# Yellow leaves on Fair Fred



## Hera (Oct 4, 2009)

Ok, I give up. I'm going to show the leaves of Fair Fred because I am completely stumped as to what I am doing wrong. The mother plant bloomed and is forming another spike already. The plant theat I split off last year when I repotted had three growths and has continuted to grow, but never bloomed. Each plant, mother and split, has four growths. I put them in redwood bark for while (about two months) before I realized that would be a mistake and repotted into coconut chunks, charcol and perlite. Some oyster shell has been added to this. They have been in this mix for about four months. I'm getting strong root growth, but the leaves are turning yellow. I've been fertilizing very lightly for fear of burning the roots after the time they spent in redwood. The plants were under lights for about three months, but now that I have the catts back in from outside, the paphs have been moved back to southern window light. Its not too strong because of the neighbor's trees which block a considerable amount of direct sunlight. Before the repotting into redwood, they were light green, but healthy looking. More of a silvery green. I'm stumped.


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## Hera (Oct 4, 2009)

*here's the roots*

One more pic and the roots of the mother plant.


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## likespaphs (Oct 4, 2009)

i'm having a hard time determining if it's specific to a "certain type" of leaf.
first, you're not referring to the old, previously bloomed growths, right?
also, is it the oldest leaves on the growth or could it be any leaf from top to bottom, with no real order of progression?
would you please be a little more specific about how light you've been fertilizing?


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## Hera (Oct 4, 2009)

The oldest leaves on the oldest growths and it is progressivesly moving through the next leaf. Fertilizer is MSU for tap and I use slightly less than a 1/2 tsp every other week.


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## PaphMadMan (Oct 4, 2009)

Hera said:


> The oldest leaves on the oldest growths and it is progressivesly moving through the next leaf. Fertilizer is MSU for tap and I use slightly less than a 1/2 tsp every other week.



Oldest leaves of oldest growths suggest nitrogen or potassium deficiency. If you are reasonably certain that roots are healthy now, water quality is good, light is appropriate, etc. then increase fertilizer to whatever your other plants are getting.


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## likespaphs (Oct 4, 2009)

when the oldest leaves turn yellow first, it is often an indication that the plant is taking nutrients from an older leaf to nourish the new growth.

just to make sure, though, you're not talking about previously bloomed growths, right? 
(don't mean to be insulting, but i don't know how long you've been growing and whatnot and just want to make sure that you know that each growth only sends off one flower stalk, then that growth will die and new growths will grow and mature and continue the process....)


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## orcoholic (Oct 4, 2009)

What type of fertilizer? The nitrogen source should not be urea at this time of the year. It is too cool for the plants to benefit from it.


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## Hera (Oct 4, 2009)

likespaphs said:


> when the oldest leaves turn yellow first, it is often an indication that the plant is taking nutrients from an older leaf to nourish the new growth.
> 
> just to make sure, though, you're not talking about previously bloomed growths, right?
> (don't mean to be insulting, but i don't know how long you've been growing and whatnot and just want to make sure that you know that each growth only sends off one flower stalk, then that growth will die and new growths will grow and mature and continue the process....)



No offense taken, its still a learning process for me. I've only had paphs for about a year and a half. THey are previously bloomed growths on the mother plant, but unbloomed on the other one. 

Fertilizer is MSU for tap.


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## orcoholic (Oct 4, 2009)

The fertilizer is a good one.

If the yellowing leaves are only on growths that have already bloomed, and this looks to be the case, it is natural and no need to worry. If the yellowing is on new growths, you need to find out the reason(s).


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## SlipperFan (Oct 4, 2009)

I'm certainly not an expert, but here's what I'd do:

Change my water source to distilled or rain and get the MSU fertilizer for it.

If I couldn't do that, then I'd:

Increase the fertilizer amount slightly and fertilize once a week, alternating the MSU with a dose of Epsom Salts for a month or so.


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## cnycharles (Oct 4, 2009)

could possibly be some coconut husk chips that weren't desalinated enough, or were so salty it will never be possible to get it all out. this is all after your considering if it were just old leaves getting older and normally turning yellow. I tried chc's and even soaked them many times and also used calcium nitrate soak to bring out the salts, but with the larger chips most plants were still unhappy, and yellowing was one result. some plants in smaller chips with more sponge rock and charcoal were a little better but many really small ones just aren't thriving.

the water here is also very pure with the exception of added chlorine and fluoride, very low e.c.'s


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## goldenrose (Oct 5, 2009)

Do you use epsom salts regularly?


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## Hera (Oct 5, 2009)

goldenrose said:


> Do you use epsom salts regularly?



I haven't used it regularly and I just started to use it on a trial to see if it would have an effect. These two have had it maybe three times in the past three weeks. I just recently read about epsom salts so I didn't know. I knew it was good for roses.

What about adding iron... another thing I just read about. Does anyone have any thought about that.

BTW thanks everyone for the input so far.


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## Hera (Oct 5, 2009)

cnycharles said:


> could possibly be some coconut husk chips that weren't desalinated enough, or were so salty it will never be possible to get it all out. this is all after your considering if it were just old leaves getting older and normally turning yellow. I tried chc's and even soaked them many times and also used calcium nitrate soak to bring out the salts, but with the larger chips most plants were still unhappy, and yellowing was one result. some plants in smaller chips with more sponge rock and charcoal were a little better but many really small ones just aren't thriving.
> 
> the water here is also very pure with the exception of added chlorine and fluoride, very low e.c.'s



I am not sure what I think about the CHC. Some of the other chids in my collection are happy in it, but it seems to dry out too quickly. I just last week bought some bark mix from Roberts Supply. Do you think I should repot into the bark?


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## likespaphs (Oct 5, 2009)

i use coconut husk. i soak overnight it in epsom salts and calcium nitrate to draw out salts and other undesirable stuff then rinse in clear water and use it.

bark or husk is at your discretion....


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