Phal leaf won’t open, two leaves growing

[BrassCat]

Got back from a three week trip (I know it’s a long time, things happened) and found this leaf situation occurred in my absence. It looks like one leaf is growing inside another leaf, but perhaps due to lack of water the newest leaf isn’t opening. It’s been a week since I got back and even with plenty of water, the leaf still isn’t opening. Help!

Never seen this before on any orchid. I’ve had this phal for about 18 months and it’s been doing well for me. It’s in mostly bark and I haven’t had any issues with blooming or growth prior to this. Thanks all

[Roberta]

I think just leave it... likely as the leaf grows further, it will open. If that doesn't happen, you could VERY GENTLY try to slip a thin object (such as a business card) into any opening at the base and try to coax it a little. But I'd start with watchful waiting.

[Ray]

Roberta's first recommendation is the better one.

Anything you try to do to coax it to do something other that what it is doing will very likely result in tissue damage.

[Roberta]

Another note... a week or two in the life of an orchid is nothing, an eye-blink. Orchids don't do anything fast. Progress is measured in months or longer, not days or a few weeks. Back to "patience". Simple observation is best for the orchid, and it's the way to learn, too.

[tmoney]

hey bc...i assume you play trumpet or sax or somethin?!

anywho, yeah that is wierd and we also had a couple plants do the same thing this sspring (but we are relatively new growers who have limited data points)

we observed that the water didn't seem to matter, as siblings of the same variety/species seemed to have no issues and all roots looked fine. it also attacked plants in disparate zones, so we could make no strong correlation to light/humidity/etc.

so, in the end we have no idea what caused it. all the plants that started a new leaf this way eventually split open and normaled out growth when then leaves hit around 5cm or so in length, with one exception that took noticeably longer to normalize and spread out. also, the one plant i manually separated had, by the next morning, curled completely the other way turning half inside-out. the leaf developed normally after that, so we have this one wonky leaf that is half like a pair of lips and half normal! hehehe, we just chalk it up to plants being plants

so, basically, it seems best not to mess with them if they do that.