Viruses or thrips?

[Roberta]

Ouch. That does look like what virus does to Cattleya flowers, not thrips. But as I mentioned you can't be certain unless you test. In the meantime, keep that plant away from everything else. Get some Agdia test strips.

[SouthPark]

Just wait to see what the other flowers from the unopened buds look like as well. The image is approx 300x300 pixels - so the fine details can't be seen from the image.

If the petals are normally that pinky colour, and it now has reddish bits added, then probably no need to worry too much. But if there are like whitish streaks or somewhat whitish streaks and patterns in there ------ then maybe something to look into a bit more.

At the moment, it just looks like extra red colouring involved. So I probably wouldn't worry about it at all.

[Merita]

Originally Posted by SouthPark

Just wait to see what the other flowers from the unopened buds look like as well. The image is approx 300x300 pixels - so the fine details can't be seen from the image.

If the petals are normally that pinky colour, and it now has reddish bits added, then probably no need to worry too much. But if there are like whitish streaks or somewhat whitish streaks and patterns in there ------ then maybe something to look into a bit more.

At the moment, it just looks like extra red colouring involved. So I probably wouldn't worry about it at all.

Thank you friend, I am sad, I love my plants with obsession, my daughter tells them my sisters, the only thing that encourages me is that the time the thrips finished flowering, many plants did something similar and then in the other blooms they did not more. This plant does not have discolored stripes, the color of it is that, the dark stripes are not its color and in the link that you sent me a plant similar to mine appears where Sue says that the thrips destroyed it before opening. For the moment I'm going to isolate her. I have noticed that the plants that form their flowers quickly, do not have problems but those that linger within the sheath, are the ones that most attack these insects. Greetings.

[SouthPark]

Most welcome Merita. Lots of growers have seen cases where some petals might be patchy or lighter than usual, or some extra colour added in some regions - and it wasn't due to virus activity. Other factors involved.

For some orchid flowers, light patches of newly opening flowers can even appear alarming at first ...... but often turns out to be the flower just hasn't yet coloured-up, and all pans out well after a few days.

The flowers that just opened (which you photographed) looks pretty good from this distance!

[Merita]

Originally Posted by SouthPark

Most welcome Merita. Lots of growers have seen cases where some petals might be patchy or lighter than usual, or some extra colour added in some regions - and it wasn't due to virus activity. Other factors involved.

For some orchid flowers, light patches of newly opening flowers can even appear alarming at first ...... but often turns out to be the flower just hasn't yet coloured-up, and all pans out well after a few days.

The flowers that just opened (which you photographed) looks pretty good from this distance!

It opened all the way, the other sheath was not as damaged as the first

[SouthPark]

Wow!!! That is so nice. Thanks for uploading that photo merita. Excellent capture.

[Merita]

I'm going to wait for another bloom to see if it changes before throwing it away. Greetings.

[Shadeflower]

I can't say I know too much about viruses but then I doubt many do. Unless you do a test.
I've seen identical cases where people say its due to virus but what SP mentioned about the break in color makes more sense to me, this is just additional color in places they shouldn't be.
So I think we can only speculate but to me a virussed plant is one that grows weaker. If it is thriving like that why even consider throwing it out.

[Merita]

Originally Posted by Shadeflower

I can't say I know too much about viruses but then I doubt many do. Unless you do a test.
I've seen identical cases where people say its due to virus but what SP mentioned about the break in color makes more sense to me, this is just additional color in places they shouldn't be.
So I think we can only speculate but to me a virussed plant is one that grows weaker. If it is thriving like that why even consider throwing it out.

For fear that it is a virus and infects the other plants.

[SouthPark]

Originally Posted by Merita

I'm going to wait for another bloom to see if it changes before throwing it away. Greetings.

Good call merita. This case has panned out nicely. This one is most likely a 'keeper'.

I don't have virus test kits (and never used one before). I haven't seen any virus symptoms here myself ----- but can definitely understand the stress or emotion caused if it is encountered ------ eg. pretty-much unmistakable symptoms like the combination of whitish streaks, and appearing dryish among the affected areas, etc.

Roberta did once mention (link) that a particular cattleya .... Ctt. Porcia 'Cannizaro' ----- has a virus --- all clones of it out there in the world. She indicated that it is a 'typhoid mary' case ----- a virus carrier, in which the virus doesn't kill the orchid, and doesn't affect the appearance of its flowers.

Originally Posted by Roberta

Generally, a virus-infected plant has less vigor - it weakens the plant but doesn't kill it. (One clue that inspires me to test a plant.. sometimes it's positive, sometimes the failure to thrive has other causes) There are exceptions... classic is Lc Porcia 'Cannizaro' - the grex, back to the original plant that was cloned, is virused, but the plants are vigorous, the flowers show no color break. Typhoid Mary... doesn't show the disease but can infect others. Some Lycastes are also notorious for being virused and asymptomatic. Practice good plant hygiene all the time, and it is much less likely to spread. (Sound familiar?)

I think a significant number of growers from around the world - having fair sized collections of orchids (in their green-houses etc) - grows this particular orchid. I grow it too --- the 'Cannizaro' - but not in a green-house. It's growing in among all the other orchids.

So far, I have no concerns about the 'Cannizaro'. My view of it is ----- if Roberta had heard that all clones of this orchid are virused, and because she is a member of at least one well-known orchid society, then I would have expected that she would have had conversations with the society - AOS etc ------ and then creating a motion to send out a warning in magazines or email bulletin boards ----- for 'heads-up' information. The word would then spread like wild-fire. That would be a nice demonstration of helping the orchid community (responsibility etc). So I had been wondering about whether all Ctt. Porcia 'Cannizaro' orchids really do have viruses - or not.

I don't think that Roberta actually needed to act on the reported situation though. I was only assuming that she would have ----- due to the details that she reported.