Virus? Bacteria? Fungus? Orchid Vet's...Help Please

[dash3echo]

Hi all,

I've had a problem with some of my orchids and I'm not sure what it is...or what to do about it. They may be independent issues, but I'm not sure...

Sick Orchids - a set on Flickr

That is a link to a set of images with my sick plants. I've been reading online that there's something called, Mesophyll Cell Collapse...but I can't find anything about how to fix it and some of my affected plants are worth a lot and I'm not prepared to throw them away. It may also be CMV...but I can't really find a "Good" site that talks about this virus. About 35% of my collection is comprised of the cattleyas and their alliance; which, from what I've read, CMV affects as much as it does Phals... non of my catts are affected.

Does anyone have experience with this? What did you do to fix it?

I live in canada, our winters are quite cool, and my plants are close to the windows. Pitting happens more rapidly in the winter and some of the new growths on my plants are unaffected; see the phal gigantea...

I had a bad case of thrips last winter which may be responsible for some of the black spots on my FDK, oncidium and zygopetalum...but I don't know enough about orchids and orchid problems to know either way...

Any input is appreciated.

[Filb]

Very curious indeed.
My first thought was initial wounding from some sap-sucking pest then subsequent bacterial infection.
Though reading about that mesophyll cell collapse also sounds like a good possibility.

Are all of the affected plants located in the same area?

[BGGraham1]

I found this on the AOS website. Mesophyll Cell Collapse

Maybe it will help? I did notice in this section that it mentioned making sure that you don't use really cold water on your plants. I make sure that I run the faucet for a bit to get the temperature up to a little over tepid, a little under lukewarm. Kind of like running a bath for a baby. I thought I was being overly cautious, but maybe there's something to it?

[Daethen]

Wow, talk about coincedence! I was just getting ready to post some pics just like these and ask this same type of question. I have had no thrips or other pests that I have seen and I have looked! I also would love to hear what is happening with this. It is pretty much only affecting my small or young plants.

[dash3echo]

Yeah -- South-East corner of the house, by two large windows; one faces east, one south. I'm thinking it might be combination of the trips on the deciduous orchids, and cold shock on the phals...

Does anyone know where in Canada can one find virus test kits?

[dash3echo]

And...I water with room-temp water. I buy 5 gallon jugs of distilled water and keep them open by my orchid area. The temperature is most likely always above 17oC

[Leafmite]

I really hope it isn't a virus. Until you know what the problem is, I'd recommend separating the healthy plants from the diseased plants to prevent the disease from spreading. I'd even separate the healthy plants from each other in case they could be infected. I hope someone that can diagnose this can help you. Good luck,
Leafmite

[kmarch]

I don't' see anything here that looks like virus symptoms. I see the celll collapse which is usually a cultural issue, and I see a secondary fungal infection (the plack sopts inside the pits).

This one:

looks like mite damage possibly with a secondary fungal infection.