Since the thread is revived, here's an update regarding my phal! The base, with the rotted (but very dry) top, started to grow a new leaf within a few weeks or a month of me removing the spike. Then, before the new leaf was full size, it started growing a second new leaf! It has been re-growing healthy roots all along, so I think that helped as well. It grows in a mixture of bark and sphag and seems to be doing better than when it was in tightly-packed 100% sphag. It's Brother Sara Gold 'Peach' The top, which does have a dry spot from rot, has been in sphag and bag for a while, much longer than the thread you revived. Almost a year! It started out w/two full size leaves that grew a tiny leaf and root start. I took it out of the bag to look at it and I guess that stalled everything. Eventually one of the large leaves came off one day when I was adding water to the set-up (it still looked healthy but didn't have any stem). Shortly after, the tiny leaf start on the single remaining leaf began to grow again and I only *hope* the root is finally growing as well--I won't make the mistake of checking it and stalling the process a second time. Hope this helps you make a decision; I think cutting off the spike will help your plant fight the rot and recover. Melanie

My honest opinion is you need to get a few more orchids. Your attention to this plant is to its detriment. You should only water when the media is almost completely dry. You should not be misting it. The plant has lost most of its roots and is going to suffer until it grows new roots. This is spring time. If this plant has a shot of surviving it would be now. Do not soak the plant for an hour. It has few roots and doesn't need this. I would stop the fertilizers completely. Stop spraying it. Just put it in a bright spot and try to forget about it. Check the media in a week. Stick you finger down into the bark and see if it feels moist. If it is, do not water! Orchids do best with benign neglect. Good luck, Jane

1. Don't fertilize til you're confident that they're healthy again. Fertilizing a plant when there's a problem just compounds the stress on it. 2. if a rot is fast, it's bacterial. Fungal rots are slower. 3. Mush is always bad, and can spread. You should always cut mush off by cutting into the healthy tissue nearby. If a whole leaf is mushy, take off the whole leaf. Dust the stem of the plant where the leaf was attached with cinnamon. 4. I always cut off yellow leaves, if for no other reason than that way I can tell if it's new yellow or the same old yesterday yellow. 5. Cinnamon is a good contact anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, (and dessicant) so it's beneficial to dust a cut or problem spot with it. 6. Your assertion in the title suggesting the new leaf somehow caused this is dead wrong. Getting a new leaf is not what caused this. Rots can move amazingly fast, and they can be started by sunburn, tho often sunburn just makes a dark or white spot on leaves. I've had all three from sunburn. I have no way of knowing whether sun is what caused this, but it's possible. Because rots can move so fast-- I've seen them destroy a plant in just a day or so. Because they move so fast, always act immediately when you see *any*-- even a speck. No way to be sure what caused this problem. There are always several causes that produce the same effects. Why diagnosis is difficult and time consuming. I would definitely repot. Phals respond positively to a repot with new growth for the next three months. Also, you get a good chance to find out what's going on with the roots. Be sure to repot into a pot only a little bigger than the roots. Use a light hand when repotting. If you are using bark as a medium, soak the plant pot and all in tepid water for about 20' before hand to soften the roots for less damage to them. This time of year, the angle of the sun changes, and places that didn't receive direct sun suddenly do. That can create burns on a plant. The only way of knowing if a place is too hot, is touching the leaves while the sun is on them-- if cool to barely warm, ok. If warm be cautious. If hot, they are definitely burning. Cool them quickly with cool water.

thank you arthum! should i also cut the burnt looking leaves off or keep them as they are untill they fal off naturally?