diagnose various! pics and ?'s abound

[Jlie]

I have a few things that could use input, any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

1. Beallara Marfitch has little hard/crunchy brown to black spots on one of the leaves which is also yellowed, should i be concerned? I rubbed a paste of cinnamon+turmeric on it when I first noticed it some days ago but washed all that away to take these pictures. It has not spread.


And do those pseudobulbs look thirsty? they purple a little too. The roots are fine, whitish brown and steady and there were 2 new pb growths last I checked.


2. Masdevallia chaparensis has a flat dried brown spot with black flecks. Same treatment as above, not spreading. Should I be concerned?


3. Wilsonara Aloha Sparks has 2 brown spots with yellowish halo. front and back. Same treatment, not spreading but is it fungus? should i cut it out?


4. Noid oncidium psuedobulbs are persistently shrively and I've increased to watering every other day, roots are fine (white and firm) so I just repotted into a finer media. Blooming profusely on 4 spikes. What do you think?


Thanks in advance

[Jlie]

Aw, no help? Did I do something wrong?

[RebelCowgirl]

On some of the pictures it looks like sun burn, where do you keep your orchids?

[syndywindy]

While I don't have any Onc's now, I at one time grew them. They require a lot of watering or you will get shriveled pb's and pleated leaves. Also spotting on the leaves is common to see. What are you growing them in? They need a medium that retains moisture. I never let mine dry out. I actually grew mine in S/H with good success. As for the others with large brown areas, what I would do is take a marker and circle the area. If it grows outside that circle, then I would cut the leaf down and sprinkle the cut end with cinnamon. I have that particular masdie, and while it has not bloomed for me yet, I keep it with my low light and cool growing plants. I'm not sure it is sunburn as sun doesn't just pick one spot to burn, a good portion of the leaf would be affected.

[Brooke]

The masdie spotting is typical when the temps remain high at night. Mine just met Mr. Trash because every leaf was like yours. This masdie is a cool - cold grower and was not happy with my temps this summer.

If that is the worst leaf, yours is happy!

Brooke

[Jlie]

Originally Posted by RebelCowgirl

On some of the pictures it looks like sun burn, where do you keep your orchids?

The Wilsonara and the Beallara sit against a wall btw the N and W windows (in the corner) in a 6th floor apt. They get mottled direct sun but the sun is so low by then that I didn't imagine it mattered. I did suspect it and have since rotated the plants so their leaves are out of the rays.

Originally Posted by syndywindy

While I don't have any Onc's now, I at one time grew them. They require a lot of watering or you will get shriveled pb's and pleated leaves. Also spotting on the leaves is common to see. What are you growing them in? They need a medium that retains moisture. I never let mine dry out. I actually grew mine in S/H with good success. As for the others with large brown areas, what I would do is take a marker and circle the area. If it grows outside that circle, then I would cut the leaf down and sprinkle the cut end with cinnamon. I have that particular masdie, and while it has not bloomed for me yet, I keep it with my low light and cool growing plants. I'm not sure it is sunburn as sun doesn't just pick one spot to burn, a good portion of the leaf would be affected.

The Onc WAS growing in just sphag but the roots started to blacken (it's in a clear pot so I can keep an eye on it), so I switched to bark lined with sphag, then the bulbs started wrinkling so I cut the bark up into finer pieces (about fingernail sized) and added more sphag into the mix, that's where it's at now. I'd LOVE to try S/H but would feel overwhelmed with it right now.

Originally Posted by Brooke

The masdie spotting is typical when the temps remain high at night. Mine just met Mr. Trash because every leaf was like yours. This masdie is a cool - cold grower and was not happy with my temps this summer.

If that is the worst leaf, yours is happy!

Brooke

Thanks! I'll def keep that in mind. It is still the only leaf. If you don't mind Brooke, can you tell me a little more about what happened to your plant? Did the whole plant just dry up and die? How long did it take? Maybe I should move mine into a clay pot.


Thanks all for all your help!!! It really helps to boost my confidence in caring for these guys. <3

[Brooke]

The leaves didn't dry up but got many of the black dots. The leaves were totally covered. It didn't die, it just wasn't happy.

Brooke