Discoloration on leaves of Oncidium (something eating them maybe?)

[butterfly_muse]

Good evening, everyone! Long time no chat! My orchids have been doing well lately, and I've even gotten a slew of reblooms going on right now.

Alas, though, this evening while watering one of my guys, I noticed that there is some brown discoloration on the leaves -- it almost looks like something is sucking the color right out of them? At the very tip of one of the leaves I found what looked like a tiny cobweb. <_<

Any idea what this might be, and how to remedy it? I would hate to spread it to my other orchids, including some new recruits I picked up at the Maryland Orchid Society sale on Saturday. O_O!

I have attached photos, any advice would be greatly appreciated!

[ncapensis]

Sounds and looks like red spider mite , tiny very hard to see but the webs give it away. Shower the plant off and mist and keep the humidity high. Shower it off again whenever you can and you will kill them off. It's a dry indoor problem for many plants. They are easy to get rid of with repeated flushing of the plant. They float around in the air so they are almost always present , The damage really shows when the get a population boom. I think they wait until people are just a little too busy to notice , then they go crazy

[butterfly_muse]

Originally Posted by ncapensis

Sounds and looks like red spider mite , tiny very hard to see but the webs give it away. Shower the plant off and mist and keep the humidity high. Shower it off again whenever you can and you will kill them off. It's a dry indoor problem for many plants. They are easy to get rid of with repeated flushing of the plant. They float around in the air so they are almost always present , The damage really shows when the get a population boom. I think they wait until people are just a little too busy to notice , then they go crazy

We just moved into a new house, and I have been busy packing/unpacking so they must have known I was too busy to notice! lol. I will try that. Is there anything else besides just rinsing the plant off that can help? Is there anything I can do to safeguard my other plants?

[ncapensis]

Others may have a chemical solution but I always just rinse and watch and rinse, They tend to do the most damage to plants that are a little stressed. They could well have been on the plant for a long time just waiting to explode into view. They nail my winter stressed indoor big Alocasia every once in awhile. The shower and some watering ,light and fert seem to get them under control.

[silken]

I agree, looks and sounds like spider mite. They will spread easily so make sure you isolate the plant. You can do the less toxic method of rinsing and wiping leaves and increasing humidity as they don't like that. Or you can use a pesticide, but it needs to be a miticide to be effective. You would need to spray a few times to get all the eggs that would be hatching. Same goes for washing them down with water, eggs will hatch and weekly treatment will be required for at least a few weeks.