Blackening leaves on Vanda

[kur1j]

I’ve got a Vanda that had a slow spreading black section on a couple leaves. Any idea what this is and how to handle it?

Vanda black area on leaves. - Album on Imgur

[estación seca]

What are your temperatures? Humidity? What is it the potting medium? How are you watering? What kind and amount of light is it getting?

[kur1j]

Originally Posted by estación seca

What are your temperatures? Humidity? What is it the potting medium? How are you watering? What kind and amount of light is it getting?

It’s winter where i’m at so I keep it indoors. Temperature is between 65-75. Humidity is around 45-55%. It’s in a hanging basket with moss. Water every few days or when the moss is dried out. The light I know is low, its in my brightest room but that’s about 1500-2500 ft. candles during brightest period. I JUST got a 1kW grow light that i’m putting my other medium to high light orchids under and moved this vanda under. Depending on where it’s on the tables it’s between 2k-4k ft. candles.

[estación seca]

If it's soft and mushy it's likely an infection. If it's dry and firm it's likely sequelae of a previous injury, perhaps sunburn or heat damage.

If you think it's infection, cut off the leaf well below the margin with something you sanitize with 70% alcohol or 10% bleach. Don't make two cuts without sanitizing between cuts. Many people keep a box of single-edge razor blades for this purpose, and throw away the blade after one cut.

[kur1j]

Originally Posted by estación seca

If it's soft and mushy it's likely an infection. If it's dry and firm it's likely sequelae of a previous injury, perhaps sunburn or heat damage.

If you think it's infection, cut off the leaf well below the margin with something you sanitize with 70% alcohol or 10% bleach. Don't make two cuts without sanitizing between cuts. Many people keep a box of single-edge razor blades for this purpose, and throw away the blade after one cut.

Thanks! Do you think I should get some anti fungal?

[estación seca]

I wouldn't use fungicide unless I knew this were a fungus and the fungicide to be used is effective for that fungus. Not all fungicides kill all species of fungi.

[Roberta]

Looking at the photo, I strongly suspect sunburn or burn from the heat of a lamp... there is a small area of another leaf with black at the edge, black areas look dry. If the damage is as dry as it looks, then it won't progress. You could use a black sharpie to draw a line a bit of distance from the black area, so you can more easily see whether it is spreading. If it spreads, use those razor blades as ES suggests. If it doesn't , just leave it alone.

[kur1j]

Thanks Roberta. There is no where this thing could have even come into contact with a lamp or even from the sun. It goes from my bathroom sink to one of my hanging spots. We are in Winter where I’m at with the highs being in the upper 70s at most, so it’s really hard for me to see that this was a burn.

To me this has gotten larger over time ever so slowly. I’m going to go ahead and cut this off with a razor and watch it.