Why Are My Orchid Leaves Twisting?

Care

• If your orchid doesn't receive enough light, the leaves may turn darker green than normal, be more slender than normal and start to twist, causing the plant to grow horizontally not upright. During the winter months, when light isn't as bright, place your indoor orchids in a south-facing window where they'll receive full sun. During the summer months, position plants in indirect sunlight.

Disease

• When orchids suffer from a disease, it may cause damage to the bloom and leaves alike. Cattleya orchids commonly suffer from a virus that causes the sepals and petals to roll and twist. If leaves develop on the orchid after the disease has affected it, they will twist and look mottled and discolored. Leaves formed before the virus may be symptomless, notes the University of Illinois Extension.

Considerations

• The yellow lady slipper Cypredium parviflorum has yellow blooms with two brownish lateral twisting petals that look like leaves. Although the petals look unlike other orchids, twisting is a normal growth pattern for this particular orchid.

Tips

• Many orchids go through a resupination phase, wherein the orchid bud twists while flowering. Not all orchids are resupinate though, says Stanley L. Bentley from the University of North Carolina. Resupination affects only the orchid blooms, not the leaves.