flowers that was burnt is starting to go limp.

I am so bad with this!!

I am hoping against hope that this will not get any worse!!

There are about 30 flowers and 15 buds, 7 of the flowers are not doing so well.

One of the flowers that has quite an extensive burn was limp yesterday but today was looking a lot better.

What can you do to stop the flowers from dropping?

I bought this a week ago!! and the nightmare is already happening!!

What the hell!!

[justloveorchids]

I certainly would never put an orchid in the shower

I only water the potting medium or stand the pots in water for 4 hours once a week

You can mist an orchid but only ever early in the morning so that no water is left to cause crown rot etc

I have restored some 12 orchids now from the very sorry state their previous owners had let them get into

[morphiii]

I can't get the camera to work. I took some of these with my webcam.

Hope you can make out what I am talking about.

As you can see in the first and the last pictures, there are a lot of white spots in the flowers. They are not holes per se, you can see that the pigment is gone but the flower is not punctured.

Are these flower burns?

[morphiii]

Originally Posted by justloveorchids

I certainly would never put an orchid in the shower

I only water the potting medium or stand the pots in water for 4 hours once a week

You can mist an orchid but only ever early in the morning so that no water is left to cause crown rot etc

I have restored some 12 orchids now from the very sorry state their previous owners had let them get into

You stand the pot in water for 4 hours? Wouldn't that suffocate the roots?

[Jo_Pyeweed]

Hi Morphii,

How agonizing for you. Hang in there !

I gather from reading your posts that it's only the flowers that are affected, and that there are no spots/burns on the leaves..? If so, that to me is good news.

Flowers always tend to suffer when the plant's environment changes. And, it does sound like the water on the flowers may have caused either mild rot or burns.

If the plant itself is healthy (30 flowers and 15 buds - wow !) I would be tempted to leave the flower spike and watch closely that nothing worsens. Make sure that the plant and flowers are not in direct sunlight, and not exposed to any drafts (A/c, hotter air blowing in from an open window etc.).

I moved house about 3 months ago, and one phal, in particular, which was in flower for about a month before the move, started dropping flowers before my eyes. I almost cut the flower spike, but then got caught up in things, and when I could next pay some attention the plant, it seemed to have adapted to its new digs. The spike was left with only 6 flowers but it's now 4 months and the remaining flowers still look fresh and bright.

Cheers,
Jo

[Jo_Pyeweed]

Hi Morphiii,

I missed seeing the pics you posted before making my previous post. Looks like water damage and also possibly due to the change in the plant's environment, but I could be wrong. Let's see what the experts have to say.

Cheers,
Jo

[MariahK]

Although I am not certain a friend of mine had a similar thing on her roses and it was due to the neem oil was concentrated and she forgot to dilute it and it made funny markes all over the leaves, It did eventually drop the leaves and grow new ones, I would check the neem oil. and if you continue using it maybe dont put the plant back in the window until it is completely dry.

[morphiii]

I think spraying the flowers with anything is a bad idea. Some thing that a florist friend told me to day. They will usually drop within a week.

Of well live and learn. At least 80% of the flowers are still doing well. I am happy with that.