Yellow blotches on tops of Cattleya's leaves. Too much sun?

[emmajs243]

Ok guys. I really appreciate everyone who has helped me thus far but I have one more question/concern. I truly blame my newbieness, not knowing is just so worrisome. I ordered this cattleya from an orchid nursury about a month ago. When she arrived she had no yellow leaves. (She was shipped from hawaii to Idaho in winter but with heat packs, night time temps still were above freezing). When she first arrived I started researching advice on caring for cattleyas (she is my first) and I found that AOS recommends for northern states to give cattleyas as much sun as possible. So I tried setting her on a windowsill that gets pretty much constant sunlight. However about a week passed and I found she has these yellow blotches on her leaves so I quickly relocated her to a bright but less direct sunlight location. Do you guys think this is just due to too much direct sun? Could it be something else I need to change?

Lastly I included a few photos of the undersides of her leaves but I will create a second thread probably for it just for searching and post identification reasons. She has these strange brownish/reddish bumps. She had these when she was shipped to me and she was shipped in a box with multiple US DEPT OF AG stickers signing off her quarantine release for no pests, viruses or diseases. This was a big comfort so I didn't think too much about these little bumps but just once again, worry makes me want to be sure! Any thoughts on what they might be? I tried wiping them away with an alcohol que-tip but nothing came off so I don't believe they are scale. I didn't do a super hard scrub but I have seen scale comes off pretty easily and would prefer to not damage her leaves for no reason!

[WeirdGuySeattle]

Looks like my orchids!!!
Could be a combination of:
1) Former or current bugs on the plant
2) Sun scorching
3) cold damage

They don't look unhealthy unless the leaf colors are changing rapidly (if so, I'd check for a root system or lack of one). Probably they had bugs at one point and you are just starting to notice? Maybe also, your conditions - the leaves are adjusting so are getting darker / lighter making things you didn't notice stand out more.

[emmajs243]

Thank you for your response!!!! The one forum about the one more valuable orchid in my house is the one forum nobody had responded too so far! So bug wise, unless they are in the media, she is definitely clean, she has a few weird bumps that others have suggested is just edema. I thought it might be scale so wiped one of them with an alcohol q-tip and it definently didn't come off. Also, she came with those on her, and she came in a box from Hawaii with two US DEPT OF AG stickers signing off stating she was virus and disease free on one and the other was for pests so I feel a tad comforted by that....(although maybe I shouldn't? Idk!).

The cold is definitely a possibility because although she was on a sunny window, it is winter in Idaho and the window probably wasn't warm enough (even with moving her away at night). Also, she was shipped from Hawaii to Idaho so she probably did/does not have the same definition of cold as me! And on top of that, the shipping process itself, even with a heat pack, was probably still fairly chilly.

Are there any bugs in particular you would check for? I have removed all the dead sheaths from pseudobulbs checking for bugs in them and everything looked fine but I do have an uneducated eye!

[WeirdGuySeattle]

I think probably they had bugs before shipping. The vendor killed them all, but the damage has been done.
Cattleya can take some cold - like into high 40s usually (though prefer above 55 if you can manage.)

I wouldn't worry too much, just monitor. your next few leaves will look nice. They just look hammered more as they age anyways (just like me).

[emmajs243]

Well we have sick Phals in the house too (isolated) so she is probably pretty happy with her current temps of 65-75 range! I definitely haven't seen any new yellowing just what has happened but I'll keep an eye on her! Thank you! And i am pretty sure time has had that effect on all of us!