Question
Hello,

I have four phals.  One plant is in a 6" pot, the other three are in 4" pots.  All are potted in bark.  One of the four appears to be doing very well.  The other three are not doing so hot.  The leaves are crinkled on two, and one has a yellow leaf at the bottom as noticed this morning at watering time.  The plants all have nice looking roots growing into and on top of the bark.  At the time of re-potting, I inspected the roots and removed all the dead ones that I could see.  It has been about two months since I re-potted.  Like I said, the roots that I can see appear to be in good shape, however, I can't see into the bark material to check the roots below surface.  I am afraid to over-water, however, I think that this may be the problem.  I water about twice a week.  I fertilize and water on Saturday and water only on Wednesdays.  I keep the humidity around 50-60%, and temperature is around 80 during the day and 65 at night.  The bark always appears to be very dry on the days that I water.  Any help would be appreciated.  My Paph, by the way, is doing awesome.  Thanks!  

Answer
Hello Scott,

From your description of the problem with the phals, it sounds like there is a root rot problem.  While phals love to have moisture around their roots, they do not like to be constantly wet.  You say you water them twice a week, that may be too often.  Although the top of the bark may look dry, within the pot it may still be fairly wet.  One method I find helpful in determining when to water is to lift the pot, if it feels somewhat heavy I wait but if it feels fairly light I water.  Try lifting the pots the next water then again on the next watering day and if they feel almost as heavy as they did after you last watered, wait a few days longer.  You didn't mention if there was some air movement around them, phals enjoy having a light movement of air.  

I would recommend unpotting them again to check the roots.  If there are some rotten roots, trim them and repot. When repotting them, try to use the smallest pot that will hold the roots as too large a pot will tend to remain wet longer.  Other than that, your growing environment sounds pretty good.  

That's great to hear your paph is doing so well, keep up the good work!  

Regards,

Jim Kawasaki
San Jose, Ca.