clear spots on petals & bud blast
 

hello fellow orchid lovers, it is a sad day at my house :(. somethings wrong with my yellow phal thats just started blooming. a week ago, the first bud opened and the bloom is perfect. 2 days ago, two more buds opened simultaneously but they have these wierd looking spots on the petals. the spots aren't holes, their really thin places in the petal flesh with a single dot in the center. i chalked it up to "well maybe a few drops of febreeze may have come in contact with the buds as they were forming" because the plant seemed healthy otherwise. (the plants sit on a nightstand next to where i occasionally spray febreeze.) but then today when i checked on it, 2 of its buds have blasted and dried up. here are pics of the 2 blooms....has anyone else had this happen before? much thanks in advance.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8397/8...4e6290e334.jpg
Untitled by big_cutie_monster, on Flickr

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2845/8...8f07d0dd1e.jpg
Untitled by big_cutie_monster, on Flickr

---------- Post added at 10:04 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:54 PM ----------

ADDITIONAL INFO: as these buds were opening, you could clearly see that the "spots" were already formed on the petals before they opened up.

It looks like insect damage. Try rubbing a white tissue or soft paper towel over the leaves. If you get black or red specks it is mites. If not maybe thrips

thank you sjf. ok, i just tried the tissue paper & nothing. i even checked the unaffected phal sitting directly beside it, also nothing. i thoroughly inspect each plant once a week after watering; but for good measure, i just gave it a proper going-over in the event i've overlooked something...there is no sign of insects, mites, or thrips. i'm a little disappointed because at least those would be something i could *fix*.

Sorry, wish I could be of more help

It looks like some kind of insect to me also but I admit that I've never seen anything quite like that. You can get Ortho Rose & Flower at Home Depot. It's designed to be sprayed on open flowers or buds without damaging them. Other companies make similar products.

thank you tucker & sjf. i'll pick some spray up next time i go by lowes.

I had something like that on one of my phals about 2 months ago, researched and dug around a little, and came to the conclusion it was actually a bacterial infection on the petals. The only way to get it to go away is to cut the affected flowers off, and be careful when/if you mist. I cut an entire spike off, and kept it away from the actual plant in water so I could sort of enjoy the flowers while minimizing the spread. No problems since.