Yellow Cymbidium followed me home this morning

[NYCorchidman]

I see cymbidium everywhere now, so I took a little trip down to flower market and brought this baby home. It was tough as there were this yellow and lighter scream yellow with larger flower size without the dark line on the lip. I liked them both and had to get only one.

I don't know the name, so I will just call it yellow cymbidium. It replaced the place where green complex paphs were.

I love how grand it looks and it actually is quite large. so I'm not keeping it once the flowers fade. but for now, the glowing golden yellow flowers are cheering up this ugly winter mood.

It emits rather strange scent and it is now filling up the entire room now. I'm not sure if I like it or not though. truly strange smell...now I have to get very close to my other orchids to get the sweet scent.

Many of the flowers show rather big dark brown spots on them, which look to me like bruise. then again, I hope it is nothing more than that.

Does anyone know if CmVirus show any sign on the flowers? I don't mean to keep this plant after flowers fades but while it is here, I don't want to spread anything bad to my other plants.

[camille1585]

Gorgeous!! Such a shame to get rid of it after blooming, you should keep it!
Virus may or may not show in blooms, depends on the plants. Anyways, even if it was infected it's presence alone will not infect other plants. That's done either by certain insects, or by sharing bathwater, or using cutting tool on multiple plants without disinfecting it in between.

[NYCorchidman]

Originally Posted by camille1585

Gorgeous!! Such a shame to get rid of it after blooming, you should keep it!
Virus may or may not show in blooms, depends on the plants. Anyways, even if it was infected it's presence alone will not infect other plants. That's done either by certain insects, or by sharing bathwater, or using cutting tool on multiple plants without disinfecting it in between.

Hi, Camille!

I know, it is a lovely colored flowers.
It is already getting dark here, but I will take some close-up pictures of flowers tomorrow.

I am thinking of trying critter creek lab like you mentioned a while ago. I have never tried yet and dumped out a few orchids that showed some ugly markings or colorings on the leaves.

I have a few oncidium intergenerics that I would really want to keep, but they all have these unsightly spots on them and it literally freaks me out!
Maybe they are normal. I don't know.

What if I touch the leaves of one plant and then touch some other plants, and that plant get something off my finger kind of worry always seem to be at the back of my mind everytime I see spots.

Anyway, this yellow cymbium also has some dark spots on the leaves altough its leaves are mostly clean green.

I wish there was a nice article about spots on orchid leaves. I'm sure some are just mechanical damage. Even today as I was picking out this one, I was surprised how careless and not so gentle the store owner was in dealing with plants. they must have scratched up leaves and flower petals so much that whatever they sell must share all the same pathogens. lol

I am even considering using disposable plastic gloves when touching the pot of this cymbidium to water it. Or maybe I should just dip the whole pot in physan 20 solution and that way it kills all the virus and stuff that might be sitting on the surface. what a hassel!

maybe I should just stick to the glove idea.

[camille1585]

In a lot of your posts you are very concerned about virus. It must not be a lot of fun to be constantly worried like that, orchids should be fun. For peace of mind, if you really don't want any virus around, consider having your entire collection tested. Be aware that there may be nasty surprises, ie suspicious plants testing negative, and clean looking plants testing positive.

Afterwards you can keep some test strips under hand to systematically test everything you buy. And then you don't have to worry as much anymore.

You don't need gloves to handle it. Just wash your hands well afterwards. Anyways virus won't be sitting around on the pot, if it's there it'll be in the plant, unless you hack the plant and get sap all over it. Sounds like you are comparing plant viruses to how mammal viruses spread.

Any pics of the Cym's spots? While it's hard to ID virus, it somewhat easy to ID certain diseases or mechanical causes.

[NYCorchidman]

Originally Posted by camille1585

In a lot of your posts you are very concerned about virus. It must not be a lot of fun to be constantly worried like that, orchids should be fun. For peace of mind, if you really don't want any virus around, consider having your entire collection tested. Be aware that there may be nasty surprises, ie suspicious plants testing negative, and clean looking plants testing positive.

Afterwards you can keep some test strips under hand to systematically test everything you buy. And then you don't have to worry as much anymore.

You don't need gloves to handle it. Just wash your hands well afterwards. Anyways virus won't be sitting around on the pot, if it's there it'll be in the plant, unless you hack the plant and get sap all over it. Sounds like you are comparing plant viruses to how mammal viruses spread.

Any pics of the Cym's spots? While it's hard to ID virus, it somewhat easy to ID certain diseases or mechanical causes.

I just heard the smokers carrry Tobacco mosais virus in their hands and touching plant leaves with their hands might help virus enter the plant through tiny unvisible wounds. Maybe it is wrong or only applicable for TMV?
I don't know. I'm just worried a lot in general when I see spots or weird patterns.

I should send samples and have my plants tested.

Thank you!

Oh, I will take some more pictures tomorrow. it is already quite dark here.

[camille1585]

I think infection through simple contact is minimal. But what you have to consider though is that workers in greenhouses are usually repotting, dividing, prunning, ... , so then the risk of contamination is quite high.

When I was interning in a big vegetable breeding company in the Netherlands a few years back, the fear of TMV was to the point that that when hiring people who would come in contact with plants regularily, they refused to hire smokers. Sanitation to enter the breeding greenhouses is drastic, you need to put on a cloth suit, disinfect hands and shoes, and wear shoe covers. All that because I needed to collect tomato pollen from the breeding lines for my research.

[NYCorchidman]

Yeah, that is also my big concern.
Big nursery where there are hundreds or even thousands of orchids growing, it would be quite tough to follow through all the proper sanitation procedure. Maybe that's why all the oncidium intergenerics have all these spots on them. lol

[camille1585]

I visited a dutch commercial orchid nursery, and no one is even allowed in the greenhouses. Workers go in only when necessary, otherwise everything is robot controlled.

I guess what I mean to say through all these posts is yes, by all means do take precautions with suspicious plants, but there is no need to do it in excess. Deal with suspicious plants last, and wash your hands afterward. That's pretty much the easiest way to deal with them.

[NYCorchidman]

Wow~ everything robot controlled! That is cool.
I believe it is not common here though. I know a local grower who sells orchids that he grew in his small facility in PA. Many of his plants have terrible spots all over. I never buy from him. When asked about spots, he looked very disturbed and told me it's nothing to worry about. hmmm...something was suspicious in his manner.

I gotta get those test done very soon for peace of mind or big surprise as you warned me. lol

[greenbean]

Beautiful yellow! I like the red on the lip, too.

It couldn't hurt to have your plants tested, though personally I don't worry about it too much at least at this point in my collection.

As to the oncidiums and their intergeneric hybrids, many of these get spots on their leaves for several reasons. Some, like Onc. Sharry Baby, are especially prone to spotting because one of the species in its background has spotted leaves. Other Oncidium intergenerics develop spots that are theorized to develop due to water on the leaves. Most of these spots are not signs of disease but a virtually unavoidable characteristic of the plant itself. But, like I said, it doesn't hurt to get them tested anyways.