fungus infection on phal leaves

[John Salmeron]

How do you differentiate fungus infection from any other type on Phal leaves?

also:

many of my Phal leaves have a reather dark color and are kind of flopy.

They get plenty of light and I do not water them unless they are really dry (scratching deep and no feeling any moisture)

Leaves should be light green and have a thick consistency,not flopy,I believe

Otherwise they are doing well. Blooming and growing over 2 or 3 feet!!

any advice? Thanks.

John Salmeron

[orchidlady]

Fungal and bacterial infections can at times be difficult to distinguish. Both can have fast moving black or brown spots (sometimes stinky/moist/mushy) on the leaves. If infection spreads to the crown the leaves will often drop off suddenly. The difference between fungal/bacterial and viral infections is often the speed with which they appear and spread. The spots on leaves from a viral infection often appear much more slowly and the plant slowly tends to lose vigor.

If the leaves are floppy, it is often a moisture or root problem. Are the leaves wrinkled? What kind of growing medium are you using? Where are you growing (windowsill, greenhouse, etc.)? One thing about Phals is that they like to be evenly moist, not dry out too much. It is possible they are getting too dry if you are not watering until they are really dry. How do the roots look? Are they thick with greeen tips and get green when watered, or are they brown, mushy, or dry and wrinkled? When was the last time they were repotted?

Photos of the plants will likely give a better indication of what is going on.

Susan

[pavel]

Also if the leaves are "dark green" then they are not getting "plenty of light" -- not by their standards at least.

[Alana]

I find it a little hard to tell with some of my phals. I have one in particular that has some nice BIG leaves, and the tops are all a darker green, but it gets as much light as my catts who are light green, and the bottoms of the phals leaves are lightly tinged purple because they are getting max light. So, go figure

[orchidlady]

Leaf color in Phals can also be variable due to their genetic background. Some are quite dark green even with adequate light and some are very light green. Color alone is not necessarily the best indicator without the cultural conditions being known.

Susan

[Cjcorner]

If your phal is reblooming and your leaves are floppy and mushy, you are underwatering and the plant isn't handling reblooming. I'd suggest cutting off the flower spikes...put them into a vase with warm water and a pinch of sugar and they will remain pretty for up to a month. You will need to change the water every 3-4 days and each time trim the flower spike a little and repeat the warm sugar water. It's hard to cut off pretty flowers, but unless you do it's going to probably bloom itself to death....phals do that sometimes.