# Variegated phrag?



## Shiva (Feb 23, 2010)

This is Phrag. exstaminodium. The young plant appears to grow well overall. The roots feel OK. But it has this new leaf quite white at the base. I know that new growths may be paler at first, but this is quite a bit long. None of my other orchids have ever done that. Any idea?


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## Leo Schordje (Feb 23, 2010)

NOT 100% sure, but I have seen this before. 

I think it is a nutrient deficiency, your other plants in the photo look okay, so I would guess this plant went through a growth spurt where it was growing faster than it could bring in nutrients. You may have been fertilizing at an acceptable rate, it may simply be that this plant did a sudden spurt of growth and got ahead of the food supply. 

Cure: give this plant an extra dose of fertilizer (not extra concentrated, use your normal strength, but rather an extra fertilizing, feed it more often while actively growing). Remember, don't make your fertilizer too strong, you could burn even an actively growing plant. 

The white should not spread, and might even green up a little. I have never had problems with this condition persisting, though when attractive I wish it would prove stable.


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## Ernie (Feb 23, 2010)

Probably some cultural shift occurred when that leaf was developing like Leo said. I wouldn't sweat it if the plant is otherwise healthy. It might even green up. 

-Ernie


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## tomkalina (Feb 24, 2010)

This patch of chlorosis could also be caused by strong fertilizer solution sitting in the leaf axil for a period of time. If this is the case, the leaf should regain it's green color once the chlorotic area "grows out". In our collection, Paph. philippinense seems to be particularly sensitive to this.


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## Shiva (Feb 24, 2010)

Thanks Leo, Ernie and tomkalina. I looked deep inside the heart and the white goes all the way down.
I first notice this after the sun came out from a couple of weeks of constant cloud cover. I do expect the green to come back.
I still find it strange though. Something new to put in my notebook.


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## NYEric (Feb 24, 2010)

If that leaf goes white or stays that way without dying, put the plant on eBay Japan for lots of money!


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## musiclovertony (Feb 26, 2010)

I have seen this before with Phragmipedium and Dendrobium. I don't use fertilizer on my plants (i know, i know), so I know it isn't due to the fertilizer. From what I can ascertain is that it happens when a period of rapid growth happens to coincide with a period of inadequate light exposure. The leaves continue to grow, but there is not enough light to stimulate chlorophyll production. I could absolutely be wrong, but it seems pretty logical to me


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## musiclovertony (Feb 26, 2010)

NYEric said:


> If that leaf goes white or stays that way without dying, put the plant on eBay Japan for lots of money!



haha


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## Leo Schordje (Feb 27, 2010)

musiclovertony said:


> ...... I don't use fertilizer on my plants, so I know it isn't due to the fertilizer. From what I can ascertain is that it happens when a period of rapid growth happens to coincide with a period of inadequate light exposure. The leaves continue to grow, but there is not enough light to stimulate chlorophyll production. I could absolutely be wrong, but it seems pretty logical to me



Tony - in your case, the white bleached out leaves were most likely due to LACK of fertilizer. (though low light levels is plausible as a cause, I don't think you are "out to lunch") In the dim and ancient past I went through a period where I thought fertilizer was an unnecessary waste of time & $, the first couple years it did not seem to make a difference, but by the third year, I noticed a definite slowing of both growth and a decrease in blooms. I also had quite a number of faster growing plants showing these white bleached areas. After going a full year with nothing blooming, I think this was year 5 or 6, I started fertilizing again. Only a few months later I had a flush of blooms that really knocked my socks off. Now I am religious with my fertilizer, I use a weak solution with EVERY watering, and now I get blooms regularly, and I can bloom Paph seedlings 3 and 4 years from flask, I no longer have to wait 10 years for everything. I do admit that there are a number of plants that no matter what I do they are slow or reluctant to bloom, but these are far fewer since starting a countinuous feeding schedule. You did say "I know, I know" so I probably should not have bothered with this lengthy response. 

