what could yellowing leaves mean?

[inkeys]

Hi everyone, I am new here.

I have been keeping orchids for about 2 years now, and I have acquired seven of them. I have not had the greatest success with them. The only one I have gotten to rebloom is a phalaenopsis i inherited from my Mom.

Recently I have noticed the leaves on some of my phalaenopsis are turning yellow and two leaves fell off one of them today, with another leaf looking very soft and not healthy, so that will most likely be the third to drop.

I know it is normal for orchids to drop old leaves, but is three at once too much?!

they are all kept in a bark mixture and watered once a week, in a southern exposure behind blinds.

[dounoharm]

i would think it might be overwatering....what size pots are they in? are you letting the roots dry out sufficiently between waterings? a photo would be helpful here.....generally when you see a problem, checking the roots first tells you what to do....avoid tightly packed wet medium.....gl

[inkeys]

the smaller ones are in 4 inch orchid pots, the larger are in 6 inch orchid pots. They get watered once a week and are bone dry by the time i water them, so i don't think over watering is the culprit.

unfortunately at this moment i have no pictures of the plant, but i can take some tomorrow and post!

[Lagoon]

Hi and welcome a board inkeys
just waiting on those pictures ......

[inkeys]

hi guys i finally got the pictures now to figure out how to post them!

[inkeys]

this first set of pictures is one of the plants. it is just a generic white phalaenopsis. i will post another set of pictures for the yellow phalaenopsis

[inkeys]

here is the second one, the yellow phalaenopsis. it has dropped two yellow leaves which i threw out unfortunately, just wanted to show you the condition of the plant. it has a third leaf which is now quite soft and i am guessing will fall off eventually.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

The yellowing leaf may be an old leaf ready to drop.

The chlorophyll pigments are reduced in numbers as the chloroplasts die off. This reveals the yellow carotenoid pigments of the leaf.

[PeaceLoveOrchids]

The second phal looks great to me! Lots of root growth and light green leaves. I agree with King's post.

[PeaceLoveOrchids]

As for the first phal. I'm not sure what is going on there, but a couple of my phals have the same cuts down the center of the leaf. So I'm curious as to what others have to say about that.