# What is This?



## parvi_17 (Sep 10, 2009)

Hey guys! So I have this NOID Phal (I think it's a Baldan's Kaleidoscope), which I have had for about a year now. Over the past 6 months or so it has been slowly developing these strange markings on the leaves (shown below) that are like little brown craters on the surface of the leaves. It starts out as little purplish spots, which are somewhat bumpy, then turns into the "craters". There are no insects that I can see present on the leaves, but the leaves are secreting sap on the edges of the undersides. This is only happening on the newest two leaves. The plant is in flower currently, and is growing lots of new roots, so other than this it seems to be healthy. I have never seen this before and I am getting concerned about it because the problem seems to be worsening. 

Does anybody know what this is, and how to treat it?


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## Ron-NY (Sep 10, 2009)

Joe...looking at the damage near the leaf edge it appears to be cellular collapse. This can occur from water on the leaves and cool temps. better air circulation may be needed

I also see small while dots on the upper leaf along the leaf edge. This could be an early stage of scale I also note that the plants roots appear to have fertilizer burn or this could be from hard water


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## parvi_17 (Sep 10, 2009)

Ron-NY said:


> Joe...looking at the damage near the leaf edge it appears to be cellular collapse. This can occur from water on the leaves and cool temps. better air circulation may be needed
> 
> I also see small while dots on the upper leaf along the leaf edge. This could be an early stage of scale I also note that the plants roots appear to have fertilizer burn or this could be from hard water



Interesting... I have just moved the plants into a new growing space so I may need to assess the humidity and air circulation conditions. I do use hard water but I do not fertilize heavily... but you can see also water spots on the leaves from the minerals in the water. My temperatures are intermediate and never fall below 16 C/61 F, and are usually at around 18 C/64 F at night and 25 C/77 F during the day, at least during the spring and summer. I used to get humidity between 40-65% but it may be slightly damper in the new area. I only water in the morning and the leaves are always dry by nightfall.

I will have to inspect the leaves again to check for scale. I have never had scale before, only mealies. But there's a first time for everything!


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## cnycharles (Sep 10, 2009)

I often hear about phal leaves getting edema somewhat like this, when water that is too cold hits warm plant leaves. Or maybe it's water that isn't that warm, sitting on a plant that is somewhat cool or the water evaporates quickly off of a cool plant, chilling it somewhat. It could be cold water on a cold plant and the humidity is lower, which might drive fast cooling. Phals can get sticky when they are a bit cool, or get cold water when they are either really hot or fairly cool already. It could be something else, but don't really see any signs of insects other than the spots, which makes it hard to tell.


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