Question
Good Morning,
I have a 3 year old Phalaenopsis that had blooms on it when it purchased from a florist in Jan of 2005. I usually feed once a month with 19-31-17 fertilizer. I've never had another bloom, but have had 2 news leaves. Three months ago I increased the feeding to twice a month, making sure to let the roots dry completely between watering. This gave me a new leaf and a new nub (maybe a second stalk?) but this morning the roots appear dry and lifeless and the new leaf fell off, dead. Is there anything I can do at this point? There's a total of 3 'base' leaves left.

Answer
Good morning Naomi,

For a phalaenopsis orchid that you've had for over 3 years to only grow three new leaves when it should produce at least one or two per year, it would appear that it is not happy with where you have it.  Then the newest leaf fell off after you increased the watering and fertilizing, I'm afraid this is not good news.  Sorry for being so blunt.  

You didn't mention where you live or how you are growing it but here are some things phalaenopsis orchids like in their growing area.  Bright but indirect sunlight with maybe a few hours of direct early morning sun.  Temperatures between 60F to 85F with humidity above 50% along with some light air movement.  Water it when the potting media becomes barely moist (not completely dry) and feed it one half the suggested fertilizer amount as phalaenopsis do not require lots of it to grow.  

You also didn't say if it had been repotted in three years.  You've had it for three years and there is no way to know when it had last been repotted before you bought it, so it has probably been at least four years since it was last repotted.   Depending upon the potting media, it should be repotted at a minimum every three years and they actually enjoy being repotted annually in the spring.  

That new nub may or may not be a new flowering spike or it might be a new root, time will tell which it is.  Flower spikes tend to be all green while new roots will be a greyish white with a green tip.  

Lastly, if the newest top leaf fell off, that could mean that some water got into the crown of the phalaenopsis which allowed a fungus to develop and kill it.  If there is a black sooty appearance to the crown where the leaf had been, that would be the fungus.  Hopefully it will not kill your phalaenopsis but the unfortunate part is that it probably has killed the crown or the ability for it to grow new leafs.  If you are lucky and it survives, it may produce a new side growth (baby plantlet) along the main trunk.  I hope it does!  

Hope this helped.  

Jim Kawasaki
San Jose, Ca.