Stanhopea ruckeri w/ leaf troubles

[musicloveranthony]

I have a Stanhopea ruckeri that has some sort of infection of its leaves. The larger leaves have a rapidly advancing death of tissue, with brown/yellow/gray discoloration. Some of the pseudobulbs also seem to be darker than others.

As far as culture, they're in 65-70% humidity, low light, fan about 6 feet away, air around 65 degrees at night 70 degrees during the day. Sphagnum around the roots in a teak basket. Water every 3-4 days as the sphagnum dries

My Stanhopea grandiflora is starting to develop spots on the leaves...i'm really hoping they're not going to have to be sacrificed...

[Weebl]

I wish I knew what it were exactly, but I would treat it asap with some sort of systemic fungicide/bactericide if you have any. Something like this happened on my Phal. Penang Girl the other week and I took a razor blade and scored the leaves where the dark soft spots were forming going slightly into healthy tissue on all sized of the spots (think waffle pattern) and then sprayed with Physan. It has stopped the spreading of the infection for me! Hopefully you find something that works for the condition...

[LinhT]

Anthony, I think knowing when to water with moss in an environment that is higher than 50% humidity coupled with lower light, can be tricky. Have you pulled the plant out to check out the roots yet? I guess if it was my plant, I'd remove any bad looking roots, use some bacteriocide + fungicide product on it and repot in fresh media. Cut off the really bad looking leaves and wait for it to grow some new roots and new growths. You might have to treat with the product a couple times. You may want to try posting in the Stan forum also, to see if you get more responses.

[musicloveranthony]

It seems the medium was the culprit. I didn't suspect that, initially. I bought the plant bare root wrapped in sphahnum. The moss looked quite fresh around the outside, so I just tucked the whole bundle into a basket. I dissected a bit more, last night and found that the inside of the root/moss ball was a bit more compact than I would have hoped. I am considering just potting it into the baskets bare root, like a vanda and just making sure to water it as much as it needs...While I was at it, I unpacked the moss around my other Stan. and repotted it a bit more loosely in the basket, though the roots on it seemed a lot more healthy and strong.

Thanks for advice. I haven't used a fungicide/bacterocide, but I'm hoping simply loosening up the root ball should take care of things. I can't wait to post bloom pictures