Cattleya with spreading black/brownness

[SarinahL]

Hi all!

Next up in my collection of dying plants

This catt is not in the best of shapes. Roots were very much damaged and it hadn't had much left. It was mounted. I potted it up in fresh bark after removing the mount and dead roots. I wanted to reestablish new roots before considering remounting it.

Now, it had put out a new growth with two leaves, that started developing brown blotches and dying from the tip of the leaf. I cut these parts off with sterilized scissors and treated the cut wound with cinnamon. But they kept dying down, starting with the same brown blotches.

At first I figured I cut it off too close to the diseased part, so I cut off the leaves altogether. The bulb then started going brown and mushy, so I cut that off. Treating everytime afterwards with cinnamon.

Then suddenly one of the older leaves, that were already mature when I bought this plant, started doing the same thing. I cut it off again, as far as I though it should be. But theres no stopping this!

Brown spots are dry and not mushy to the touch. The pbulb however did get soft.

What should I do to stop this? I'm afraid I'm battling some fungus here.
But maybe the plant is discarding it's leaves because of the lack of roots?

I take care not to get the leaves wet when watering, it's in a drought free place, kept at 15-22 degrees celsius. It's a NoID.

p.s. I should add that products like Physan are not available to me!

[Leafmite]

I had some sort of fast-moving mushy rot that I stopped by cutting off the infected leaves (this was a very nasty thing), alcoholing (isopropyl alcohol) the cut, sprinkling cinnamon on the cut, then, with a new cotton ball soaked with alcohol, cleaned each and every leaf and psuedobulb. If the cattleya has aclandiae in its ancestry, it might need to be mounted or put in large medium with a net pot. My house is cooler in winter so I keep most of my orchids on the dry side. I use water from the goldfish during the winter but no other fertilizer until February, as with my other houseplants. I've had a few problems already with a bit of rot and yesterday had to mount my brassavola nodosa because it was unhappy. Good luck!
Leafmite

[SarinahL]

Thanks Leafmite! When was this and how is the plant doing now? Did you wash the plant after using alcohol?

[Leafmite]

I had this happen last February. The plant recovered and grew new growths in the spring. I did not wash the alcohol off but don't get it on any roots. Alcohol disinfects and dries things up but won't hurt leaves and pseudobulbs. I had a little bit of trouble this autumn as well with a something much slower moving on a few of my cattleyas and just had to remove the rotted part and alcohol the cut, then sprinkle a little cinnamon on the cut to stop it. I was spraying my vanilla and accidently getting water on the cattleyas. With the humidity and colder weather, it created ideal conditions for rot. The brassavola just likes to dry out faster so it is perfect for a bareroot mount (I have another thriving that way).
Your cattleya leaf looks like a bulbo leaf on a plant I recieved this spring. Cut about a centimeter below the brown, alcohol the cut, and, with a second cotton ball, the rest of the leaf, apply cinnamon to the cut and it should stop progressing. I still have the half-leaf bulbo. Good luck. I know how frustrating this is. The cooler weather, less light, and less airflow is difficult on the cattleyas.
Leafmite

[Filb]

I had something like that happen on my Epidendrum hybrid.
I tried applying a poultice of isopropyl alcohol and cinnamon, but the leaf still turned yellow, then brown, then fell off.

I finally sprayed it with Physan and that seems to have stopped the progression of the disease to the rest of the leaves, but I couldnt' save the ones that I tried cutting.

Physan, near as I can tell, is very similar to a product called Greenshield. Maybe you could find that one and adjust the dosage for orchids accordingly.
Luck!!