How to Handle Yellowing, Dropping, and Rotting Leaves on Phalaenopsis Orchids After the Flowers Fade

Have you often run into this situation: after a Phalaenopsis orchid finishes blooming, its leaves start turning yellow and dropping, which really breaks your heart? Don't worry! Actually, it mainly comes down to natural metabolism, root problems, or inadequate care, and once you target the right cause, you can easily solve it.

1. First, figure out why the leaves are turning yellow and dropping

1. After the flowers fade, the Phalaenopsis orchid directs its nutrients to more important places. At this point, the old leaves at the bottom slowly turn yellow and drop, just like hair turning white as people age; this is a normal natural phenomenon. It usually starts with the lowest leaves, the number that drop is small, and there are no other strange symptoms.

2. Watering too often and non-breathable potting medium in the pot can easily smother and damage the roots. Once the roots rot, they cannot deliver water and nutrients to the leaves, so of course the leaves turn yellow! At first you may notice slow growth and limp leaves, and in severe cases large numbers of leaves quickly turn yellow and drop.

3. Improper care

Light: Phalaenopsis orchids like soft, indirect light. If they are always left in direct sun, the leaves will get scorched and turn yellow; but if they never get any light, they cannot "work" (photosynthesize), and the leaves will also turn yellow.

Watering: Watering too often keeps the potting medium constantly wet, so the roots easily rot; going several days without watering leaves it thirsty, and the leaves will also turn yellow from drought.

Fertilizing: Fertilizer that is too strong, or using fertilizer that has not been fully fermented, will burn the roots; if you never fertilize, nutrients cannot keep up, and the leaves will also grow poorly.

2. Solutions

(1) Dealing with spent flowers and flower spikes

1. Green flower spike: If the flower spike is still green, just cut off the spent flowers above it, making the cut about 1 cm below the node beneath, and keep 1-2 nodes.

Yellow, withered spike: A flower spike that has already turned yellow and withered is useless to keep, wastes nutrients, and can even easily grow bacteria, so cut it off directly from the base at the very bottom.

2. Disinfection: Before pruning, wipe the scissors with alcohol or diluted disinfectant to sterilize them. After cutting, sprinkle a little cinnamon powder or carbendazim on the wound to prevent infection and help it heal faster.

(2) Checking and rescuing the root system

1. Unpotting and root pruning: If the leaves keep turning yellow and it is not the normal metabolic kind, gently pull the plant out of the pot and check the roots. Cut off all the blackened, rotted, and shriveled roots, keeping only the plump white or green healthy roots, and be careful not to damage the good roots when cutting.

2. Disinfecting and repotting: After pruning the roots, soak it in diluted carbendazim solution for 10 minutes to disinfect. Take it out, then let it dry in a cool, ventilated place. Then find some breathable pine bark, sphagnum moss, or just buy specialized orchid potting mix, and repot the plant.