My poor catts

[irrka]

I have bought three catts on sale. One of them is looking good. The other two hung out in a sphag-n-bag for a week or two while they started looking a bit better. I've potted them a over the past week but the longer i look at them the more scary things i'm finding . That said, everything is looking scary to me--i don't know much. With that said, if anyone could help me with what this stuff is, i'd be ever so grateful!
Here are some pictures to make this easier:
1. Leathery leaf, weird black stuff on the underside

2. Weird white scrubbed out spot

3. More brown stuff on face of leaf

4. Dried out bulb??

5. the first orchid (phal) i think i may have got to almost bloom!

[CodiMN]

Hi irrka!
Looks like you'll be doing a lot of nursing. First, do you have these new plants quarentined away from your other orchids? I would recommend doing that first...just in case there's anything sinister going on.
I personally have not had anything scary with my plants that look like your pics, but from what I've heard from other people, a good step is to disinfect with physan or some other type of plant-safe disinfectant/bactericide. (Sorry I soooooo can't spell tonight).
This might be a start until someone else pipes in.
ALSO, yay that your phal is giving you buds! AWESOME! Kind of makes up for what your new babies are going thru!

[irrka]

Thanks Carolyn! While i'm waiting for physan 20 in the mail, any suggestions for home-backup type stuff? listerine?

[christina waines]

I am not sure if Physan 20 is systemic. I would recommend several treatments with Funginex, or Phyton 27. plus keep them warm and very humid to encourage root growth. I would also remove the damaged leaves Psuedobulb(sp) and all and apply Cinnamon to the wounds.

[Ross]

Physan 20 is not systemic. There is one very good systemic fungicide, Thiomyl, available from Camp Lot A Noise Tropicals. Physan 20 label says specifically "...disease other than rot..." Thiomyl will stop rot pretty effectively in my experience (a lot with this product.) You still might need to trim affected parts for esthetic or other reasons, but the rot won't spread.

Having said this, though, I doubt anything I see is rot. Looks like either physical damage or perhaps sunburn, etc. Cats rarely are affected by spraying the leaves like Brassias, etc. are, so I doubt that's the culprit. Thiomyl won't hurt the plant and maybe it's a good insurance policy? Lots of times old leaves and especially old pseudobulbs develop brown areas like this - not always, but sometimes. Doesn't seem to affect health of plant though (at least for me.)

[christina waines]

Ross Do You Know what the active ingredient is in Thiomyl. I haven't seen it here in BC under that name and wonder if it is sold under a different name?

[Ross]

See my comments in your gallery for more specifics.

[Ross]

Originally Posted by christina waines

Ross Do You Know what the active ingredient is in Thiomyl. I haven't seen it here in BC under that name and wonder if it is sold under a different name?

Yes, it's Thiophanate-methyl (dimethyl 4,4'-0-phenylenebis-[3,thioallophanate])

OK, you asked It's produced in US by Southern Agricultural Insecticides, Palmetto, FL / Hendersonville, NC / Boone, NC

You may not be able to get this in Canada. There are ways around it, though

Try calling Camp-Lot-a-Noise Tropicals and see if they can ship (import) to Canada. It's worth a call. I am surprised, in this case, that Canada is more strict than US, cause US can be a real pain getting some of the old-school chemicals.

[irrka]

Thanks Ross!! I'm so relieved you think that stuff is not going to kill them! Going to thiomilyze them anyway just in case (to quote NY lotto: hey, you never know).