Spots on leaves of new cymbidiums

[Cymbidium]

Hello,

I am from germany and quite new in the realm of orchids.

Recently I've bought 4 cymbidiums and just noticed some spots on the leaves and that they start to discolor. One leave also split in half this night.

For watering I am using rain water, destilled water and tap water; I haven't fertilized them until today, except a few times orchid myst spray from groth technology; as it's currently freezing I keep them inside in my cold guest bathroom (~ 16°C), with a window to the west and north;

I've attached a few pictures in the hope that you might be able to provide advice with regard to what's wrong with my new orchids and how to cure it.

Thanks

[emmajs243]

Well I am no expert but I just had to say, holy crap what beautiful Cyms!!! I found some hybrid Cyms with blooms similar to your first and second photo and oh how I wanted to purchase them!! Unfortunately, they had some unusual markings of their own going on so I passed them up....Its a little hard to find the large, cold growing Cyms it seems like here in the US!

What I can say however, my Cym has a few of the exact same spots as in photo 1 and even photo 4. These both appear to me to be the same thing minus the brown dot in the one spot of photo 4....They never looked especially concerning and in 5+ months of having my cym, the spots never spread or caused any other issues so I never thought to post about them but will have to see if you get an answer because I am curious to know what they are from! My cym only has a few of these spots however..I would just keep an eye on them! I don't know. I guess I always viewed them as like freckles in my mind...maybe not though!

The third photo is a tad worrisome looking to me. I am not experienced enough to say what it might be but I can say that if it were my plant, I would separate it ASAP even from your other posted Cyms you purchased with it...at LEAST until you get some feedback from some experts on here!

It almost looks like there is some very light yellow streaking on one of the leaves (photo on the right in #3)....is this just the camera/lighting or can you see yellow streaking below the "spots" on the leaf? Either way, I would wait for more experienced opinions though!

I will just throw out, if you don't get your questions answered on here. AOS.org does do webinars monthly called the "greenhouse chat". Their...chief of science and education I believe??? Someone like that runs them and you can email in your questions before the webinar with photos and they will usually answer your question via email pretty quickly then discuss them in the upcoming greenhouse chat webinar. This particular webinar is for members AND non-members so you could participate without joining the American orchid society! They are VERY helpful and Ron, the guy who runs them is VERY knowledgable!

[cricketerry]

Pics one and four look like thrip damage or some similar biting insect. They puncture holes in the flowers and leaves while feeding. Unsightly but not too worrying but a bad infestation ruins the look of a plant. Treat with your favourite insecticide.
Pic two looks like natural ageing of the leaf. It will yellow and fall off.

Picture three worries me. I would be isolating this plant as my concern would be that it has a virus.

[emmajs243]

Terry.
Great to know your thoughts on pic 1&4. Thank you for that info!!

And yes, I didn't want to say the word and cause panic with only being a beginner but virus was exactly what i thought too....Especially if there is any color streaking on the leaf like it kinda looks like....

Hopefully not but...I would consider testing the plant...I know here in the USA you can send a sample to a lab to do it for actually cheaper then buying test strips. Especially since here, you can only get test strips in packs of 5 for like $10 each or 25 for about $5.50 each.
If you have a orchid society or group of friends that grow they may be willing to split packs of test strips if with you so you aren't getting more then you need. OR maybe virus test kids are sold completely differently over there! Something to just keep in mind!

One thing you could also check to get another symptom of a virus or not would be what should plant #3's blooms look like? Do you have a photo from the seller of how they are suppose to look? I would suspect that the different colors on the blooms may be color breaking....often a sign of a virus. Maybe not though....I am definitely just beginning to figure out the virus world myself so I am definitely not a super trained eye to say for sure!

[Cymbidium]

Thanks to both of you for your thoughts and sorry for my late reply.

Emma, thank you, I also really like the cyms. I really couldn't resist buying them. Now I have to get a green house

Regarding #3: Actually it must be the lighting. There is no yellow striking on the leaf.

Do you happen to have a link a direct link to this greenhouse chat? I wasn't able to find it on their site.

Terry, do you have any recommendation for a insecticide suitable for orchids? Actually it also has been my first thought that it must be some kind of insect bite, but although I've thoroughly checked all my plants I wasn't able to find any living creature, nothing... So, would you still use an insecticide?

It was quite difficult to find a reseller in europe and to actually buy these strips, but I've bought a kit of 5 test strips from agdia in france and had to pa 84€. These strips are specifically for cymbidium mosaic virus and odontoglossum ring spot virus. They will arive tomorrow.

Regarding the look of the blooms, I actually do not have any picture and I also haven't been able to find many pictures of this plant in the internet - seems to be quite rare. So, other than that the blooms look quite nice and healthy I can't say anything else. Although the egdes of the blooms start to get brown. I really think they are just starting to wither, but as I am starting to get a bit concerned I've attached additional pictures and hope to get your assessment.

Oh and I will have to open one or two additional threads as I am experiencing other issues with my other orchids Maybe I should have just started with one orchid instead of about 25 within just a few weeks...

[rbarata]

Cymbidium leaves are always ugly with spots and damage like that. Mine are growing outside and are far, far worse than that. And I don't worry about it.

But I would be concerned with flowers like the ones in the last photos.
I don't want to use the word virus but that was my first thought...but I'm no expert in virus matters.

[Roberta]

I agree with the others, #3 leaves look suspicious... but I have had Cym leaves look nasty like that, which have tested negative for virus... you do have to test, you can't tell by looking. If it is bacterial or fungal (not virus), it very likely can recover, the bad leaves will just drop. The flowers may have just suffered environmental damage, or are aging. Keep the plant separate from the others until you can test it.

[cricketerry]

You don't need an insecticide specific to orchids. Whatever is available in Germany will do.

[Cymbidium]

So, I've tested the Cymbidium and the result was negative and over the past weeks nothing has spread within the plant, the spots didn't grow and the new grows of the orchid are doing fine.

So hopefully I will get great new blooms next year.