Brassocattleya Yellow Bird - black spots, fungal infection? Help!

[UpSideDownCake]

Hello everyone! My new Brassocattleya Yellow Bird is going downhill rather quickly.

She arrived with black spots that have since grown (but no new spots have appeared from what I have seen). Two leaves turned yellow, brown and shriveled. After watering they declined significantly and fell off, and new leaves yellowed. I only watered twice in the last four weeks because I was out of town (I plan to water more often normally, the mix was bone dry).

The nursery has been notified and I'm waiting for their reply..

Should I cut off all the leaves with spots? What about any treatments? Should I Repot? She arrived with new root growth on the newest leaf that still looks healthy.



Timeline:

• July 8th Orchid arrived with black spots on the leaves.
• July 10th watered then left town.
• July 24th watered & observed two yellow shriveled leaves.
• July 27th the two leaves browned and fell off,severely shriveled. More leaves yellowing.

Growing conditions:

• Humidity fluctuates between 40% - 60%
• Temps between 72 and 77 degrees
• Watered thoroughly with breta filtered tap water
• Light : She sits on a shelf between a south and east facing window with some direct light mid day. The direct light was metered at 3000fc.

Link to photos on Instagram

Photos show July 24th vs July 27th, except the last two showing black spot growth are July 8th vs July 27th.

P. S. Looking for a site to use for storing/sharing photos.. Instagram doesn't let you zoom in.. Flicker doesn't work well on a cell phone (which is where I upload from). Open to suggestions

[estación seca]

> watered twice in the last four weeks

I can only see one photo on Instagram. It doesn't look as bad as I expected. Twice in four weeks is not enough water, and is sufficient explanation for what you describe.

Hybrids with Brassavola nodosa in the ancestry are far more tolerant of insufficient watering than other Cattleya alliance hybrids. Nevertheless they do need regular watering. Completely soak the pot, then let it get dry. I don't know how long that will be in your conditions, but I'm pretty sure it will be less than 2 weeks.

[UpSideDownCake]

Originally Posted by estación seca

> watered twice in the last four weeks

I can only see one photo on Instagram. It doesn't look as bad as I expected. Twice in four weeks is not enough water, and is sufficient explanation for what you describe.

Hybrids with Brassavola nodosa in the ancestry are far more tolerant of insufficient watering than other Cattleya alliance hybrids. Nevertheless they do need regular watering. Completely soak the pot, then let it get dry. I don't know how long that will be in your conditions, but I'm pretty sure it will be less than 2 weeks.

Oh darn Instagram being difficult haha, the first image looks the most healthy. I attached the photos here, showing before and after (24th vs 27th). The last two photos show the spots getting larger. It seems like the lack of watering weakened the Orchid's ability to fight off whatever it has. I think it might be fungal black spot.

Thank you for the tips, I do soak the pot when I water. I'm going to clean the spotted leaves with hydrogen peroxide. The two leaves that were yellow have shriveled and fallen off, and there are new yellow leaves. I'm debating cutting the newly yellowed leaves, maybe even all of the spotted leaves.

[estación seca]

I don't think it's a fungal issue. Fungus is highly unlikely in the lower humidity of a typical home. The dying leaf is an old one likely falling off from lack of water. Brassavolas and their hybrids often have black spots.

[Dusty Ol' Man]

Originally Posted by UpSideDownCake

P. S. Looking for a site to use for storing/sharing photos.. Instagram doesn't let you zoom in.. Flicker doesn't work well on a cell phone (which is where I upload from). Open to suggestions

There are sites available for storage which allow you to share files with others. Google Drive, Box, and Dropbox are three which come to mind. I'm not sure whether you can upload from them to the forum, or not. The method I use is to upload from my phone through an image posting site called Postimages.org. Open the site, choose 'upload', choose the images you want, then choose 'hotlink for forums' from the list. This will copy the link to your clipboard. Paste the link in your message, and viola! They look like this: