Leaves yellowing and drying out
 

I saved a few orchids from my workplace, and don't exactly know their species. I've neglected taking care of the problem below, which is now affecting a second orchid, so I want to check if it's infectious and how to care for it.

Here are two preliminary pics of the two orchids. I'd be happy to take more. During the summer, those orchids were watered by spraying them lightly everyday with a water bottle, and infrequent complete waterings, every 2-3 weeks (I usually leave them in a larger recipient to "bathe" and rinse the potting medium well). I stopped the water bottle spraying in September, roughly. They are located on a window, which may be a bit colder now.

The most recent affected:

https://i.imgur.com/1D5brdH.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/VOvftrG.jpg

The previously affected orchid:

https://imgur.com/9uCMhn6.jpg

Thanks for any pointers! I'm leaving the country soon and would love to address/identify the problem before potentially rehoming them.

My guess is that the phalaenopsis received direct sun exposure on that leaf and it burned. It is unlikely it will progress further.

I would trim the brown, parchment-like tissue to within about 1/4" of the green stuff and leave it be.

The potting medium looks to be closer to "soil" than I'd recommend. These are deep-shade plants that like a great deal of water, but there must be a great deal of air flow around the roots, as well. You'd do better with a coarser mix and watering thoroughly far more often.

At: Leaves yellowing and drying out

Welcome to the Orchid Board!

There is a thread on growing Phals here. From the left yellow menu select Forums then Beginners. Look near the top for a sticky thread The Phal abuse stops here.

If the leaves are touching the window or really close to it, it's cold damage. Move back from the window a bit. Phals are warm growers and don't like cold.

And I agree with Ray on the third picture... move it to bark like the others are in. Water when the roots look silvery instead of green. No real need to spray these... just regular watering of them will suffice.

Thanks for the tips about sun exposure and cold damage. I don't think sun is a problem in Ontario's winter; but indeed, the windows get pretty cold now with the weather and I'll have to be careful. Maybe I'll re-home them?

Concerning the second orchid, I was actually the same bark mix as the others; but I believe I just used the smaller pieces from the bottom of the bag. It still drains pretty well. As I believe this orchid is pretty stressed out now - it just flowered and has 1.5 leaves remaining, I'll leave it in that mix until there is new leaf growth.

---------- Post added at 05:34 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:33 PM ----------

BTW, thanks for all your advice. I was worried about some sort of infection and couldn't see pictures of anything similar on the web.

I gave those orchids to a friend and she just asked me about the reference to this forum! I guess we'll welcome her here soon.