Question
I have a young phal that I received as a gift in Dec. 2003.  It
arrived in bloom, and after it finished blooming, I moved it from
my office to the house.  At the house, in early summer 2004, it
got an infestation of ants in its roots.  I moved it outside, where
the ants eventually went away, but by then the potting medium
(original stuff it came with in the mail, mixture of old bark and
moss) had begun to decompose, and the roots themselves had
been munched into oblivion by the ants (as far as I can tell).  It
survived ok through this past winter, but I repotted it in about
February this year, and I had to cut off almost all of the roots
because they were all brown and mushy.  The leaves had begun
to wrinkle and curl, as well.  There were maybe five tired-
looking roots left.  I repotted it once, but then the plant got
worse -- the leaves became so soft that they were almost like
paper.  I took it out of the pot, and tied a plastic bag around the
base, with the roots inside and a little bit of water at the bottom
of the bag (but not touching the roots).  It got better for a while
(a few weeks), and then the leaves started to look worse again.

I adjusted my watering from about once a week to every other
day -- there is pretty much NO moisture in the air during a New
Hampshire winter -- and my phal started to perk up again.  
Around mid-late-March or so, I repotted it into a ceramic pot
with good drainage and open ventilation holes in the sides,
(after soaking the bark medium for nearly a day), and I've been
watering it every day since then.

My phal got better, and started a new root that is healthy and fat
and green.  The leaves also became firm, though the wrinkle
damage seems to be permanent now.

HOWEVER, and now I finally get to my question, my phal also
started sending out a SPIKE!  In this condition (still recovering,
not nearly enough roots yet), it has a spike growing now, and
the leaves have become very wrinkled and soft.  There are only
three of them.  The bottom-most is yellow-ish, extremely
wrinkled and soft.  The next one (on the other side) is still
green, but very wrinkled and getting softer all the time.  The
topmost leaf (above the bottom one) is curled downward, but
mostly ok.  There is also a really tiny half leaf above that one
that never really grew because it split in half right after it
appeared, and the edges dried up.  The part of it closer to the
base is healthy, but it is in two pieces, and only about 3/4" long
anyway.

I am wondering whether the spike and the root are using up too
much of my phal's resources, and whether this is the cause of
the leaves' condition.  I would also like to know whether I should
remove the bottom-most, poor, sorry-looking leaf in order to
reduce the energy drain on my phal.  Is there a safe way to
remove that leaf without shocking the plant?  I'd generally prefer
to let it fall off naturally, but the plant is over-using its
resources so badly that I'm worried it will kill itself if it continues
like this.

Please advise!  It's a miracle my poor phal has even survived this
long, and I really want to keep it alive, and help it become
healthy again.

Thank you!

--Damia

Answer
Hello Damia,

My gosh, that was quite an explanation of what your Phal. has gone through.  All of that really helps in my understanding what has happened and make some obervations and recommendations.  With all of the trauma your phal has undergone, it is tribute to how tough orchids really are.  So here goes.  

My suggestion would be to remove the spike by cutting it down as low as you safely can without damaging the phal.  Leave the leaves alone until the naturally die and fall off.  Phals use their leaves to store moisture and nutrients for potential dry spells or traumatic events, so even though a leaf may not look very good the phal needs it to survive.  Leaves, once they become wrinkled or shrivelled will remain that way but they still are capable of storing some nutrients.  

In the future, allow the potting mix to become barely moist between waterings, phals love moisture but not constant wetness.  For those roots growing outside the pot, you can give them a light misting in the morning to help maintain moisture within them.  Also, to help raise the humidity you can place the pot on a saucer filled with small pebbles and keep water in the saucer.  Just remember to not fill the saucer so the pot is sitting in water.  

Yes, I can imagine how dry the air must get in New Hampshire winters.  The opposite is true here, high humidity in winter (80 to 90%) and somewhat drier in summer (15 to 40%).  

Phals love to be repotted annually, so do it after the blooms have fallen off.  Additionally, once your phal is healthy and growing new leaves (one to three new leaves per year is normal), and there are four or more mature healthy leaves, you can try getting a second bloom spike off the original spike.  Cut the top of the spike off about an inch above a node (bump on the spike with a tiny leaf) and a spike will grow from the node.  It may take 3 to 6 months for the secondary spike to produce blooms.  

Hope this has been some help.  I thank you for giving all the information, it really made responding to your question easier.  Wish all the questions I receive were like yours!  

Regards,  

Jim Kawasaki
San Jose, Ca.