Leaves dropped off

[scubelle]

Hi,

I love Orchids, but have a hap hazard relationship with them. I now own 3, the oldest of which is a Phal I've had for over 2 years - it was given to me by my husband and I'm very fond of it. Recently it started to bloom with several new buds arriving. However in the last few weeks or so the only 2 leaves have yellowed with some black spots and now fallen off. There are no new leaves emerging.
What should I do? Should I cut the blooms off? Should I re-pot? Is it dead?

Any advice greatly appreciated.
Attached are some pics of it as of today.

[ischel1]

Ah..... the grim reaper has struck again. Well some would say toss it, I however being basically an optimist would say, if you have nothing else to do with your life...keep it and see what happens. However, do repot the poor thing...it has probably strangled itself to death with it's own roots. Good luck.

[smwboxer]

I'm in the "toss it" corner, it's a goner.

[cindiras]

Look at all those healthy green roots! My choice would be to remove the spikes of flowers (put them in vases) and let the phal grow some new leaves. Try a higher nitrogen fertilizer to help the foliage along. Good luck!

[nen]

I would do the same.......... :fingers crossed: x
...keep us posted you could be 'in' for a very long time...
good luck!

[Brutal_Dreamer]

1. get a new orchid
2. cut off the spikes on this one
3. take it out of its pot and clean it up - removing all dead roots.
4. Repot in an orchid bark mix
5. Place in low light - high humidity area
6. Make sure it stays damp - not wet until it grows a leaf
7. After it has a leaf, move it slowly into brighter light.


While waiting on it to grow a new leaf, enjoy the new orchid you just got in step 1.

Good luck. Sorry you had trouble with this phal.

Cheers,
BD

[phytochrome]

BD...you totally rock! Absolutely on target. There are some nice roots there and it should do well.

[scubelle]

Thank you very much Brutal dreamer, I like the idea of trying to save it. So I'll head off to the garden centre for some bark mix this afternoon.
I live in Ireland, so a high humidity area is highly unlikely - would a bathroom do the trick????
Also should I do the nitrogen fertilizer and the bark mix? or just one or other?

Very many thanks for everyone's help and if and when it does come back to life I shall post some pics.

[Brutal_Dreamer]

Thank you very much Brutal dreamer, I like the idea of trying to save it. So I'll head off to the garden centre for some bark mix this afternoon.
I live in Ireland, so a high humidity area is highly unlikely - would a bathroom do the trick????
Also should I do the nitrogen fertilizer and the bark mix? or just one or other?

Very many thanks for everyone's help and if and when it does come back to life I shall post some pics.

You can try the bathroom, but a pebble-water tray might work just as well. I would hold off on feeding the orchid until it gets accustomed to its new potting material.

Cheers,
BD

[tamara.moody]

I have a similar situation. I got a phal orchid as a Valentine's Day gift, and it was beautiful. However, shortly after I got it, the leaves fell off one by one. They looked healthy up until they fell off. After all of the leaves fell off, the blossoms began falling off from the bottom up. There were only two rather wilted blossoms left at the top, and after doing some reading, I cut off the stem near the bottom. I took the plant out, and the moss it was planted in was rather damp. I have taken it out of the plastic thing it came in and spread out the moss a little and put it in a slightly bigger pot. Some of the roots have withered. However, there are still some green roots. Is there any hope that my little plant will eventually re-grow leaves? If so, what is the best course of action?