Sick Vanda

[mica28]

I'd really appreciate some help figuring out what's wrong. I bought this Vanda a little before the Mother's Day weekend. In a previous post on this forum, I thought I was dealing with a root issue because one of it's new roots started turning brown. After some discussions I found out I was over watering the plant by feeding it daily instead of once a week. So I stopped watering it daily as of yesterday.

Despite that, today two leaves just fell off the plant. They had turned yellow over the last few days and it looks like the others on the stem that are next are also starting to turn yellow. There seems to be black dots on the stem, and there seems to be some browning where a previous spike of the plant was (FYI that was not cut by me, it came to me that way). I'm not sure what those dots or brown stuff is either.

Have any of you had this/ these issue before? If so, what could the issue be? Should I contact the nursery?

These two images show you the current state of the plant:
[REDACTED]
- Updated with working links

[Ray]

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[mica28]

Originally Posted by Ray

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Thank you for letting me know Ray! I have updated the links and they should be working now.

[Ray]

Looks like it's grossly underwatered so is succumbing.

Most vandas prefer bright light, warmth and lots of water with rapid drying.

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by mica28

After some discussions I found out I was over watering the plant by feeding it daily instead of once a week. So I stopped watering it daily as of yesterday.

Totally agree with Ray that it needs water. It doesn't need, or want, daily feeding, but it does want daily watering. Air around the roots, and a wet-dry cycle are vital for a healthy Vanda.

[KingKong]

I can't see the pictures full size but I think the damage has been done.

With Orchids things take a while to show. If the stem becomes rotten then the roots become disconnected from the leaves. Once this happens the leaves will over a period of a month shrivel up from lack of water, turn yellow and fall off. No matter how much you water the roots, they can't reach the leaves anymore so the leaves become dehydrated.

There is no easy way to tell if a stem is rotted or not - it does not show straight away. But if the roots stay moist and green for longer than a healthy plant for example that is using its roots that is a possible indication they are disconnected from the plant.

[Roberta]

I'm not necessarily seeing a rotted stem. If it is actually rotted, then KingKong is correct, that the roots won't be able to hydrate the upper part. But I don't see evidence of that one way or the other. It does sound like it was being over-fed, and then under-watered. Since the upper part of the plant does look reasonably OK as far as I can see in the photo, it is also possible, if there's still a connection with the existing (not-go-good) roots, that the upper part may sprout a new set of roots. (If it does, then the plant can be "topped"... but the new roots have to develop first, this can take multiple months to happen.) At this point, watchful waiting and patience.

[mica28]

Thanks for all of your help! For now I sprayed it with hydrogen peroxide 3%. It is a fungal infection as there are black spots on the leaves inside larger yellow patches that are surrounded by a red halo. The leaves are still dropping and I continue to feed it. I might just wait for the blooms and give up on this one. I didn’t realize Vandas are so challenging to care for. I’ll stick with Phals, Dens and Oncidiums going forward.