I just recently got a Phrag warscewiczianum 'Orchidview' FCC/AOS x self from Sam Tsui about a month ago. 1st phrag i've ever bought. Its potted in coconut husk chips, sitting in a tray of water, just like all of my paphs (yeah thats right. you guys probably think i'm crazy, but my paphs dont seem to mind wet feet). However, soon after I got it, one of the leaves started to wrinkle, starting from the tip and progressing to the base. So I ziplocked it. The leaf plumped back up for a while. Now its wrinkling up even more and the leaf is turning dead and brown, progressing from the tip as well. The other main leaf (there are only 3) is turning yellow as well near the top (but no wrinkling). I wanna stop this before it eats up my whole plant! I'm thinking its just leaf-burn, but I'm only growing the thing under fluorescents, 2-3" away from the lights. I'm *guessing* my humidity is around 50% or higher. We don't have AC, so its pretty warm now. Any suggestions?

All the long petalled species like Phrag warsce. do not like being kept wet at all times. Can you post a pic?

Sorry, no I can't post a pic. I don't have a digital camera. The wrinkling started before I put the plant in a dish though. Maybe its because of salt buildup? I soak my husk before potting 24 hours, then drain the brownish water away, but the brownish colour still keeps steeping into the dish for a couple of weeks. This hasn't given me any trouble so far with paphs.

I don't know but you may right about salt build up/ too much fertilizer. Just guessing here. Have you checked the roots?

I've got the thing potted in a clear *pot*, actually just a water bottle with holes in the bottom. I grow all my plants this way, its easier to keep an eye on them. I don't think it has any growing root tips, but other than that, roots are okay. Its probably not salt buildup though because the browning/wrinkling is progressing pretty fast, i.e. its not just isolated at the leaf tips. The newest leaf (not much there yet) and the oldest leaf are alright, the other two are the ones that are affected and the ones that stick straight up. Maybe it was babied too much when it was little? not enough sun, very high humidity?

Make sure the plant gets plenty of humidity and air flow. Please do keep us posted.

Hmmm, I'm not understanding what you mean by wrinkling.
Is it doing this at the base as well, because that would sound more like Erwinia to me. Maybe.
I recently had a plant rot REALLY fast, and there was a little bit of a root issue w/ it. I'd cinnamon it and try to dry it out a little, but I'm also just guessing.

No rot at the base at all. this cannot be bacterial rot, i'm sure of it. by wrinkling I mean dessication, i.e. similar to what you'd see on an old pseudobulb, if you know what I mean.

ok, hard to imagine w/out seeing.

Uh oh. I've taken a closer look today. The base of the plant IS rotting a bit. I haven't noticed this before, probably because I potted the thing a little deep, but I pulled some media away and there it was. I slit the leaf and its worse inside the lowest sheath. I hope it hasen't progressed to the center of the plant. I've dried it out, now my fingers are crossed. Ah well, even if it dies I've learned a good lesson.

Sorry to hear that! My warsce suffered from bacterial rot a couple or so years ago but fortunately it survived mainly because it was multigrowth and the mature growth that was affected eventually died and the remaining growths survived. Then again, this spring, one of the growths in sheath mysteriously died and now it has only 3 growths left. :( The long petalled Phrag species are very prone to rot, so provide plenty of air movement. Good luck and keep us posted.