Phal suddenly yellow and dropping leaves

[solus]

I have absolutely no idea whats going on with my phal. Shes a few years old and has always been perky and correctly colored. In August I went on vacation and the house sitter managed to give the poor girl sunburn, so those spots are older and she has been fine since.

3 days ago I had tons of flowers and was perfectly colored. I tested that the medium was dry and watered with the fertilizer the store had recommended
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Fast forward 3 days and I walked into my spare room (the room with the best indirect sunlight all day) and this is what my poor baby looked like. The roots still look perky and properly colored, the pot is draining properly, the medium is still moist in the pot and dry on top as it should be after 3 days, but the crown and top leaves turned bright yellow and the flowers all wilted. 5 leaves fell off. The 4 that remain are soft and sort of mushy. The roots coming out of the top part of the crown seem to be shriveling and the top is turning yellow, but the under part of the crown (the part under the medium) is still healthy and green, as are the roots coming from that part of the crown. What confuses me is that from the little bit I know these are signs of both too much and too little light, too much and too little water.

I could use any help I can get. Please help me save my little one!

[SeanHoutman]

Looks like crown rot. You might be able to recover the plant, but the top is dead. It might grow a new plant from the base.

[ksriramkumar]

Phal looks very dehydrated and would suggest to

1. Remove the plant from the medium carefully
2. cut the dry and yellow leaves and mushy roots if any
3. soak the plant in a fungicide for 10-15 minutes.
4. soak in a KLN or seaweed extract for 10-15 minutes
5. either follow a sphag and bag or pot it back if your humidity in your place is above 80%

[solus]

Thank you both for the responses!

I have followed the steps and I have a bagged phal on my mantle. There are many different ideas about sphag n bag, some saying that it can promote rot. However, the humidity is well below the recommended 80% so it seems to be the only option for the moment.

Given the weird conditions (I moved to London a few months ago and its been unseasonably warm and dry) for my plants Ive decided to give s/h with hydroton a go. Should I leave this plant in the bag, or should I repot in the s/h as well as that will provide the humidity? If it should stay bagged, what am I looking for to know when to unbag it? I can really only find info for plants with no roots in this case, and mine still has about 5 viable, healthy roots coming from the bottom.

Thanks again!

[ksriramkumar]

don't move this to S/H now. moving to S/H should happen when they are healthy and growing new roots. moving them now would stress them more.