What's wrong with this Phal??

[Lizzy]

To me, that looked like cell collapse. Do you normally keep phals in your shade house?

[CLStilwell99]

I have about 10 phals out in my shade house and this hasn't happened to any of them. I did look up cell collapse and it looks a lot like what happened to my poor plant. Why would it only happen to one of them though?

[espranch]

This is beyond my knowledge, as I have limited experience with Phals. I think you'd better P.M. Bruce, as your problem seems more complex. Wish I could say something else to cheer you up...but just talk with Bruce A.S.A.P. Betty

[Aurellian]

i read somewhere, prolly here that you can tell if the spots are burn or not by pushin' em between your fingers and if they have like bumps that's burn, and if they have mush then its rot spot. Make sure you disinfect the poor girl so she don't get black spot or any of the common rots they get. I think i'm gonna lose my three year old purple phal to no doin that myself. Goodluck on your baby

[CLStilwell99]

It definitely didn't have mush, but it didn't really have bumps. It felt like I could feel the "veins" in the leaf. Since I knew it was getting worse and worse, I got scared and just cut off the two leaves. Hopefully my poor orchid won't hate me for that and will get better!!

[Lizzy]

Ants will not hurt your plant but if you see them in large numbers, that is an indicator of other pests (scale or aphids). I don't think you have to worry about that. I think you should just take your phal inside. She seems to be sensitive to the cold. At least that's my conclusion. Not sure if the nights have been cold down there but that's what it looks like in the pic. Usually cell collapse is caused by cold temperatures. Phals really like it warm. Good luck. It's so weird that all the others are fine. Poor girl.

[CLStilwell99]

I only saw a couple ants, 2 or 3. And it doesn't get very cold here at night...lately it's been high 50s-60s. I think it's really weird that all the other ones are perfectly fine too.

[Brutal_Dreamer]

Looks like a sun burn to me. Perhaps the leaf had water on it and got some hot sunlight. If you have cut the leaves off, and see no other issues, then don't worry. If another leaf starts to have the same issue, then there is still something wrong. Also, you mentioned a spike. If your orchid doesn't have many leaves, it might be a good idea to cut the spike off and let it grow another leaf instead. It takes lots of energy for a plant to spike and bloom.

Good luck.

cheers,
BD