Bent/broken leaves near base

[Jak]

Well about the cat - I would not either normally, but my mother in-law was visiting that day as well, so this is a tough call :-D

[Jak]

Reporting back on Cym Ladye's advice...

I eased apart the leaves, and it turns out the outermost leaf was somehow enveloped in the second to outermost one (is this normal!?). After the freeing the outermost one the second to outermost fell off (it was not attached anymore for a long time it seems like). I now have attached looser wiring to the freed leaf and the bundle.

The good finding is that the leaves seem to have gained back some of their structural soundness as they remain upright without support! Also some of the harmonica has gone away.

Will keep you updated how things go... I now.plan to monitor the leaves' growth and not restrict it as I did.

Thank you again for all your help!

J.

P.s. uploading pictures seems to not work on this post... Will try in a next one

[Jak]

Pictures

[Cym Ladye]

This was definitely not the fault of the cat! Looks as if it is on the road to recovery. Most problems have common sense answers if you just look at them carefully and work them out.

[Dollythehun]

I'm with Ray, most problems are due to me being
clumsy. That is a beautiful cat, is it a Russian Blue?

[Jak]

Hello Dollythehun - thank you, yes it is! although I am affraid what he got in beauty he did not get in smarts :-)

Hello all,

I wanted to update you on how the leaves are doing.

Overall I am very happy with the recovery they have made - the leaves have continued to grow, and don't look to be falling off any time soon:-) There are 2 issues that you would not find on normal leaves: 1/ the harmonica did not fully straighten out 2/ after being exposed to brighter sun 2 of the leaves have browned in 1 segment of the leaf (see pictures), although this seems to be improving as time goes.

I am still keeping the support, but I don't really think it is needed...

Thank you for your help with this!

J.

[Roberta]

The pleats in the leaves won't go away, but the leaf appears to be growing nicely now. The brown leaf looks a little "toasted" - Cyms tolerate, and need, a lot of light but abrupt change can do this. (When increasing light on any orchid, try to do it gradually, a little at a time over several weeks) No worries, though, Cyms are really tough. and the light green color of the leaves indicates that they're getting the light that they need to give you flowers.

[Jak]

Hello Roberta, all,

this plant is strange - the leaves (except the ones I had posted about) are ok, for years, then they just give up brown and fall off within 1 week, I guess this is what Cyms do? Anyway the original leaves in question are doing great - no support needed, and the bulb has sprouted 2-3 new growths, so I think it is doing well

Anyhow I have another question on a related topic... I was watering my other cym, and I noticed the new growth (only one this year - it is not doing as well as my other one) was kind of stuck together - the leaves were not opening, or separating, so I gently (!) pried them a apart, and the first largest leaf just came off - the break was brown , so this must have happened some time ago... is this normal? can this be prevented?

Thank you for your insight!
Jakub

[Jak]

Bump...

I saved a leaf on the same plant by gently dividing the leaves as they grew, it had already started to tear at.the base... Also the leaves have a slight harmonica on them in one place - probably due to growing faster than the leaves they were stuck to.. Is this normal?

Jakub

[SouthPark]

Originally Posted by Jak

Also the leaves have a slight harmonica on them in

Is it harmonica, or accordion? Classical hand-held paper fan folding shape, right?

Maybe it really is due to leaves getting stuck together and both growing at different rates. If not concerned about the shape, then I'm thinking it's fine to just let the plant grow like that.

The number of leaves you have on the plant is quite a lot. I'm thinking that if a leaf gets bent by something (someone) .... not your folded ones ... then probably no need to worry about. I'd just leave it there, and let it do its thing. If the leaf doesn't make it, then it will just drop off ----- no problem if the plant has plenty of leaves already.