Connate leaf on vandaceous

[kramarova]

Have you ever seen connate leaf on vanda or phalaenopsis? And what does it mean? Is it virosis?

[kramarova]

luludi | orchideje mix 8 ? rajce.net
Here is photo

[RobS]

I don't think it's a disease growth disorders like this do happen in plants and are often caused by stress conditions. Probably it's not a mutation and the next leaf will develop normally. You'll have to cut this one though to give the new leaf room to grow.

[nenella]

I agree with Rob.
This happens quite often to one of my haraellas. The 2 sides of the new leaf are 'stuck' together. I wait for it to grow a bit longer before I gently unstick it with my nail. Your leaf looks quite mature now, so I would probably use a flat blade to unstick. If it happens again unstick it earlier in the leaf development so it grows looking normal.
I also once had a phal that did this, I unstuck it as described above and it never did it again.

[RobS]

This one seems to be fused and not stuck though.

[kramarova]

The leaf is not stuck, it must be cut.

[JaneEyre]

I guess I had that on my phal. I had to slice it open, but eventually I cut it off entirely as it was stressing the plant and I had other issues with root rot and bottom leaf rot.
Here is a pic.

[kramarova]

And did he plant grow normally after the cutting?

[JaneEyre]

The plant is doing ok now. The "surgery" I performed on it was very recent, end of January, so I can't say how it will affect the plant in the long run. I will take a picture of it and posted it when I get home from work.

[JaneEyre]

Here is the phal as it looks today



Close-up of the crown: