Why are my Phrag Hanne Popow leaves so yellow?

[Joella]

Hi everyone, I am new to the Orchid Board and I have a question for s/h orchid growers out there. I have a seedling Phrag Hanne Popow that has been in s/h for about 2 months. It's large enough that's it's bloomed already, but still pretty small. Anyway, lately the plant has been looking fairly yellow. The roots are all healthy looking and it is starting a new root and a new small new growth. One lower leaf is fairly yellow but does not appear ready to fall off, the rest of the plant also has a yellow tinge. Does not appear to have crown rot. Does anyone know what would cause this? I was thinking water quality and have been using distilled water lately but I can't tell if it's helping since the plant is still yellowish. I used neem oil on the plant when I first got it, as I do with all new additions, and have never had problems before. It sits next to phalaenopsis and paphiopedilum which do not have yellow leaves, so I'm thinking it couldn't be getting too much sunlight. Any ideas or suggestions? Thanks!

[snow]

i have a paph charleswortii hybrid which had verry yellow leaves. i gave it some iron and the yellow disappeared within a week. now i don,t know if that would help you,re pgrag or not.

[Lagoon]

Try lowering the light levels or move the plant lower down on the shelf. You'll know within a couple of days if this is working.

[Gin]

Hi ,I have a Hanne Popow .
They will lose lower leaves on oldest growth slowly yellow then dry up in time . Are you feeding it ? distilled water has no food value , you could try Epsom salts a Tbs. to a gallon of water to see if that helps I don't think it is light levels mine get the same as my Paphs. if not more .It could be the growth is on the way out .. Gin

[Joella]

Thanks everyone!

Gin, I have been feeding the plant Dyna Grow about 1 tsp per gallon every 2 weeks. I flush the pot often because I was having problems with some silvery mold looking stuff on the Prime Agra when I first potted it. It looked like cow webs, but I looked very closing and it was not a bug problem. I think there was still a little organic matter on the roots, but it doesn't appear to be a problem anymore and didn't affect the roots at all. I think that I will try the Epsom salts.

About the iron: how did you apply it? Was it just an iron supplement that you added to the water or was it in a fertilizer? If the Epsom salts don't do anything I may research this further.

[Gin]

Do you have a picture you can post ?

[Joella]

Here are a couple photos, hopefully I loaded them correctly. The lighting was not so great since it is dark out, so one is with flash and one without to give you a better idea. The top two leaves are a medium green, but the base of the plant and lower leaves are yellow.

[Lagoon]

Joella,

I'm not seeing any problem with you're Phrag. It's normal for the lower leaves to get yellow in color once the fan gets older and new growth appears. Are you seeing any new fans?
The rocks look pretty tight up and the base of the 'chid. Maybe you could move them back abit and check for new fans comming up.

[Gin]

:iagree: Looks fine to me I would not treat it with anything Epsom or Iron ... Gin

[Joella]

There is a new fan coming up, it's pretty small yet but is growing. I guess I just noticed that the plant was paler than when I purchased it, but I wasn't aware that the older growth might slowly age before the new growth was fully developed. This is my first phrag, so I'm more experienced with phals. Thanks for the input everyone, I will stop worrying then