Help- Ugly Black yuck on my Phal petals

[Jkelee]

My phal didn't have this blackness on it's petals this past weekend. I've noticed the last 3 days, it's growing and spreading.

What is this crap? What caused it? And How do I fix/prevent?

She's not at all in direct sun, only filtered, sitting under my cover pool patio.

[CoolPhrog]

[camille1585]

Looks like it might be Botrytis, it's a very common fungus, and also has those symptoms. On flowers it doesn't usually form the gray mold associated with Botrytis. A strange coincidence, my plant pathology lectures this week are on Botrytis!
Have you gotten the blooms wet in the evening? (even by misting the plant). How's the air flow at night? All you need is one spore to land on a humid spot, and you've got a problem.

Whether it's fungus or bacteria, I think you might have to cut off the blooms. Many chemicals used to treat the plant itself cause flowers to abort when sprayed on them.

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[BikerDoc5968]

I would agree with Camille. Looks like a fungal infestation and while the flowers are beautiful, if allowed to go unchecked could do major harm to the plant. Next season you'll have plenty of flowers as long as the plant lives....

Also as Camille suggests good air flow, no watering/misting late in the day. They have to go to bed dry!

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[Jkelee]

I watered her on Sunday morning, about 7:00am. She had ALL day in the winds of my chid hotel to dry off. I know the flowers were dry with 1-2 hrs in that morning, and didn't bring them under the pool patio till late that evening.
I guess I will cut them off, and hope for the best that it didn't spread to ALL of them already.
Thanks.

[jkofferdahl]

Jackie, I also think that Camille has diagnosed the problem. Below I have quoted directly from Orchids to Know and Grow, by Thomas J. Sheehan and Robert J. Black (because it's the book sitting my my computer):

*Botrytis is an ever-present fungus as it attacks not only living flowers but also dead flowers and foliage. Hence, it is extremely hard to keep the greenhouse free of Botrytis. Immediate removal of dead flowers and leaves will cut down on the source of inoculum. Botrytis spores require moisture to germinate; once germinated, they can quickly penetrate the tissue. The first signs are small, circular brown lesions on the sepals and petals, which enlarge slightly over time, but usually do not coalesce. Unfortunately, once the spots appear the flowers are marred for life. Keeping flowers dry with good air circulation will greatly reduce or sometimes prevent an infestation.*

Because your flowers appear to have coalesced brown areas it is possible that this is some other form of flower blight; still, I strongly suspect that it is fungal and most likely Botrytis. I'd urge you to cut off any and all flowers that even suggest the appearance of the infection, and then treat the plants with a fungicide. I know from other pictures you've posted that this could mean losing a LOT of flowers but I'd rather lose flowers this year to get them back next rather than risk the entire plant.