Vanilla Orchid Leaves Rotting

[LilyFlower6]

Hello Lovely People,

I'm Lily from Southern California. A beginner orchid enjoyer and grower hoping to learn a lot and one day have my greenhouse for my collection.

About a week ago, I purchased a mature orchid from a popular garden center chain. It looked healthy. I brought it home; however, today I noticed the leaves started looking translucent, very reminiscent of bacterial infections happening on other orchids. The leaves look blotchy, watery and feel mushy to the touch. Some of them look a bit discolored too, yellowing (perhaps issues with chlorophyll production). It's potted in some soil media, and I could spot slow-release fertilizer in it. I've watered it only once. It's currently moist. I sprayed it once too to increase the humidity. Maybe that's the reason for the disease?
My daytime temperatures do not dip below 75. The highest temp indoor so far has been 82. Humidity is anywhere between 35-75. Help is appreciated. Thank you.

[Leafmite]

You might need a systemic fungicide. Here is a good guide to diseases of orchids as well as their solutions:

https://staugorchidsociety.org/PDF/O...ySueBottom.pdf

Good luck! I hope you can save it!

[estación seca]

Welcome. I'm guessing it was kept too wet and cold at the nursery for some time. Both would predispose to a fungal infection entering through the roots.

Your best h ope might be to cut off the top section, if you can cut above the stem rot, and reroot it.

Vanilla is not easy to grow unless you have a hot, humid greenhouse, or live in such a climate. I generally suggest people not try to grow it unless they're familiar with growing other orchids having requirements like that.

[Leafmite]

It grows fairly well as a houseplant in colder climates.

[LilyFlower6]

Thanks for the reply. Should I try to repot it? The media looks quite old too. I'm thinking using coconut husks + bark + sphagnum moss. Will soak the roots in physan too before repotting.

---------- Post added at 12:29 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:22 PM ----------

Thanks for replying. Do you think I should repot it?

[estación seca]

I can't see the bases of the stems well. If they are firm and not rotted, you would not need to repot. If it is soft and squishy I would repot. Vanilla is often potted in very loose commercially bagged potting soil. If you use something like this don't compact it down tightly. Put it in the pot very loosely.

I don't treat plants with fungicides unless I know it has a fungus, I know which fungus it is, and I know the fungus is susceptible to the fungicide. Using fungicides when they aren't needed selects out for more difficult to treat resistant fungus. In this case the problem is most likely due to poor cultivation conditions before you got it, so I would try to keep it as warm and humid as possible.

If you wind up with more than one piece, realize it is easy to root in a glass of water. Change the water every day or two so it stays fresh, or put an air stone attached to a small aquarium air pump into the glass.

[LilyFlower6]

Thanks so much. I'll inspect the stems more closely, but so far they feel rigid. It's potted in soil/peat moss type of media. I don't think there is much aeration. I guess I'll wait to see whether it gets better without much interference.
P.S. Does cold damage look similar to this? Is it possible it's stressed because of the change of scenery. I'm keeping it on my East facing windowsill with mild drafts since the window is open.

Thanks again for your time. I really appreciate you engaging with me.

[Dimples]

Is the window open overnight? Or only during the day?

[LilyFlower6]

It's open overnight since it's pretty warm in SoCal.