Am I in trouble?

[Cookiemonster]

Hi All

Update, I got some plants from the Redland show, all are doing great with exception of one - that is acting up.... I wanted to get some consensus on whats going on.
I have placed it in a shaded west window with all my other plants, everyone is doing great except this C. Schroederae with weird black lines- its not on all the leaves the two oldest and newest. I will post pics, please let me know if you think this is burn or something more serious as I am already feeling might be the case.

Thanks
Suzie.

[dgenovese1]

Hey Suzie...sorry to hear that you're having problems with one of your new babies.

I'm not exactly sure, but it looks kind of fungal to me...definitely not a burn. It could also be bacterial in nature.

Seeing how it is a young plant, I would try and clean the leaves as best you can, and then spray an anti-fungal/bactericide on the whole plant. The black won't go away, but at lesat the plant will be saved and it can then generate new leaves without the problem spreading.

Let us know how it turns out.

[Cookiemonster]

Hi David,

Thank you for trying to help me out Now what do you suggest, cut off the blackened areas before it spreads any further- what do you recommend I spray, I have physan and thiomyl ---
I have already isolated it from the others, its going to be lonely in my kitchen.
Let me know if you have any other info to offer, do you think its a bad idea if I send it off for virus testing just to be on the safe side, I was thinking heat and stress is causing the plant to snap-
thank again

[Gwenchanter]

I don't know too much about diseases and I could be totally wrong but it does look a bit like the mesophillial collapse my phals got when it got too cold out. I can imagine the same thing might happen from heat stress, and in fact we had quite a warm day here the other day and I noticed a bit of blackening around the edges of one of my Catt's leaves.

For my phals after I cut off the effected portions I did not have any more trouble.

[dgenovese1]

Hi Suzie,
I'm not sure if cutting off the affected leaves is needed, unless you see it start to spread...watch it closely.
I would use something like Cleary's, as it is systemic in nature, although it does not treat bacterial infections. I'm not sure about physan or thiomyl as i don't have them in my arsenal against enemy agents.

What was mentioned about heat stress actually makes sense to me too, as pointed out by you and Gwen.

I'm not sure about what else to suggest. Good luck...I hope it turns out OK for your new chid.

[cb977]

Thiomyl is basically another version of Cleary's. I had the hardest time ever finding Cleary's a while back and found that Thiomyl is what is now readily available. One of the well-known speakers in our area said it's to be used when vandas start doing that black spot thing

That being said...
you know how when I'm describing how I use Listerine, I always say "when I see something I don't like"? Well, these spots are in that group

I'd spray the entire plant, every single part of it (out of it's pot) with Listerine, let it sit for a few minutes and then rinse it well. Then give it a light mist of Listerine again and leave it...repot. Don't put it in very bright light right away.

The black that's already there won't go away but you probably won't get any more.

[camille1585]

Somehow I knew that you'd mention Listerine Sue! But that stuf really seems to work. I found some here in NL (was surprised since it's an american product) and used it on some non orchids that had some problems with spreading black spots, and it seemed to have worked. I rinsed the plant off after a day. Maybe I shouldn't?

[cb977]

I always do what I described here when I'm repotting new chids and/or working on problem plants.

Sometimes I just give a whole rack of plants a general mist of Listerine for safe-keeping, during a time when they won't be getting hit with much light. Any plants from out on the lanai come into the room when I'm spraying them to keep them out of the sun and heat.

I don't think your rinsing it after a day is a problem.
I'm happy to see you were able to find some to use there.

[justatypn]

When I first read this I knew the Listerine as well would come out. It's definitely an inexpensive workable product, it cures what ails our chids

[kinknstein]

Awesome tip Sue! Gonna have to try that one!