Photos of my sick catt

[patticake]

Here are pictures of the sick catt I spoke of last week. (the first 2 are of my healthy ones, the last 4 are the sick one!) Any suggestions? Thanks!

[fred]

patti I think the black new growth in pic 4 may have got some water on it
causing it to die off.

pic 3 looks like the leaf has had some direct sun on it.
pic 5 does not look to bad to me at this stage but further opinions on that are welcome.
pic 6 looks like an old flower spike that had been cut off some time ago.

[patticake]

Thanks Fred, Pic 6 was the flower stalk of the bloom in my avatar. I was concerned with the pale mottling on the leaf. It wasn't there before.

[digitalgate]

look like it is going into dormant. cut back on water.

[patticake]

Thanks, digitalgate- I've been sparing with the water. I can't wait for spring!

[Tobi]

Hi Patti,
I agree with Fred that the 3rd pic looks like sunburn. The last pic (#6) is just a darkening
from where the old flower spike was. The other 2 might be just nothing more than dark
spots at the base of the drying sheaths around the pseudobulbs and along the rhiziods.
Keep an eye on it just to make sure it doesn't get soft and mushy. As digitalgate stated,
it might be going into a dormant resting period after flowering when it is not actively
growing. Allow it to remain on the dryer side until new growth is seen.

[patticake]

Will-do. Thanks for the advice.

[kmarch]

i second others who imply that you're orchid doesn't appear to be in bad shape. As Fred suggests, sometimes a new growth will blast of it gets wet. The dead spike and the slight shriveling of the pseudobulb in the last 2 pics is actually pretty normal.

If you don't have a good cattleya alliance culture sheet, get one from the American Orchid Society or from this forum and let us know hoa it goes.

[patticake]

Thanks, kmarsh. I've gotten those sheets and done a lot of reading elsewhere as well. (maybe that's why my fears set in!) I've been reading about all the "nasty" stuff! I was just concerned because this plant was "changing" for the worse. My others still look green and healthy. I'll get the hang of these guys, yet. I grew and hybridized african violets for years. With them, any flaw on the plant was a no-no! I strived for perfection on the plants. Orchids are new to me, so I guess I need to be a little more relaxed when they do something odd!

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

That black eye: can't tell from the angle if there had been growth that died, or just that there is a black piece of skin over the eye. If there hasn't been any swelling of the eye that at some point rotted off, there are two possibilities. If the eye area is sunken, the eye may have died. If the area is slightly rounder than flush with the rhizome around it, the eye is OK. However, every new growth usually has 3 or more eyes, one on each side and another one or more behind these. So, don't worry about where your next growth is going to come from, as you probably have enough eyes around.

Picture 3 may not be from too much sun, just natural pigmentation. I would ignore it. The last picture does look like there may be some lighter spots. This may be nothing or may be where some sucking insect left a wound for some fungus to enter. Look for bugs just to be on the safe side. Also, the rippling of the leaves in that shot suggests that the leaf had a few starts and stops as it was developing, and this shading could be some leftovers of the starting and stopping operation. In which case it would be of no concern.