My Cattleyea leaves turned black!!

[kiki-do]

My new mature (was in 6 inch pot) Catt. that I got as a travel companion for my project was out in the sunporch and near a window that gets strong afternoon light. (Other Catts are there as well and no damage). Tonight I noticed that 4 or 5 leaves are almost all black! Did I burn it? I thought Catts could take strong light. It has been in another window previously, but that is a fairly strong light window so I didn't see any harm in the move. Four of the leaves look exactly like an old ripe banana peel, all happened just today. Any advice as to what exactly this is? The leaves do not feel squishy or anything. What do I do? Thanks for any help!

[cb977]

Sounds like they burned...have any pictures? Was there any type of oil on the leaves?

[kiki-do]

Hi Sue, No oil on the leaves. If this is burning, what do I do? Cut them? Leave them? I feel so awful! I'm such a bad Mom. I should have been more watchful.

[cowboy51278]

maybe he just wasn't used to that much light, sometimes you have to build up to it. just like our pastey white skin in the spring. i got a little fried today too.

[charmbutterfly]

Oh man that looks like one of my plants a week after i got it. The people at the store sprayed the leaves to make it shiny, and maybe it had some kind of oil in it, and well the sun burnt the heck out of the leaves!

You'll need to sterilize your shears and cut the leaf into the green part. The heat will cauderise the cut and prevent the black from spreading more.

Then keep the plant warm and shady for a while so it can heal up nicely.

[Randy]

How cold does it get in that room? Is it possible that it got to cold for that particular plant? It kind of looks like it could be cold damage if it's not sunburn. If it is sunburn it's pretty bad.

Randy

[kiki-do]

Hi Randy....The room never goes below 60 but it was definitely the sun as we had a tremendous summer day, not a cloud in the sky, and that one area of the room happen to get more sun then anywhere else.
I did exactly as you said, Charmbutterfly, and all seems okay for now. I am keeping a close watch on this plant. So far, so good. It is such a gorgeous plant!

[Ross]

Looks like classic sunburn to me. I have had similar events. Turns out the trip in the box acclimates the plant to lesser light. Plus you are far enough north that the UV is pretty high. I'm going on record here (you guys that track this sort of thing just watch) but I'll just bet the plant is OK and pulls through fine but you lose these leaves. Want to bet?

[Des]

Wow that is bad , I dont recommend cutting the leave just yet sometimes the underside of the leave is still ok and the plant will need all its leaf area to recover. I'm afraid you are going to wince every time you look at that plant over the next few years ! Maybe you should go stand in a corner for an hour or so as a punishment !

[Bill_NeOh]

If it is sun burn then don't bother cutting them. The sun burn black won't spread. The damage that is done is done. I did the same thing to a Cat last spring. Put it outside on an east facing porch and the first real sunny day scortch two of the leaves. And to this day I have a nice reminder (big black spots on the leaves) not to do that again. I'll try to post pics later as it is also in bloom at the moment.