Orchid Culture - Questions & Answers from This Month
by Sue Bottom, from the St. Augustine Orchid Society Newsletter. Email us with any orchid question. If we can't answer it, we'll find someone who can! Send photographs too!
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Weird Phal Flower Spike
Q. I have a grocery store no-id Phal that seems very healthy but has leaves that are significantly twisting and both its flower spikes emerged normally then started dramatically twisting even though the LED grow lights are directly above it. I am wondering if the leaves are showing chlorotic streaking and whether the plant might be virused.A. Some phals have certain species in the background that have markings similar to what your phal is showing. That flower spike is very confused. I have tried straightening them out and all I do is break them. It's a lot twistier than what I have seen in the past, so maybe there's some genetic predisposition, or perhaps you moved them on the shelf to water them and the light orientation changed? At any rate, you'll have to wait til next year for hopefully a better flower spike. The plant looks healthy. (Apr-24)
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Catasetum Has New Growth Starting
Q. I see new growth on this Catasetum that still has green leaves, so I’m afraid to repot. Can this wait until the next potting clinic next month? Should I start watering it?
A. The best time to repot any orchid is immediately before the new roots start growing. With most orchids, you don't know when the new roots are starting until you see new green root tips. With catasetums, you know when you see the new green growth begin to form that you have a week or 10 days before the new roots will start growing. This short window is the best time for you to repot your catasetum. That catasetum has outgrown its pot, so you should repot it over the next few days.
(Apr-24)
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Leaves Falling Off
Q. This Bc. Yellow Bird spent the winter in my eastern exposure bathroom. As blooms faded, I moved it to a southern exposure under my pool screen. Now almost all leaves are falling off. The leaf tips stared browning and then fell off above the pseudobulb.A. Looks like you've got some cleaning up to do! Get a sterile tool and cut off all the severely damaged leaves, probably close to the base of the leaf. That will remove the source of the problem, which I would suspect to be bacterial in origin. Then, spray it with some copper, and put it back in the eastern exposure bathroom until it perks up. I'd guess that you have been growing in the same pot for a while judging by the density of the pseudobulbs. Try lifting it up by the vegetation and see if there's any wobble in the pot. If there is, repotting is in your future, but I'd wait a bit on this to see what dead/infected areas have to be cut out.
Some guesses as to what might have caused it. It could have been cold exposure after it's winter nap inside, or perhaps the big day night temperature changes caused condensation on the leaf surfaces at night and this was the starting point for the disease issue, or there could have been dripping cold water from above onto the leaf surfaces also causing cold damage. I am guessing the damage happened fast rather than slow suggesting it's bacterial rather than fungal. Your normal fungicides won't do anything for a bacterial infection. The good news is these guys are very resilient, so if you can stabilize the plant, by mid summer you'll hardly know you had a problem. (Apr-24)