sick cattleya?

[sandra]

Should I be on high alert here? Something not so good is going on with this cattleya. All this black spotting isn't as obvious on either side of the leaves (3 of them) but rather the inside of them...does that make sense? The outside surfaces are clean....it's when the light shines on them that I see all the modeling. The underside of the one larger leaf has got crevices...not smooth. I almost want to say that it's mold/fungus? Advice appreciated here.

The second photo is the underside.

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

Hi, Sandra. I suspect this is fungal. Maybe we might get an expert to respond on this. I think the good news is that I have not seen this symptom associated with virus, unless as a secondary infection of a virally weakened plant. But it could have been weakened by any less than perfect culture. Have you been giving the Catt more light than your Phals? Catts like high light, and not particularly cold temps. This may have been caused before you bought the plant too. I will be updating my comments on my fungal problems soon with pictures. Keep and eye on the good leaves, and if you see the problem spreading to any of them, you will need to start using systemic fungicides, which are a bit on the expensive side, and have limited fungal varieties they work on, and without an I D on the specific fungus, it is a hit and miss thing. I have been told that a local agricultural extention (county, university?) can do a culture and ID the fungus.

[sandra]

Cynthia, thanks for your reply. This plant is new, just bought it a little over a week ago so I suspect this was brewing before I got it home. I have my catts in indirect, strong sunlight....east on a patio.

Would you suggest I get some Phyton 27 and start treating it now?

[BillC]

Sandra, here is a link I found with a report by a guy whose Phals were showing similar symptoms as you described:

http://www.geocities.com/tlswilso/Ph...s_2-15-04.html

I'm not sure if there is any answer in his article but it may help. Hving read to the end of the story I now know he is asking for a name for the prob. and also for a cure. Sorry!

Bill

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

Interesting read. The worst looking necrosis picture is exactly what I had on a couple of Phals. At this point, I feel it is fungal activity, tho I considered cold water, but controlled for that last winter, and stil had problems. It certainly wasn't mites, as I have all the microscope power I needed to eliminate that. I am using systemic fungicides now very heavily, and am rotating every month or so. I started with Phyton 27, and saw a change in the fungal problem to an immunity to this chemical, which was pretty obvious in some African violets, where I saw some improvement, and then no respnse to the Phyton. I learned my lesson there that you have to retreat often. Phyton's web site says every three days while there is infection pressure, or some such words. I am now treating problem plants every 1 or 2 days, and misting the entire GH lightly with same chemicals every several days. Will have to wait and see if my affected Phal starts to grow out better looking leaves.

Sandra, you may want to look for a good price on the 2oz. bottle of Phyton 27 (http://www.orchidmix.com/cat3.htm). I find another good chemical is the equivalent to Cleary 3336, but there are a lot of brand names with the same chemical in them. I am using OHP 6672, which comes in a thick liquid, as I don't like working with wetable powders. I think if I were you, I would consider leaving the plant alone, or removing the infected leaves if it leaves enough of the plant left. Be sure to put somethig on the cut. Years ago, in my greenhouse in California, I had a few plants with this symptom, and it didn't spread, but I had a lot of light there. Catts really need something close to 40-50% light, but if you have been blooming your Catts, maybe you have as much light as you need.

[sandra]

Bill, thanks much for the article. Interesting reading, awful ending...but you went that extra mile here and for that thanks again. That along with Cynthia's prognosis, it's a gamble now.

Cynthia, after reading your recommendation and the article that Bill included, I'm going to go with what you said and leave it alone for now. I have this strong suspicion that it's not going to remain on just the affected leaves (so far). It doesn't make sense that it would be contained to just that area but, I'm going to wait and see rather than cut off the 3 stems. If by the end of this week, it's getting worse, I head right back to Home Depot with my receipt and get my money back. I'm just hoping this isn't something that's airborne and spreading to my other plants. I sprayed it with a fungicide but this problem definitely looks to be internal, not topical. Thanks for your advice and recommendations.

[sandra]

Cynthia, one more question. If I do decide to cut the leaves off afterall, what should I put on the cut, cinnamon?

[sandra]

Cynthia, something else has just occurred to me regarding this orchid. Florida's humidity is way up, it's wet and sticky now through October and I'm talking what's considered a 'dry' day here. We've had a lot of rain lately, a lot at night. My orchids are on the patio and do get some of this rain. Could this have been caused by these conditions? It is not appearing on any of my other catts (at least 10), or dends, oncs and phals, just this one, isolated incident.

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

Don't think that would cause this problem. Something that stressed the orchid was no doubt the cause, and humidity and rain sound like orchid heaven. If you decide to cut, remove just the leaves, not the pseudobulbs, as I suspect the leaves are the only problem. Cinnamon will probably do the job.

[prisana]

Sandra, sorry to hear about your new catt's problem. I'm not sure what's going on with it but there's this one catt of mine that didn't have any type of blemish on the surface of the leaf, if I'd only known what was going on inside. Some kind of bug larvae had burrowed itself inside one of the leaves and was eating away at the leaf's innert and I found out later on when it / they were long gone but if I had looked earlier I probably wouldn't have been able to tell because it was not on the surface, only now that the surface over the burrowing sight had turned brown that I noticed.

Hope whatever it is will stop or show themselves soon...no fun trying to figure out what's up or dealing with a mystery culprit..