Hello! I received an orchid as a Mother's Day gift last spring (not a fancy one, just from WalMart). I was carrying it into my house to repot (it had some fungus gnats) and I slipped on some ice, dropping and breaking the pot. I repotted it into a new orchid pot, but it looks like one of the leaves was damaged when I dropped it. I'm thinking I need to remove the damaged leaf and maybe the one underneath it which is getting wilty. But, if I do there will only be the two smaller leaves. Is it worth it or is she a lost cause? Thanks!

How long again did you repot? How did the roots look? I would definitely take off the bottom leaf. The next one up is up to you. As long as there is green on the leaf, its helpiing support the plant but if it really bothers you cut it off or cut half off.

About 2 weeks ago. The roots looked ok, I trimmed any mushy or dried ones. Thanks for the response!

With this fairly large bark as medium, I would water more. The plant looks a bit dry to me.

I have sunburned a Phal before and it looked just like that, with a big brown dead circle surrounded by yellow.

Maybe I'm confused, but it sounds like it was outside 2 weeks ago? In CO?

Having an orchid in a situation where fungus gnats could breed does not sound good. Was there moss in the pot at that time?

Tiffany, we agree on the burn!

Orchids never do anything fast.
Give it the right conditions and it will recover.
But it will take a while.

Hi katieg509, to garden.org!

I don't think your Moth Orchid (Phalaenopsis) is a lost cause but I would consider removing the bottom leaf that appears too far gone to be viable. This is just my observation but I wonder if your plant might need a thorough soaking? It appears to be potted in a bark mix which will dry out rather quickly and depending on temperature and lighting and how quickly it dries after you water, it may require watering at least once a week, if not more often.

This American Orchid Society Novice Phalaenopsis Culture Sheet offers good information for this particular orchid: https://www.aos.org/orchids/cu...

This page of our orchid forum also has information about Phalaenopsis: The thread "🗣 Starting out with Phals/Supermarket Orchids 🛎 ✍️" in Orchids forum

Good luck with your orchid and again, Welcome to the site!

Thanks Lin!

I had the orchid at work, and when the light shifted in the fall it did get a bit of sunburn (the brown spot). It wasn't getting any worse, so I was letting it be.

Then, it developed some fungus gnats, so I was bringing it home to repot. It was snowing that day, and as I was walking from my car to my house I slipped on some ice and dropped it. The fall damaged the edge of the leaf with the sunburn, and shortly after it started yellowing from the edge of the leaf (not the sunburned spot).

It is probably dry, so I will water it today, and remove the very bottom leaf. Should I just leave the other one alone for a bit and see what it does?

I would leave that leaf alone. If it really gets bad then yes. But more leaf area means more energy for the plant.

My feeling is, pot is too large, not watering enough and it may be getting too much light accelerating the drying rate.
The bad spot on the leaf looks like sunburn. Sharp scissors will allow you to trim that leaf by 50%. But Ursula, and others, have the right idea in my opinion and I agree, it looks dry. The wrinkling is a sign of either too little water or being grow to warm as well.
If you take corrective measures, Phalaenopsis do respond fairly quickly. Root loss takes time to develop and time for us to notice the problem. If it takes weeks to develop the issue, it won't bounce back over night. In my experience, one corrected, Phalaenopsis pump out roots within 4-6 weeks, sometimes 8! But it will recover.