Rhynchostylis Leave Problem

[ETLAND]

This is a Rhynchostylis Cartoon seedling. It came in a perfect condition, and then I put it in front of a open window hoping it could get enough sunlight and air. Two days later, I noticed there were dark purple spots in the middle and on the edge of its leaves. Is it caused by infection, too much sunlight, cold air exposure, or bruise resulted during transportation? Or any other advice? ?

[Steve83]

More information would be needed, like temperature, humidity, and light conditions (location doesn't show).

[estación seca]

Welcome to the Orchid Board!

The linear lines and purpling at the edges are scratches. The other spots could be many things. Open window? How cold?

[Orchidtinkerer]

Hi Etland,
I think it is hard to identify someone else's problems let alone one's own with absolute certainty but if it helps when I looked at your plant my initial reaction was stress spots from too much light. This is not an official diagnosis - just something I have seen on some of mine before which yours could be. It is not sunburn, but too high light on a weak plant has caused dark spots similar to those.

It is strange and unusual to see this on a Rhynchostylis gigantea as they can tolerate quite a bit of light but I am suspecting this ideal plant was probably in less than ideal shape and highly stressed already - which is to be expected and not something I would call unusual. We can't see the roots on the picture, if it has few roots any high light exposure will cause stress. The leaves might also have grown irregularly without reaching their full length at times - this is an indication of poor previous care and takes a good few months of just average temps, average lights, no extreme summer or winter conditions to recover from, the aim is not to get a Rhynchosyslis to flower straight away, usually the aim is to make it recover from the stress of being imported first which your most certainly was this year from a tropical climate.
Don't worry about giving it lots of light or high temps for these first few months as your aim should not be to get it to flower - it is still too small for that.
These will be more challenging than your average Phalaenopsis because of this acclimatization stress and they need to get a decent size before they can flower. which takes patience, lots of patience..

[ETLAND]

Originally Posted by estación seca

Welcome to the Orchid Board!

The linear lines and purpling at the edges are scratches. The other spots could be many things. Open window? How cold?

About 15-11Celsius at night or in the early morning, and sometimes little windy.

[estación seca]

I think 11 is too cold for this plant. It is a warm to hot grower.

[ETLAND]

Originally Posted by Orchidtinkerer

Hi Etland,
I think it is hard to identify someone else's problems let alone one's own with absolute certainty but if it helps when I looked at your plant my initial reaction was stress spots from too much light. This is not an official diagnosis - just something I have seen on some of mine before which yours could be. It is not sunburn, but too high light on a weak plant has caused dark spots similar to those.

It is strange and unusual to see this on a Rhynchostylis gigantea as they can tolerate quite a bit of light but I am suspecting this ideal plant was probably in less than ideal shape and highly stressed already - which is to be expected and not something I would call unusual. We can't see the roots on the picture, if it has few roots any high light exposure will cause stress. The leaves might also have grown irregularly without reaching their full length at times - this is an indication of poor previous care and takes a good few months of just average temps, average lights, no extreme summer or winter conditions to recover from, the aim is not to get a Rhynchosyslis to flower straight away, usually the aim is to make it recover from the stress of being imported first which your most certainly was this year from a tropical climate.
Don't worry about giving it lots of light or high temps for these first few months as your aim should not be to get it to flower - it is still too small for that.
These will be more challenging than your average Phalaenopsis because of this acclimatization stress and they need to get a decent size before they can flower. which takes patience, lots of patience..

Hi Orchidtinkerer,
Thank your very much for your reply to my questions. I agree with you that I may give it too much sunlight. Before, I just put it with my other mature Rhynchostylis in front of windows without any sheer curtains or shades. Therefore they were receiving full sunlight for hours a day. On my mature Rhynchostylis, there are not purple spots which only present on this seedling. Also, it has not roots at all since the vender cut all the roots off when they imported those seedlings from Asia.
Yes, I am not aiming to get it to flower and would like to help it recover from the stress. Do I have to put it in a new indoor location with less sunlight, or still keep it in front of windows and let it adapt to the new environment? Could you please give me some advises on how to take care of it? Much appreciated

[estación seca]

The vendor cut off the roots? This plant will likely struggle to survive.

[SouthPark]

I agree. Maybe this orchid hasn't adapted to the significantly brighter conditions yet.

Sun-hardening usually involves exposing the orchid gradually to brighter and brighter light levels - up a point. Done in stages.

[Dollythehun]

I agree about the spots and generally w the others. However, I find the ring spots troubling. Draw a circle around them w a sharpie to see if they spread.