Cattleya flower showing virus perhaps

[ArronOB]

Hi. This cattleya flower (LC secret love) is looking rather battered. Could it indicate a virus ?

There is another possibility. Could it be rain damage? This one is growing outside and we have had record breaking rainfall lately. I don’t think I’ve seen a cattleya flower damaged by rain before, but I’ve never left a flowering specimen in the rain either.

The other odd thing is that there are four flowers on the spike, one fully opened and the other three still tight buds which look weeks from opening if they are to reach the same size. Alternatively, one of those small buds is showing signs of opening, as though it were about to open as a miniature flower. Is that a possible virus issue?

Cheers
Arron

[SouthPark]

Any pics of the flower(s)?

Some viruses can be detected with test kits. But they most likely won't cover all virus. And the other possibility is not virus-related.

If the orchid has flowered in the past, and all ok ----- then one test will be to see what happens at the next flowering.

[estación seca]

Heavy rain can damage flowers, yes.

[ArronOB]

I thought I had included the pic ?

Anyway, here it is.

[Roberta]

A little small and hard to see well. Are those dark areas irregular? It could just be rain damage... see what the other flowers look like. If a bud opens with a smaller flower, the flower can expand in size after it has opened. But just keep an eye on it, and perhaps keep some distance from other plants. If the other flowers don't show the issue, then no worries. If they also show irregular patterns, then it's time to test. (Test kits don't test for all viruses, but they are pretty reliable for the most common ones. To do no test because they're not perfect is very short-sighted and deprives one of potentially very useful information) But virus doesn't tend to show up suddenly, and environmental issues can certainly damage flowers.

[Diane56Victor]

Is it a first blooming?
Ive heard from some growers in my club that sometimes a first blooming can look a bit strange.

[ArronOB]

Originally Posted by Diane56Victor

Is it a first blooming?
Ive heard from some growers in my club that sometimes a first blooming can look a bit strange.

3rd blooming. Ist blooming was indeed different - petals and sepals not so wide, flower smaller overall.

Diane (any any other Aussies) you might be interested to know this is one of those little polypack plants bought at Bunnings - I think they are regularly available at Bunnings in autumn for about $8 or $9. In 2017 we moved location to a slightly warmer environment and this kick-restarted my interest in growing orchids so being a patient person I stocked up on tiny polypack babies knowing I would have a good orchid collection one day in the future. I think I bought about 30 in 2017 and same in 2018 and about 10 in 2019 but none were available in 2020 which I think was due to Covid. Of the 2017 plants I think I lost about 1 per year for mysterious reasons, plus I tossed a couple which were just too slow growing or had a hopelessly sprawled or prostrate habit.

If you buy those plants when they are new in the shop they are actually very good plants (largely mericlones, healthy and disease free) assuming you are happy to wait a few years for a flowering. I generally don’t like buying flowering sized plants because I believe (without evidence, I admit) the very small plants will better adjust to my temperature-marginal conditions. I also value the achievement dividend of raising plants from very small to flowering size - which is just as silly I guess but that’s how it is.

---------- Post added at 07:52 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:39 PM ----------

Originally Posted by Roberta

A little small and hard to see well. Are those dark areas irregular? It could just be rain damage... see what the other flowers look like. If a bud opens with a smaller flower, the flower can expand in size after it has opened. But just keep an eye on it, and perhaps keep some distance from other plants. If the other flowers don't show the issue, then no worries. If they also show irregular patterns, then it's time to test. (Test kits don't test for all viruses, but they are pretty reliable for the most common ones. To do no test because they're not perfect is very short-sighted and deprives one of potentially very useful information) But virus doesn't tend to show up suddenly, and environmental issues can certainly damage flowers.

The damage is all quite irregular.

I had the understanding that cattleya flowers were quite waterproof - which is what I would expect of flowers from fairly high rainfall environments with long opening times. This is a complex hybrid however, so maybe the dominant parent flowers in a dry environment?

It might be time for me to invest in some virus test strips. Unfortunately I do not have good housing for my collection and they are all too close together with constant water splashing and other pathogen pathways. There isn’t much I can do about this until we finish building our house and negotiate with our non-communicative local council some tree felling, and then build a permanent housing solution.

[SouthPark]

At this link here ------ there is at least 1 set of flowers that has patterns too.

At the moment - it's hard to say whether it's virus or due to water damage.

I grow all my catts under my protective balcony. And all my catt flowers generally never get wet - so not sure what happens if catt flowers become wet ----- or at least wet for relatively long periods of time.

I know that some growers avoid getting the flowers wet to avoid mold spotting etc. But ------ as far as looking up information on google goes ----- regarding the topic of having home-grown catt flowers wet by rain ------ there just appears to be no discussion on this particular topic --- which is pretty poor in my opinion. Just not good enough I reckon.

I can say that I do recall one case back in the past, when I purchased a C. tenebrosa ----- which got rained on (at the nursery) ----- and the flowers were nice --- but withered relatively quickly soon after blooming - as the sheath was filled-up with water - which I didn't know about until the time I was cutting the flower spikes and sheath.

Not all orchids have sheaths. And orchids out in the wild will/can get flowers wet naturally.

I think that - as with lots of flowers out there - to get best mileage or kilometreage out of them ------ is probably to keep water off them if possible.

But on the other hand - some possible compromises need to be made for orchids grown outdoors maybe.

[Diane56Victor]

Originally Posted by ArronOB

3rd blooming. Ist blooming was indeed different - petals and sepals not so wide, flower smaller overall.

Diane (any any other Aussies) you might be interested to know this is one of those little polypack plants bought at Bunnings - I think they are regularly available at Bunnings in autumn for about $8 or $9. In 2017 we moved location to a slightly warmer environment and this kick-restarted my interest in growing orchids so being a patient person I stocked up on tiny polypack babies knowing I would have a good orchid collection one day in the future. I think I bought about 30 in 2017 and same in 2018 and about 10 in 2019 but none were available in 2020 which I think was due to Covid. Of the 2017 plants I think I lost about 1 per year for mysterious reasons, plus I tossed a couple which were just too slow growing or had a hopelessly sprawled or prostrate habit.

If you buy those plants when they are new in the shop they are actually very good plants (largely mericlones, healthy and disease free) assuming you are happy to wait a few years for a flowering. I generally don’t like buying flowering sized plants because I believe (without evidence, I admit) the very small plants will better adjust to my temperature-marginal conditions. I also value the achievement dividend of raising plants from very small to flowering size - which is just as silly I guess but that’s how it is.[COLOR="Silver"]
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Well as its the third blooming, Im at a loss as to whether this is a virus.
I would keep it apart from the main collection until the next bloom opens. If it opens the same I would bite the bullet and bin it...bagged separately.

Regarding the polypacks of orchids..
I have bought several of these as when I started out with orchids I figured if I was going to kill an orchid it might as well be a cheap one!
I have a similar belief re the plants adjusting.....within reason. I haven't bought anything that relies on lots of constant high humidity for example.

[Ray]

Could it be thrips? They can cause color streaks in flowers.