Spotting and dying leaves on Peristeria elata

[Sekhmet121]

Hi folks. I'm more than a little concerned for the health and happiness of this guy. I know that they are prone to a species specific fungal infection and assume that's what I'm dealing with, but when I went to the local nursery for advice their answer was, "Those leaves are dying. Nun's Orchids don't have pretty foliage anyway." I kindly thank them and left, so now I come to the experts for help.

A squirrel took a bite out of the largest of the pseudobulbs, so I'm hoping that isn't going to do it in though I'm sure it's not helping matters.


I've cut off the yellow leaf and trimmed the damaged end off of another one to try to contain the infection, if that's what it is. What else can I do to help my plant? I'll try anything.

....Tried to post a picture, but I can't make it work. *sigh*

Edit: Got something to work!

[WhiteRabbit]

[lepetitmartien]

Fungus, yes
And the affected leaves are dead or dying, yes. (oh, I've read it somewhere already

You can try to save part of the leaf still green, if there's a part large enough without fungus spots. Cut large! All the dark spots with yellow around are fungus. The necrotic zone is spreading spores.

The yellow leaf is just spreading spores… You shouldn't let be a leaf dead and contaminating the area.

And treat ! Systemic fungicide is you friend.

Now make a review of the conditions you give it, sun, air, water, something must be wrong. (I have the same issues with Gongora…)

[Sekhmet121]

It's outside in pretty bright light. Full sun in the morning and dappled from around eleven on. I've considered moving it into more full sun since I currently have it under some oak trees that are starting to leaf out, but direct noon-day sun makes me nervous. It's already getting fairly hot here (80s F) during the day so I would hate adding sunburn to its issues.

It's extremely humid. At this moment it's enjoying 96% humidity. It drops to around 65%, but generally stays up there.

We've been having some breezy conditions, but it does have a tendency to become pretty still.

I've read that it likes a good amount of water when it's actively growing, but I'm still keeping it a bit on the dry side. I'm drenching it about once a week. I haven't been letting it completely dry out, but it gets close. I've just recently repotted it in a mix of bark, charcoal and sponge rock. I was told that it needed repotting when I bought it and I also thought that the fungus could have been lurking in the media making things worse.

Saturday I'll head back to the garden center and see what kind of fungicide I can find.

Thank you so much for the suggestion. I wanted to actively do something to help my plant, but was afraid that if I sprayed it with something I would end up killing it. .... I have misted it with a mixture of water and hot sauce though to keep the squirrels away. Blasted little tree rats.