Question
QUESTION: I have a phal with five leaves.  The bottom two are starting to shrivel and one is also turning yellow.  There are no new leaves in sight but there are new roots on top.

The plant currently has a huge flower spike (second blooming) with three branches and 16 buds.  

I have never repotted this phal but frankly it doesn't look to me like it needs it.  I have five other phals in the same place getting the same care and all are doing great.  I am very careful not to over water and when I do water I use orchid fertilizer.

Should I remove the bad leaves?  Will this affect the blooming?  I'll be broken hearted if there are problems with the blooms.  I waited over nine long months for it to grow the spike.

Thanks

ANSWER: You may remove the bad leaves as they now have limited ability to contribute to the health of the plant. That will not affect the bloom spike. Congratulations on your growing success.

I would, however, be cautiously optimistic. If you lose two leaves without replacing them with new growth, I would be concerned. You didn't mention new growth.

Orchid potting mixes have a reputation for breaking down into finer particles that allow less and less air movement through the mix and trap more and more water in the root zone.  The fact that you are careful not to overwater may be the reason your plant appears to be doing fine. But, what may have worked well in the past may not continue to do so due to the continuing breakdown of the potting mix over time. In short, we can't afford to rest on our laurels.

Your plants should be getting bigger with more leaves each year.  Your flowering sounds great, but remember, from the plant's perspective, flowering takes energy and energy constantly expended in flowering can weaken plant growth in the long run.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained.  When your plant has finished flowering and you have no new growth, I recommend you unpot it and check the roots and look for one or both of two things: 1) pot bound and 2) rotting roots.  A plant that is pot bound needs more space for root growth and a fresh orchid potting mix. A plant that has a few roots that are "mushy", needs to have those "mushy" roots taken off and be repotted in fresh potting mix.  Healthy roots on the surface do not necessarily mean healthy roots beneath the surface.  Some orchid growers I know consider that a lot of aerial roots mean the plant is trying to grow out of the pot to escape the potting mix in the pot.  Either way, unpotting and repotting the plant after flowering will not  set the plant back and will tell you something about what's going on beneath the surface and provide the opportunity to provide more and better growing space in the pot.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: First of all, thank you so much for your thoughtful reply.

No, there are no new leaves growing.  That's what concerned me.  I know how much energy it must be using to form all those buds.  I thought that perhaps that's what is causing the problem with the leaves.

The growing medium is moss.  Should I remove some of the old moss from the top and add new now, or just wait until it's done blooming and repot it completely?

I have both moss and bark.  Last time I repotted a phal I did it with a mixture of both.  The bark seems to dry out very quickly.  That plant is doing very well.

Answer
Wait until its done blooming and repot completely.  A good potting mix contains fir bark plus material that doesn't deteriorate with time to help maintain air space (such as charcoal, lava rock or clay pellets) and a material which helps retain moisture without compacting (such as perlite).  The main problem with moss is that, unlike perlite, it can compact and deteriorate.  One of my favorite orchid potting mixes contains fir bark, perlite, and charcoal, and, perhaps, tree fern.  These are the principal ingredients in many commercial potting mixes.

I have seen phals grown in sphagnum moss(and in fact many commercial dealers pot up their plants in that moss).  It produces beautiful root systems, so it is good for the short run, but, ultimately, the moss compacts allowing less air movement and root rot sets in.

If you decide to use the orchid potting mix I prefer, be sure to soak it overnight and then drain it well before use.  Fir bark, when dry, tends to repel water, so this initial soaking helps to eliminate that problem. With the potting mix I recommend, the fir bark can deteriorate and the charcoal abd perlite will not, helping to keep air flowing through the mix until repotting occurs.

A plant may take a while to transist to a new potting mix, so I would keep the new mix on the moist side for a few weeks after repotting.  After that you can switch to cutting back the watering to once per week and the plant should make an adequate adjustment.