However, to all the Newbies lurking on this site, two things;

1.) Not fertilizing your plants will eventually slow down your growth and blooming, plants need to "eat", just as an analogy with humans, and a small amount available frequently is better than one big meal that has to last a month. Insufficient nutrients is very likely a cause of this type of bleached out leaf. 

2.) If you skip the fertilizer, you will not do any serious damage to your orchids for a number of years, if your goal is to first do no harm, skipping the fertilizer is not a harm in the short term. It only becomes a problem in the long haul. So Tony is not torturing his plants, he is merely slowing them down. Going too light on fertilizer is no where near the problem as going too heavy. The bleaching imaged in this thread is generally nothing to worry about in terms of the plants survival. 

There are two approaches to growing orchids;
1.) what is ideal? 
2.) what can I get away with?

There is such a thing as a useful approximation.
Leo


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## Hera (Feb 27, 2010)

I agree with Leo, I've noticed the same things with my plants. I was neglectful of fertilizing my paphs and I was getting bleached out leaves. Now that I'm fertilizing again, the new growths are green and more turgid. Also added crushed limestone to the calciclorous ones.


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## John M (Mar 2, 2010)

IMO: That kind of yellowing on an actively growing leaf is an indication of micronutrient deficiency caused by a simple lack of adequate fertilizing (for example: too little magnesium); or, excessive calcium in the mix...or a shift in pH that suddenly allows more calcium to be taken up by the plant. Calcium binds with micronutrients in the plant tissues, making them unavailable to the plant for growth. Or, it could be a shift in the pH of the potting medium as it ages/breaks down, directly causing some micro nutrients to not be available to the plant.

I've seen this with a number of plants over the years, most notably with Phrags and I solved the problem by simply repotting into fresh mix. 

Also, you will see this very striking yellowing on a newly emerging leaf if you drench a plant with a Physan solution that is too strong. As with prescription drugs, the idea of "if a little is good, a lot must be better" is simply not true. Some people can't help themselves when it comes to dosing and they use too much. In the case of Physan (which BTW, I use all the time), if used incorrectly (too strong), it causes extreme chlorotic areas on newly emerging leaves because it makes the pH of the medium swing wa-aaaay up....preventing uptake of vital nutrients that the growing leaf needs! It's not chemical leaf burn. It's a result of an incorrect pH causing the plant to be unable to take up micronutrients, even if they are there in the mix/water. Fix the problem by repotting the plant into fresh mix....and don't be a Gorilla the next time you measure out some Physan....or any other chemical.


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## Shiva (Mar 2, 2010)

I use Physan very rarely and for very specific cases. I never used it on this phrag. However, the lack of micronutrients is the likely explanation for the bleaching. I use RO water for my plants and sometimes I do several waterings with low TDS count to drench out the plants. It's possible that the plant responded to increasing sunlight with a spurt of growth at a time when I was drenching. I repotted the phrag in a new media (Aussie Gold) which should fix the problem.
Again thanks to all. I'm learning a lot by tapping on everybody's experience. :clap::clap::clap:

Michel


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## gonewild (Aug 2, 2011)

Shiva said:


> This is Phrag. exstaminodium. The young plant appears to grow well overall. The roots feel OK. But it has this new leaf quite white at the base. I know that new growths may be paler at first, but this is quite a bit long. None of my other orchids have ever done that. Any idea?



What has happened with this plant now?
Can you re-post the original picture?


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## Shiva (Aug 2, 2011)

gonewild said:


> What has happened with this plant now?
> Can you re-post the original picture?



The plant died a few months later from a bacteria. I think it might have been weakened by the first ailment and once a bacteria gets in, it's very hard to save the plant. I lost a good size Chiu Hua Dancer recently and despite cutting the first affected fan of leaves, it came back about a month later in the other fan and new growth. :sob:

Unfortunately, the photo doesn't exist anymore. I cleaned up my photo albums a couple of weeks back and this one was one of those removed.


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## gonewild (Aug 2, 2011)

OK thanks. I am looking for pictures of variegated Phrags too bad yous is gone.


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