Cattleya dying from black spots! Virus or fungus? Is it too late? - Orchid Board

Miffy · #1 10-25-2008, 04:19 PM

I have had this Catt for about 5 months. I started misting the plant about a month or two ago thinking it would help it. I came back from a trip one weekend and saw some suspicious black spots (streaks?) on a couple of the leaves. One leaf started to yellow as the black almost covered half of the leaf and it fell off from it's pseudo bulb. I've lost 3 leaves in a week now. Is this a virus or fungus?

The black area is not mushy but can be seen from both sides of the plant. It seems to be "inside" the leaves, and now the black spots are appearing inside the pseudo bulbs of all the shoots.

I read on one of the forums that it is BAD to mist Catts so I stopped misting and watering and quarantined the plant to another room from my other orchids.. What should I do? Is it too late to save the plant? The plant recently developed two new shoots, so I am sad to see this guy go...

I'm new to orchids (only about 1yr) but this is my first orchid that has gotten this sick.

I have read on other posts about physan 20 for fungus, but I am not sure if this is fungus... also, I don't know of any stores that carries this product. I would greatly appreciate it if anyone can give me advice on how to help this plant... and products that can be bought at a place like homedepot would help also!

**I updated my pictures. Sorry they were small! The two leaves with black/yellow spot on the 4th picture is from a sunburn. They were like that when I bought it and haven't gotten bigger or changed in any way. The black virus/fungus like spots I'm referring to in the above text is shown on the 1,2,3,5,6 pictures, and they have been spreading quite rapidly in the past 2 weeks and killed 3 leaves.

kiki-do · #2 10-25-2008, 05:29 PM

Hello Miffy!

Welcome to OB!
Before we guess at what this may be (the pictures are too far away for me to really see good), I would like to ask where the plant is situated as far as light goes. I'm wondering if it is burnt from the sun. The second picture doesn't look bad to me. I think all Catts have some black here and there. The third pic looks typical of burning. Not sure. Misting the roots is fine in the early morning. If you mist the leaves and the sun is directly on the plant, then you might scorch the leaf. Catts take a lot of light, but they can get burnt also.
So, how much sun is it getting?
Perhaps others will chime in.....

OrchidTess · #3 10-25-2008, 05:30 PM

Your pics need to be larger.... I cannot see the leaves well enough to give you any suggestions

Miffy · #4 10-26-2008, 12:05 PM

>>Hello Kiki-do. Thank you for your warm welcome!

I updated the pictures on my post. My plant has been sitting in a south facing window with some shades. I have 2 other Cattleyas sitting in the same spot and they seem to be doing fine. This plant came with 2 leaves that had hard black spots on it and I am pretty sure they were sunburns (please see the 4th picture). They have been there for 5 months and hasn't shown any change. The spots that I'm worried about (leaf on the right of 6th picture) all of a sudden appeared about 2 weeks ago and have been definitely spreading killing 3 leaves already moving onto the fourth.

I wish it was just sunburn.. but pretty soon I think I'll have no leaves!!

>>OrchidTess

Hi! Sorry I am new to this post; I didn't know what the picture size limits were.. I hope people can see them now!

kiki-do · #5 10-26-2008, 12:27 PM

I don't know exactly what it is. I would check the roots first and if they are black and mushy which might indicate root rot, and cut off any bad roots. Then I would swish the roots in Listerine (reg not minty). If it's some bacteria, that might help it. I would definitely repot it and put fresh medium in there. And dab some neosporin on the areas of the remaining leaves. I don't think it's a virus. I suspect bacterial or pests that did damage earlier and perhaps bacteria got in there. Good luck Miffy.

Keep us posted.

Cookiemonster · #6 10-26-2008, 03:31 PM

Im going to be the dissenter here and say its virused, im not an expert but by looking at these pictures Virus in Orchids Photo Gallery by Admiral Schnitz at pbase.com there is some serious resemblance-
If you want to be sure get a virus test, as Im going to do with mine- then you'll know for sure... good luck!

Gin · #7 10-26-2008, 03:55 PM

The only way to know for sure is to have it tested . Here is a link ... Gin
Critter Creek Laboratory

kiki-do · #8 10-26-2008, 09:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cookiemonster

Im going to be the dissenter here and say its virused, im not an expert but by looking at these pictures Virus in Orchids Photo Gallery by Admiral Schnitz at pbase.com there is some serious resemblance-
If you want to be sure get a virus test, as Im going to do with mine- then you'll know for sure... good luck!

You may very well be right and it is a virus. However, those pictures confuse me so much. The last one that says the ones shown "not" to be a virus. Clicked on that and it showed several non-virus leaves. I just don't know.... I have seen many leaves that have these appearances and are perfectly healthy. Man oh man, I just can't tell anymore. Some of the non-virus leaves look worse than the ones with the virus.

Cookiemonster · #9 10-27-2008, 01:32 AM

Kiki it is really confusing- what might look like a virus isnt or perfectly healthy and virused- there really is no clear way and even if you do get the plant tested its not at 100% accuracy.
Critter creek has like two types, the test for each virus once or test twice for each virus for validity and increasing the chance of catching the virus-
Its complicated and frustrating, even if you take all the right steps and are clean with your growing--- virused plants remind me of trojan horses in a way- beautiful and often times deadly

bullsie · #10 10-27-2008, 09:09 AM

Just a thought, but, the very first leaf has what looks like 'tracking' that can be caused by thrips. If you rub your fingers over it, do you get a red 'dust' from it? If so, may consider those buggers as one reason for some damage.