Mtssa CM Fitch Izumi has bruised new growth - Orchid Board

Paul Mc · #1 09-01-2010, 09:44 AM

OK, so I am a newbie to orchids other than Phal's - and have quickly acquired a collection of about 20 new species this year. I have an issue with my Mtssa CM Fitch Izumi.

I live in St Louis, MO and have had it outside since spring. The weather has finally started to cool off a bit, and the temperatures got down to about 55 degrees for two nights but are now back up into the 70s. This happened about 2 or 3 weeks ago. It is located under an 100 year old oak tree next to a cymbidium.

It is potted in sphag and in a glazed ceramic pot with many holes on the outside of it. It started shooting up a flower spike and was looking very healthy about a week and a half ago. But now the new growth has started looking bruised in the center of all the new growth. Likewise, the flower spike that was probably going to bloom in about 2 to 3 weeks started bruising in the center and has completely died and fallen off now.

The old growth looks great though it's not the lime color I keep reading about. It's the new growth that is dying. The roots seem healthy as well.

Any suggestion? I'm at a loss, especially since I have noticed the cymbidium sitting next to it doing the exact same thing with one of it’s new growths today.

I will try to get a picture up as soon as possible.

Thanks everyone!

Gin · #2 09-01-2010, 12:01 PM

Hi , I am down the Hwy. from you ,it could be either staying to wet , or the hard short rain we had awhile back bruised the new . I have a few outside but not the softer leaf types all are under a canopy over head . I tried under a tree with Catts and got the same on the new growths, if they are soft and dark I would remove them . Gin

Paul Mc · #3 09-01-2010, 09:42 PM

Thanks for the response Gin!

I would probably have thought it was the rain except for the fact that none of the other 20 orchids outside have any of the same damage, including other oncidiums. I'm sure it's probably an over/under watering issue as I understand that they kind of look the same.

But my understanding of under/over watering was that the leaves would be yellow and/or brown. This started like a blue color and just the past two days has turned to brown. That's why I thought bruising at first.

I tried to upload the pictures, but I can't seem to figure it out at the moment.

Paul Mc · #4 09-01-2010, 09:44 PM

Here's my attempt. The first three will be (hopefully) of the Mtssa, the fourth one is of the oncidium that has just started doing the same thing.

RosieC · #5 09-02-2010, 01:18 PM

Hi Paul, no pics I'm afraid.

There are some tips on posting pics here.

http://www.orchidboard.com/community...chidboard.html

Paul Mc · #6 09-02-2010, 07:36 PM

Silly me - that was easier than I was making it out to be! LOL... Thanks Rosie!

This one is the Cymbidium I was talking about. I don't know if the issues are related or not, especially as none of the other orchids around them are doing it yet. To me, the Cymbidium looks more like an overwatering issue than the Mtssa did because it seemed to start out more brown and yellowish.

Paul Mc · #7 09-06-2010, 07:27 PM

Well, I think I may have figured out the problem. The orchid has been getting very bad looking so I decided to pull it out of the pot and check the roots.

There was plenty of new growth which looked healthy, and tons of old roots. The old roots though were all matted together around the original potting medium which looked like bark. Upon digging into the roots to separate them and pull out the potting medium, I discovered white spots on the medium - I guess it was mold.

I removed the old medium, used new medium, and made sure it was planted loose so it could breath. I also added charcoal to the bottom this time to help with the humidity.

All in all, I believe it was a combo of bad potting medium and overwatering.

Paul Mc · #8 09-08-2010, 10:11 AM

Well, the issue appears to be progressing. I figured it would for a while, but I would still like to know what people think is wrong with this plant. Here is another picture of two leaves showing how it has progressed. It's rather hard to see, but some of the color is almost rust colored. Any thoughts on what this is?

Paul Mc · #9 09-10-2010, 09:27 AM

After having read about cinnamon and looking into fungus issues, I'm now reading that fungus can cause reddish deteriation of the leaves. I am going to try taking it out of the potting medium and rinsing it with a cinnamon/water mixture to see what happens. I figure it can't hurt since it's dying anyways, lol...