Black leaf tips on Psychopsis mendenhall

[Paul Mc]

I'm not quite sure what I'm looking at here, and of course I cut off the tips before I took a picture. I wasn't thinking.

I put it outside about 1 week ago when the temps were in the 80s, but in the past week they have climbed back up into the 100s. This is when I noticed the problem was getting bad.

The tips were not dry like other issues I've had with this one when I wasn't watering enough. They were soft and flemsy, but not mushy. Just before the brown was strong yellowing.

So, here are my thoughts. Am I right or am I wrong?

I'm thinking a few things given my personal observations.

#1.) Got too dry in the rising heat,
#2.) Perhaps a bit too much sunlight given the heat,
#3.) And too hot period.

What are your thoughts?

A few side notes:
1.) There appears to be some new growth forming at the base. There are currently 3 areas of spikes.
2.) Never bloomed for me which is why I put it outside to experience some temperature changes when the temps fell into the lower 80s during the daytime.
3.) I've had this issue before, but the tips were dry and it was solved with watering more.
4.) A newer leaf has developed some irregular browning towards the end, but not directly on the leaf tip. (could this mean it's bacterial or an infection?)
5.) I purposefully moved it oudoors into a sheltered location when the temps during the daytime closely resembled the indoor temps. We did experience some days in the upper 70s.

Thank you everyone for you thoughts in advance!

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

You knew the day temps, which are fine, but the night temps are the ones that can cause problems in your case.

Humidity may also be a culprit.

If the night temperatures dropped far below 60 F. Your Psychopsis Mendenhall got stressed.

These plants don't experience much of a temperature difference throughout the course of a year. They gnerally don't experience drastic day and night temperature differences in the wild either.

Here's a link to a culture sheet for one of the parents of Psychopsis Mendenhall.

Psychopsis papilio Culture

[Paul Mc]

As always, thank you King.

After I wrote this, I read a link that RJSquirrel had provided about heat stress. It seemed to match up.

Good to know I was somewhat on the right track, lol..

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

No problem! Just keep these warm.