What are the growing conditions?
You repotted, what is the condition of the roots?
Any images??

"The location of the plant and the growing conditions has not changed."

That is "what is going on". You received a request, a plea really, from the phal for a change of location not a change of potting. Maybe you cannot change location for whatever reason, well it is often possible to 'fix' the present location so it will be more 'phal friendly'. We can help with that. Just give us the details.

H

The roots looked good....white, not brown or rotten looking. Maybe I shouldn't have repotted it but so many of the roots were sticking up I thought maybe that was the trouble. The lighting conditions are good, I think. Diffused bright light. It has been in the same location for over a year. We got a programmable thermostat and have been turning our heat down to 62 at night with a brief warm-up to 70 degrees in the morning & then back down to 62 degrees during the day. Evenings and weekends we keep it at 70-72 degrees. Could that be the problem? This is the first winter we have done this. Does this help?

Warm it up and give it more light.

Bright diffused light to you is different than bright diffused to an orchid.

Wrinkled leaves is an indication of a hydration problem. Once phal leaves become heavily wrinkled, they will never plump back up but will continue to function.

Brooke

It takes time for poor conditions to show up in an orchid. This is why various posters are suggesting the problem may start in its location. A good way to know if the location is actually as good as you are assuming-- did it put out three or four new leaves last year? If not, then the *place* is not a good one.

A thriving phal *grows*, and if it didn't, then the light where it was wasn't good enough. As Brooke said, "bright diffused light" to a human eye can easily be not enough light for a phal to thrive.

If the conditions aren't good enough for growth to occur, the plant will be steadily going downhill, but it takes a while for us to notice, hence the "suddenly" looking poorly.

If the roots are still pretty good, it can revive. Be sure you repot it into the smallest pot that will fit the roots, and start repositioning it into better light. It should be *in* an east, south or west window. Not in the interior of a room. Be sure to gradually increase the light over a period of two weeks or so.

For ideas about how to provide the conditions it needs to thrive and bloom, I'd suggest reading culture notes for phals at the Canadian Orchid Congress, and at Bedford Orchids and Big Leaf Orchids.

Sandee, I have a favorite Phal that looked bad, "all of a sudden." As Mehitabel said, it took me awhile to notice and then Bam! Panic.

The good news for you is the roots look healthy.

Contrary to what many culture sheets say, in the house, Phals can take several hours of direct sunlight in an Eastern window. The morning sun is perfect for them. Only if the leaves get warm to the touch should you reduce the amount of light.

Also, depending on where you live, you may not have enough sunny days in winter for the Phal. We sure don't in Minnesota. You may need supplemental light.

Another big consideration is the temperature. Many Phals like to be around the mid-70s during the day in winter, w/ a 10 degree drop at night, minimum.

We keep our thermostat set at 58 during the winter. My Phals are in a bedroom, and a heater runs about 12 hours a day.

The roots that were sticking up are called aerial roots. If you didn't have to bend or even crack some of those to get them to fit in the new pot, the pot's probably too large. I've soaked Phal aerial roots in water for 3 days, and they still cracked when forced into the media.

It's not a disaster, though. Just leave the cracked root as is, down in the media. Sometimes a new root will grow from it.

You want there to be about 1/2" space between the roots and the side of the pot, and that's w/ the aerial roots crammed in there so the original root ball isn't much larger.

Another option is to put the aerial roots back where they were and go back to the original size pot. People have strong feelings about whether to leave aerial roots as they are or put them down in the media. People on both sides have healthy Phals.

Brooke mentioned hydration. What's the potting medium, and when do you water?

Do you have a way to post a picture? Photobucket, Fickr, etc.?

Whitecat8