How to care for Monnierara Mill Magic

[CissysHome]

I recently bought a pot of Monnierara Millennium Magic "Witchcraft" AM/AOS that have two spikes. The buds have grown bigger and look like they will be opening pretty soon. My concern is that the leaves have black spots and a tiny bit of white powdery thingy on one leaf. I read somewhere that if you wiped the leaves off with alcohol soaked cotton, that should fix it. I'm now worried. Did I do the right thing? Also, how often should I water this? Is this considered a cattleya?

Thank you for any advise anyone can give me.

[astrid]

White powdery thing on a leaf? If you can rule out that it was a mealybug, it is probably just residue from wateral mineral buildup or fertilizers used in the nursery it was distributed from. Not much to worry about there.

Wiping leaves in alcohol won't really bother them if you don't do it really roughly, but probably didn't need to do that. Wiping leaves with an alcohol swab is usually a treatment for scale insect.

This orchid is a hybrid of many plants, but it's sort of in the catasetum alliance. This means it is deciduous and will lose its leaves and go into dormancy every winter. Bulbofett on here has a youtube channel where she talks a lot about catasetums and their care!
Just look up "Holy City Orchids" and you will find her. There is also a catasetum forum here on OB.

[Joeturbo26]

That white string looks like packing material used to protect the spikes—the black spots look like normal leaf drop as this orchid goes dormant.

[Mandy2705]

Cissyshome, could you post pics of the leaves? The white stuff does look like packing material to me as well. That's slot of buds too, how exciting. You must post pics of the blooms too pls