Vanda Stem Issue

[mica28]

I'd really appreciate some help figuring out what's wrong. I bought this Vanda a little before the Mother's Day weekend. In a previous post on this forum, I thought I was dealing with a root issue because one of it's new roots started turning brown. After some discussions I found out I was over watering the plant by feeding it daily instead of once a week. So I stopped watering it daily as of yesterday.

Despite that, today two leaves just fell off the plant. They had turned yellow over the last few days and it looks like the others on the stem that are next are also starting to turn yellow. There seems to be black dots on the stem, and there seems to be some browning where a previous spike of the plant was (FYI that was not cut by me, it came to me that way). I'm not sure what those dots or brown stuff is either.

Have any of you had these issues before? Or do you recognize what the issue is? Should I contact the nursery?

These two images show you the current state of the plant:
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- Updated with working links

[aliceinwl]

Vandas do want a lot of water. I soak mine nightly. I think the big problem is some kind of infection in the stem. That’s probably what caused the leaf drop. Hopefully, someone can give you a better diagnosis. My guess would be fungal and probably requiring some type of systemic treatment.

[jpope42]

Originally Posted by aliceinwl

Vandas do want a lot of water. I soak mine nightly. I think the big problem is some kind of infection in the stem. That’s probably what caused the leaf drop. Hopefully, someone can give you a better diagnosis. My guess would be fungal and probably requiring some type of systemic treatment.

Agreed, I had a similar issue and when I checked carefully under the dry bits left behind by the leaves on the stem I found critters. Neem oil took care of that and plant is recovering nicely. Also, in my limited experience, they are very thirsty and I water them almost everyday (in central FL it rains a lot). I'm pretty beginnerish though so I will defer to those with more experience.

[SouthPark]

True ....... maybe fungal. Could maybe hit it with a spray of agri-fos, or even cleary's 3336 ..... systematic fungicides. Spray onto stem, leaves, and all. And then provide some gentle air-movement around the whole plant.

[mica28]

Thanks for all of your help! I am trying to find neem oil but I’m having difficulty with that. For now I just sprayed it with hydrogen peroxide 3%. You’re right, it is a fungal infection as there are black spots on the leaves inside larger yellow patches that are surrounded by a red halo. The leaves are still dropping and I continue to feed every 2 days. I might just wait for the blooms and give up on this one. I didn’t realize Vandas are so challenging to care for. I’ll stick with Phals, Dens and Oncidiums going forward.

[aliceinwl]

Hydrogen peroxide shouldn’t be used as a spray: it kills all tissue both the plant’s and fungi’s. It’s particularly damaging on delicate tissues like roots and will not have any effect on systemic infections.