Seasonal Changes or something to worry about with my Phals?

[akhenenra]

Hoping someone can tell me if this is something I need to worry about. I've had most of my Phalaenopsis orchids for around a year. They have all seemed very healthy in the time I've had them. In the last week or two though I have noticed quite a few of them have started getting kinda wrinkly leaves. I haven't done anything different in terms of the temp in my grow tent, watering schedule, etc. I water them around twice a week- they are in coarse bark and that seems to be good for them. The pots are clear so I can see that they have healthy roots. But the wrinkly leaves are worrying me. It doesn't seem like it's simply old leaves getting ready to be shed because they are not always on the bottom. Could this be a seasonal thing? I've never had this collection over an entire year consistently so I am not sure how they will respond to "winter" coming (I say "winter" because they are in a grow tent- I'm not sure they will even know it's winter right?). Any thoughts appreciated. Thank you.

PS- I have also noticed that their growth in general has slowed quite a bit- there are even a couple spikes that have seemed to almost stop developing. Could this be seasonal as well?

[rbarata]

I don't think Phals have seasonal changes (apart from the usual grow bloom pattern along the year).

Looking at your photo the medium seems to be very dry. The light doesn't help to see any possible details like this.

[estación seca]

You're not watering enough. They're dessicated. How do you water them?

[akhenenra]

Oh no! ok. I will increase the watering.

I water them just by letting water pour through from a can. They do get fertilizer. I have tried soaking them but unfortunately they are quite a long way from any water source so it's hard for me to get a container larger enough filled with water and then carry it over there. I've got 30 or so plants so carrying them out one by one is also kind of a hassle. But maybe soaking them sometimes along with watering with a can more often would help? If there are any other tips that would be appreciated! thanks

[Dimples]

In my regular indoor conditions, daytime summer high around 78-85°F, RH 45-65%, with high light and good air movement, I can top water my phals everyday if I want to. They’re all in medium-large high quality bark. I soak them at least once a week so I don’t have to do daily watering, but I’m still watering them more than twice a week.

[Dusty Ol' Man]

Mine are indoors. Temps 66-73. Humidity in the 50% region. Sitting by an east facing window (no direct sun). Planted in large bark. I water by pour through twice a week.
More often will definitely help.

[camille1585]

I agree that they are too dry and could use more water or more frequent water.

I have mostly Phals in my collection and they are on shelves in my living room, so no water source nearby. I have a small watering can (roughly 1.5gal) and bought a bunch of small containers just large enough for a plant pot. I set all the containers out, plop a plant in each and then fill them. Once they've finished soaking I dump all the water into a bucket, so I just have one thing to carry and dump down the drain.

You could also consider getting a pump action sprayer with a spraying wand, then you can very easily drench the surface of the pots, making it easier for you to water multiple times a week.


As to your grow tent, just how stable is the climate in there? Most winter blooming Phals need a general drop in temperature (24 h average temperature should be 10-15 degrees cooler than the normal growing temperature) for several weeks in order to trigger spike formation. If they don't get that, blooming might be patchy and disappointing. For most people growing on a windowsill, the plants naturally get that in the fall, but it might not be the case in a grow tent.

[akhenenra]

Thanks everyone for the help I really appreciate it. I love my plants and don't want to lose any of them . I hope the damage can be reversed? Or do you think they will have permanent affects.

The temp in the grow tent is entirely set by the HPS light. I can turn down the brightness but that will affect how much light they're getting.I can also just give them less hours of light, right now I think they are getting 18 hours a day. I could do 14 or 16. When the light is off it is around 70 in there, when it's on it's around 80-82. So I'm, not sure I can actually lower the temp overall, just give them longer portions of the day in the lower temperature, if that makes sense. I am working on switching up the system to LEDs but that's what I have for now. What do you all think?

---------- Post added at 10:55 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:54 AM ----------

Humidity is pretty high in there too, I refill my unit every day and it's around 70-80% most of the time. Whenever I water it also provides a lot of humidity as the extra evaporates

[tmoney]

yeah, watering...it's sorta a chore.

need more water. seasonal changes we have seen in our house phals are simply a slowing in growth during winter, and increase in growth in spring. those wrinkly leaves are just hydration. spikes can make it thru winter staying green, or even flowering, but thats species/hybrid dependent. our grocery noids all drop thier spikes after each flowering, and are bare leaves most of the winter.

if one is much worse than the others it may be worth it to check the roots and repot. even if the visible roots look healthy, if you've never inspected the entire root zone there could be problems you don't see. in fact, if you haven't repotted any of them since you bought them, i would suggest a wholesale media change and repot for all the phals. that is the first thing we do when we get new phals, regardless of season. even plants we repotted only a couple months ago may get repotted again if showing signs of stress. this is working for us. basically, if our plant has hydration stress its most assuredly a root problem. i would guess the same for you if you've had em nearly a year and are just now seeing stress developing over a short time

finally, what made our watering routine possible was a 5 liter jug of water from the store that is just refilled (actually, 2 of them) and water carried to each plant. the cachepot is filled, the plants left to sit for 15-30 minutes, then everything is dumped into our mop bucket which gets dumped down the toilet. it is about a 3 hour process with my saturday morning coffee and cigarette.

[akhenenra]

thank you that's a good idea about the jugs. I am working on getting my husband to help me get a hose bib in there.