Shrunken cymbidium bulbs with black spots on bulbs and leaves

[drmab]

I recently received 4 large cymbidiums from SF , I don’t know how they were raised, (maybe outdoors?) but it took 4 days for shipping them bare root.
On arrival, these were mature plants, with shrunken bulbs and black spots on both the bulbs and leaves. (I don’t think these were related to the 4 day shipping!)
Is this a virus, or simply under watering?
I have now repotted them in bark, and spray them with listerine and a spray of sulfur and pyrethrins ( Bonide citrus fertilizer product), and have not watered them since repotting 4 days ago.
I would appreciate any ideas/advice. Thank you.

[SouthPark]

Originally Posted by drmab

IOn arrival, these were mature plants, with shrunken bulbs and black spots on both the bulbs and leaves. (I don’t think these were related to the 4 day shipping!)

Is this a virus, or simply under watering?

It's hard to say what happened. And not easy to assess the situation without more details --- such as photographs or description about the degree of the reduction in bulb size.

Black spots/patches etc can be due to pathogen activity, or could be due to transportation damage (eg. abrupt temperature changes and/or undesirable temperatures reached during transit etc). Or some other cause. Hard to say for now.

New members can sometimes post/uploaded images without the '5-post' limitation (not sure why!). You could try to upload images - that can help with the assessment of the situation.

For now, yes ---- definitely, have the orchid in a medium light area with nice gentle air-movement, and provide a bit of water to the media - so that hopefully the plant can recover - get re-hydrated a bit. This is assuming it's not due to bulb rotting.