Is this CymMV virus?

[catgrrrl]

What is this? It started about 2 weeks ago or so. Yesterday the leaf in the last picture was still on the plant pretty tightly. When I got home, I gave it a little tug and it came right off and the yellowing is moving up the spike onto the flowers, now.

[catgrrrl]

I just posted these pictures in the original thread in the Beginner Discussion under the thread "My first fatality?" So, maybe with all of the information in that thread along with the pictures, someone will be able to diagnose the problem.

[calvin_orchidL]

It's nearly impossible to say, unfortunately. I had a similar sort of disease spread through my 20+ phal collection last summer like wildfire. I tried everything from hydrogen peroxide, sulfur to the big guns like phyton27. Finally, I tested ONE of the phals (the first to display the symptoms that the rest eventually did display) and it showed up positive for CymMV

I ended up discarding every single plant. I documented the process here if you're interested in checking it out and comparing notes

I don't want to cause alarm, and viruses are impossible to identify unless you actually do an ELISA or some sort of PCR...but at the same time *if* it is something similar, early action could save your plants. No harm in being safe.

Isolate the plant, ensure you have no sap-sucking insects nearby that could act as a vector (maybe enclose it in a mesh net or something if you really care about it), spray with fungicide/bacteriacide and see if it helps with the situation. Otherwise, get a sample tested to save you a piece of mind (kits are around 6 bucks from Agdia...or you could get a sample sent to critter creek - great folk there)

Good luck!

[catgrrrl]

Originally Posted by calvin_orchidL

It's nearly impossible to say, unfortunately. I had a similar sort of disease spread through my 20+ phal collection last summer like wildfire. I tried everything from hydrogen peroxide, sulfur to the big guns like phyton27. Finally, I tested ONE of the phals (the first to display the symptoms that the rest eventually did display) and it showed up positive for CymMV

I ended up discarding every single plant. I documented the process here if you're interested in checking it out and comparing notes

I don't want to cause alarm, and viruses are impossible to identify unless you actually do an ELISA or some sort of PCR...but at the same time *if* it is something similar, early action could save your plants. No harm in being safe.

Isolate the plant, ensure you have no sap-sucking insects nearby that could act as a vector (maybe enclose it in a mesh net or something if you really care about it), spray with fungicide/bacteriacide and see if it helps with the situation. Otherwise, get a sample tested to save you a piece of mind (kits are around 6 bucks from Agdia...or you could get a sample sent to critter creek - great folk there)

Good luck!

Thanks, Calvin. I read your log of what you went through. I don't want to lose my other orchids!

I have isolated it in another room for now. I have to find a net of some kind. Others on the board seem to think it is bacterial or fungal. I was thinking of purchasing some of those strip tests which are supposed to test for certain viruses (but I guess if it's not one of those particular viruses, then the strip would not show positive). This problem is really getting to this plant very fast. I will check out and clean up the roots, give it some KLN and try to treat with the antifungal that I have and if it continues to get worse over the weekend, I think I will get rid of it. I don't want to risk the others (which currently show no symptoms). I have a very small collection, right now - about 12 other phals, but I like most of them - A LOT. I would be very upset if I lost some of them.

Thanks so much for sharing your experience and for your advice.