Newest rescue phal soft green spots on bottom of Leaf raised lumps on stalk/leaf top

[Mercurianmad]

I’ve never seen this. My newest rescue has these raised, partially translucent green patches on the underside of the leaves. They look translucent light green on the underside of the leaf, and the look like hard raised bumps on the top of the leaf. It is also on the stalk. Thoughts?

I hope it’s not a fungus. It’s not brown.

[Roberta]

Bump

[Dollythehun]

Apologies for being picky. Could we have better pictures please?

[Mercurianmad]

No problem. Tell me if you need more

[Dollythehun]

Like Roberta, I'm puzzled. My guess, and it's only a guess, would be a watering issue. A type of edema. The yellow spots are probably a nip by a pest if some type, a noseeum. It does look a little dehydrated though.

[Mercurianmad]

I’ve had such a hard time with this orchid. It was in the same pot, a bunch of compacted spahgnum moss, for over two years and I just got it last week from a friend. It was completely root bound it’s roots were starting to blacken from the acid in the potting medium. I’ve repotted it in a mixture of mostly bark a little perlite and some Spahgnum moss. I got the humidity my house around 50% and there’s a humidifier that blows near it along with all of my other phals. I use a probiotic on it and a weekly weak fertilizing solution of the MSU feed me fertilizer. Despite that it’s roots are very yellow some are completely black that I had to trim away. Most of its roots are yellow, a really sickly yellow color. I’m also using first rays seaweed fertilizer on it to stimulate new root growth. But these leaves almost look like they’re melting from the inside. I put it in a pot that was just one size larger than the previous Pot. I’ve been letting it dry out completely before watering it. I don’t water it at night and I don’t missed it. The humidifier is a very fine mist that doesn’t make any droplets on the orchid. It’s also got a fan blowing near it.

As long as it’s not a fungus that’s going to spread to my other or kids I’m happy. I’ll just keep trying to take care of it and hopefully it will recover. But I’m wondering if I should be concerned with these translucent spots spreading.

---------- Post added at 12:50 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:44 PM ----------

Maybe I should increase the air circulation by turning the fan up

[Dollythehun]

Can you isolate it? I am not thinking fungal. I have some hideous lesions on my phals from letting cold water touch the leaves. I've often had edema from irregular watering. My thought is it's connected to prior culture.

[SouthPark]

Originally Posted by Mercurianmad

I’ve been letting it dry out completely before watering it. I don’t water it at night and I don’t missed it. The humidifier is a very fine mist that doesn’t make any droplets on the orchid. It’s also got a fan blowing near it.

MM -- it's not necessary to wait for dry-out every single time. Occasional dry-out can help keep certain unwanted things under control (or even avoided). But definitely no need to wait for dry-out every time. On the other hand - if the schedule works nicely for you ----- ie. dry-out every time, then that's ok too.

I currently still have just one phalaenopsis (my first and only one), which is the same one mentioned at this link here: Click Here.

Even though in nature (in the wild) - rain etc can come at any time ----- day, night ----- whenever. And water can get on leaves at any time in the wild ..... the situation can be purposely altered outside of the wild ----- for the benefit of the orchid in non-wild conditions.

For my growing area, which is simply under a balcony - the leaves of my orchids are usually always dry - except when I'm watering with the weed-sprayer nozzle, and some water unintentionally gets onto leaves. No problem - because my growing area has good air-flow. The leaves willl dry and don't stay wet for relatively long periods of time.

I took these two photos (attached) 15 mins ago or so. I grow my phal in medium light conditions (no direct sun), and only placed it on the ledge to get enough light for the photograph.

This phal has been growing in that sized scoria (lava rock) since the day I first got it ...... repotted with my medium of choice and into a new pot on the day I purchased it. All I do is just aim my weed-sprayer nozzle toward the edge of the pot (see blue regions) - and then spray as much water as I want into those regions.

It's not even necessary spray closer in toward the orchid. Accuracy isn't that important, and it's actually quite ok to get some water in toward the orchid, or if some water does find its way in toward the orchid. That's fine.

In any case - no water gets onto the leaves, and not even much water gets on the stem.

You can see dust on the leaves ----- I don't even bother to clean the leaves hehehe. But in general, just like most phals growing in nice sheltered conditions - the leaves tend to look pretty good. I personally don't mind if leaves don't look 'pristine'.

The main thing is the orchid stays strong and healthy, and we can probably avoid those swellings or lesions etc by keeping water away from leaves. Maybe the mechanism for swellings is cold water on warm leaf causing the leaf temperature to change too quickly ---- or at a rate which the leaf material can't cope with in some parts of the leaf.

It wouldn't be surprising too to see issues if an orchid (eg. cold orchid) is abruptly exposed to hot sun ----- creating a relatively fast temperature change - causing bumps. Or the reverse ..... warm orchid cooled rapidly by something (which is less likely hahaha). But these sorts of fast temperature changes probably cause cell collapse rather than permanent solid bumps.