Phal: Black spot, white dust, little crusty thing - Orchid Board

Blondie · #1 03-21-2009, 10:01 PM

Welcome to my paranoia. BRAND NEW orchids. Today.

Before I start blasting this thing with 409/alcohol, please look at the photos and tell me what you think.

Plant 1:

1. Black spots--on back of leaves. Don't seem to be a problem, but you never know. Seems an odd spot for sunburn...Does not show up on front of leaf. Huge leaf--older plant.

2. Slight white dusting. I'm not talking about the dust/white water spots. I'm talking about the white chalky substance in the photo around the base. Is on some of the leaves as well. Could be packing material? Something else? My paranoia made me think it might be signs of mealy bugs, which I don't want.

Plant 2:

1. Has two white crusty things on bottom of leaf. Could just be old wounds? Hoping not scale.

Every time I get a new orchid, I get UBER paranoid. I try sooooo hard to not stare at them and find flaws, but I can't help myself. You always make me feel better here at the Orchid Board. Thoughts and suggestions, please!

phearamedusa · #2 03-21-2009, 10:18 PM

the dark spots of the bottom of the leaf look like damage from cold to me. The whitish residue on the top of the leaf looks like hard water residue, the stuff at the leaf axis is a bit harder to identify. What did they use for packing material? The last one to me just looks like old damage. What I could see looked pretty healthy to me. Good luck, and I'm sure others will chime in.

Blondie · #3 03-21-2009, 10:23 PM

I got this at an orchid show, but I know they came from a few hours away, so I thought maybe it was from some type of packing.

However, orchid shows always make me a little paranoid because you NEVER know what is lurking on the plants. MEEP.

Black spots--old cold damage. Sounds good to me! Whew.

White water stuff--check. White I'm Not Sure? Yeah, it's not dust. It's not crusty. It's just there. On the base and a tad on one of the back of one of the leaves. Hmmmmm.

And crusties--old damage sounds good to me, too.

Love you guys.

phearamedusa · #4 03-21-2009, 10:45 PM

I'm hitting the orchid show in London Ontario Canada tomorrow, and am picking up some orchids that I have on order. Whenever I get a new orchid I quarantine them for a while just to make sure there are no bugs. I learned the hard way to keep them quarantined for at least 30 days after purchasing another plant, it looked clean, and was healthy, but had the dreaded mealies lurking in the medium. Needless to say I ended up losing a few plants I really liked because I just couldn't get rid of the little darlings. If you're concerned, separate it from your other plants and watch to see what happens.

Becca · #5 03-21-2009, 11:12 PM

In the second picture, to me it looks like a residue that a systemic fungicide leaves behind, but I can't think of the name of it for the life of me right now...but it is similar to Phytan 27.

Blondie · #6 03-22-2009, 11:10 AM

You know, residue from a previous treatment totally makes sense because this is a huge orchid. The leaves are gigantic, which tells me it's been around the block a few times. Check out how tall the spike is! The powdery stuff is on the white one on the left.

I think I just get so nervous with new babies because I don't want anything to happen to them!!!

caseydoll · #7 03-23-2009, 12:39 PM

Hi Blondie! Those new phals of yours are just beautiful! I just had a quick thought. You could always wipe the leaves down with some lemon juice (or leaf cleaner if you have any) to get rid of the white stuff. It should take care of hard water spots or residue from whatever. I think they look good though!