Question
Jim - I recently purchased a phalaenopsis which already had 4 large leaves and a spike. It seemed to flourish for about 1 month, spike growing longer and leaves bigger. The leaves and spike had a sticky film which I was told to treat with spraying with soapy water. The orchid did fine the first time all the stickiness disappeared. About 1 month later the stickiness returned. I then again sprayed with soapy water. This time the spike turned yellow and black and dried up. The leaves have lost their thickness and are not as firm as they were, and now droop. Help what am I doing wrong. I was so excited in hopes that the orchid would bloom. Now I am worried the entire plant is dying.  Thanks

Answer
Hello Tina,

While I cannot be positive, it sounds like your phalaenopsis orchid may have a mealybug problem.  The reason I say this is because you mentioned it has a stickiness problem.  Mealybugs secretions tend to be sort of sticky.  Take a close look at the underside of the leaves to see if there are fuzzy white spots there, if there are they are mealybugs.  Mealybugs can suck the life out of your phal., causing a slow death.  They may also be on the spike.  

While spraying with soapy water will temporarily clean the leaves, it probably did little or nothing for cleaning out the mealybugs because they were hidden on the underside of the leaves.  When you clean the leaves, you need to clean the underside also.  Unfortunately, just cleaning the leaves does not guarantee you've gotten rid of them all because there probably are more still hiding down in the potting mix waiting to come up.  The only way to get rid of most, if not all, mealybugs is to unpot it and clean the entire phal. then repot into a new pot and new potting mix.  

If, by chance, the cause is not mealybugs, when you sprayed did you do it in the afternoon or evening?  It is best to do any spraying or watering in the morning to allow any water on the plant to evaporate before nightfall.  Water left on the plant overnight can be a prime breeding environment for fungus.  If you can see some black sooty looking areas on your phal., it probably is fungus and left untreated, can kill your phal.  Try removing as much of the black soot as you can, then apply some powdered cinnamon (yes, the baking kind) over the area.  Cinnamon as some mild anti-fungal properties and can slow down or stop further damage.  

Hope this helps save it.  If none of the above is the cause for your problem, write back and I'll explore some other possibilities with you.  Good luck!

Jim Kawasaki
San Jose, Ca.