Help please: Phalaenopsis NOID with pale, thin leaves
 

Hiya folks!

Two years ago I bought a Phal hybrid at a garden centre, it has lived with my Mum for a bit and I only got it back a couple weeks ago.

Something happened with the leaves - they are very pale and thinner than usual. They feel strappy and not very firm at all. I have had dehydrated Phals before and it's definitely not that.
The roots are healthy and green - I took it out of its pot and put in fresh substrate when I got it back.
The stem looks fine as far as I can tell.
It has formed a flower spike, but unlike any I have seen before, very tall and branching to the sides. All in all it just doesn't look the way it's supposed to and I'm fearing this may be its last effort going into producing a huge towering flower stem!

I have checked for pests but that's not the problem. It could be a cultural problem or a disease, I've searched all over the forum and online but couldn't find anything that resembled my troubles. It lived on an sunny windowsill at my mother's house, watered once a week and fed with an orchid feed all through the growing season.

In the photos please ignore the huge burnt patches on the upper leaves, that happened through scorching and is another story...

My questions are:
1) Does anyone know what this condition is and what caused it?
2) Would you suggest I remove the flower spike so that no energy is wasted on flowering?

Thank you so much in advance - I know it's just an unnamed hybrid, but I still love the damned thing.


Sunny


:thankyou

What I see is a plant that simply has not received optimal care. Probably grown too cool and/or too brightly, not fed or watered regularly, and possibly placed next to a very directional light source and turned so that the leaves went a bit "wonky". The aerial root suggests insufficient humidity.

Warm it up, water it regularly and enhance the humidity, and it looks like it'll be fine. I would not cut the spike if the plant is still growing and the roots in the pot are good.

Thanks for the answer, that is relieving! I had feared it may be some sort of virus.
It could well have been too bright where it was placed before - I think the window at my Mum's place is south-facing. Will follow your suggestions to the best of my abilities and also keep the flowerspike!

Thanks again :)

Whatever went wrong which caused that leaf to be smaller happened a while ago since there are 2 normal sized leaves above it. The leaves twisting and turning every which way are usually from not putting the plant in the same position after watering/moving it during active growth.

Seeing the number of buds and branches on that spike, I'd say that it's quite happy with the care it's recieved recently!

Thank you Camille!

I will treat it well and hopefully it'll grow normally again. If all the buds actually open I will post a picture :)

That is a very interesting spike, indeed, with all those branches. I look forward to seeing a picture when it blooms. :)

Hi guys!

A quick update on the Phal that I was worried about a while back - it's blooming now and quite happy, apart from the very unsightly scorch marks on the leaves.. But the flowers are beautiful :)

Just wanted to share with you, although my terrible pictures probably don't do it justice - the background in the second pic is in fact a black tea towel, and it didn't even work out that well :P