Oncidium Rosy Sunset 'Pacific Satin' spiking

[NYCorchidman]

Bought in February with 7 spikes, it has since grown four new growths. They are all beginning to form pbs and one of them is showing one spike.

I actually cut away quite a few spotted leaves last week and sprayed. I hope those ugly spots won't come back.

[WhiteRabbit]

I think some spotting on Onc. foliage is unavoidable. Foliage is where photosynthesis occurs, making food for the plant - don't cut away too much

[NYCorchidman]

I don't know why oncidiums are so prone to spotting. It doesn't seem to be fatal and affected plants seem to grow and flower alright.
but I just really really hate looking at them spotted and the thought of possible spread to other orchids is just dreadful!
Those spots are mostly fungal and while not fatal, they do spread spores. so I was told cutting away and spraying is the way to get rid of them.
I was also told the fungucide available to home growers are not that effective. sigh~
I do what I can.

I think other than sunburn spots and super super tiny black sunken spots, it's all fungal.
They progress very slowly, but at certain stage, they form fruiting body (appear as very very small dots or non visible) and spread spore when conditions are favorable. thus, you continue to see the spots on your oncidiums as the fungus life cycle contiunes on.

Most people do not care much it seems.

[WhiteRabbit]

I only have a couple that have bad spotting, and those are outdoors year-round, so I suspect it's from cool damp weather in winter. Idk, if it doesn't hurt the plant, and it's difficult to eradicate, I don't stress on it much. But, that's just me, I stress about a lot of things, so try not to stress too much over my plants (not to say that I never do). I also like to limit use of toxic fungicides, pesticides, etc as much as possible.

I wonder if there is some type of systemic treatment that might help with the problem ...

I may be bothered less by the spots, a lot of my outside plants definitely will not be winning any awards for culture, to say the least. I'm just happy to get them blooming lol

[NYCorchidman]

I sprayed with physan 20. but it's more of preventative than cure I heard. When deluted, it is not that harmful to humans I believe.
In the past, I took plants outside and sprayed, but now I'm lazy and just do the spraying in the bath tub and just take a long shower righ after. lol

I will spray every week and see if those spots come back. If they do, I will step up to something stronger. I think there are only two fungicide for home use. Cleary 3336 and thyomil. They are both systemic and quite effective I heard.
will see.

Certain oncidium type orchids are perfectly spot free while some are prone to spotting (I'm only talking about fungal spots not non disease spots common in Sharry Baby for example) it seems.

If you don't break the cycle of the fungus, they will always be there making leaves ugly. still don't know why oncidiums are so weak in that regard.

all my phals, catts, dendrobiums (well, I did lose a few to a mysterious ring disease), paphs, cyms are spot free. I don't have super expensive plants, but they are all special because I put in so much time collecting them. even the most common and cheap ones, I take forever to compare and pick one as individual plants look different and have different vigor and flowering habits/color/shapes...I pick what I like the most.
so even the idea of having spotting disease transfered to my other clean orchids from oncidiums drives me crazy. I hope it makes sense.

again, flowering is another story. Most of the time, plants affected with spotting disease (fungal) grow and flower fine. but they do serve as potential disease spreader. Either to other plants or within the same plant, like from one leaf to another, or new growths.

Sometimes I wish fungul spore were large enough to see and hand pick. lol

anyways, other than some trimmed off look, this plant is now green and nice looking. It's sitting by the window as I'm typing this post.
I'm surprised by how fast the spike is growing.