# Leaf Splitting



## Ray (Aug 9, 2014)

Orchid growers are sometimes plagued with leaf splitting in their collection, particularly with phalaenopsis, paphiopedilums, and occasionally cattleya-types and others.

There are a variety of theories intended to explain the reason for such issues, many relating to humidity, light levels, dehydration followed by heavy watering, and watering frequency, but I believe there may be a nutritional basis, either alone or in conjunction with other parameters, so the goal of this is to collect a wide range of experiences to see if there is any correlation.

If you have an interest and can spare a couple of minutes, would you please submit your "leaf splitting" experience using the form here?

I'll let it run for a week or more before I tabulate and share the results.

Thanks


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## mrhappyrotter (Aug 9, 2014)

Would it make sense to have the survey inclusive of growers that don't have issues with leaf splitting?


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## orcoholic (Aug 9, 2014)

Ray,

It's my experience that Phal leaves crack (like the one in your pic) if they curve downward too much i.e. - the angle they curve downward causes too much stress on the middle vein. 

The reason, IMO, they curve that way is they are not grown properly. The Phal in the pic looks like it didn't get enough light and had bad roots at some point which created a weak leaf. Phal leaves should not have "texture or wrinkles" like the one in the picture. The new leaf looks better.

Also, phal leaves without enough light grow larger than leaves grown with proper light. I think that's because they need to create a bigger surface to make up for the lack of light while trying to satisfy the orchids needs for a "solar panel" that fits the rest of the plant. The resulting soft growth causes the leaf to split.

Is it possible that the split leaf developed over the winter and the new one grew this spring and summer along with a flush of new, healthy roots and more light?

The questionnairre is much to complex for me.


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