Bacterial? Fungal? Sunburn?

[VickiC]

What is wrong...and can my Yam Queen Adelia 'Kilani' be saved or is it too far gone?

Last Spring, I failed to put my shadecloth up as early as I should and a few of my orchids were sunburned. I assumed this was one of them, so I dismissed that it may not have been, slapped my hand and vowed to try harder to never let sunburn happen again due to my shadecloth judgement. My orchid's appearance hasn't seemed to chance since the sunburn incident except the yellow leaves which were noticable recently--several days ago, maybe slightly earlier but if so, I somehow overlooked them. These yellow leaves are not particulary mushy but not as firm as the rest of the leaves, although all leaves are affected in some way. All pseudobulbs seem firm and it has also grown a few nice new roots recently.

I bought it and another of the same online from a reputable nursery almost 2 yrs. ago. The other plant looks slightly similar to this one, but much less pronounced as far as dark leaf speckles and dark coloration goes. It seems perfectly healthy with no yellow leaves. By the way, both are purple underneath the leaves.

Whatever the problem, is it something that could/will spread to my other orchids and is there anything I can do to possibly prevent this?

Both orchids bloomed nicely last year so I would hate to lose them.

I would appreciate any advice you can offer.
Vicki

[Tindomul]

Wow, thats a hard one to judge. I associate bacteria with mushy, wet oozy spots or areas. This could be fungal though. Do you have a picture of what it looked like before it got sick. It also looks like it got some sun damage (as you stated above). So that does make it harder to tell. Some one with more experience should be able to help.

I think I will move this to the diseases section so you can get more help.

[VickiC]

Thanks for moving my post, Tindomul. I don't know why I failed to ask my question in the disease section....I knew to do that but I guess I just had getting my pictures together on my mind ??

Even though I had said that all pseudobulbs were firm, I checked again....and for the most part, they are....BUT I believe that someone with more experience may call them slightly mushy to a point. There's only one that is a bit more firm than the rest. There is definitely no wet, ozzing or seeping anywhere on the plant, though! That's a positive. Now that I think of it, I seem to remember reading a post somewhere which states that a bacterial infection can/sometimes follow(s) sunburn (something to that effect). ?? I am certainly not positive that I read this correctly, though. Old age=bad memory. Sad but often true.

In my short 3 yrs. of orchid growing, I don't recall having sunburn or an infection until this incident so I may have misled other members when I stated the details of my question.

I have one more picture of this orchid, but I feel that it won't be the least bit helpful to you. It is one that I just took for fun....along with some of my phals whose blooms were fading and some already dropped.

I'm sure it's too late to edit my question post, so maybe I'll try to type a note referring to what I have just told you. What do you think?
Vicki

Originally Posted by Tindomul

Wow, thats a hard one to judge. I associate bacteria with mushy, wet oozy spots or areas. This could be fungal though. Do you have a picture of what it looked like before it got sick. It also looks like it got some sun damage (as you stated above). So that does make it harder to tell. Some one with more experience should be able to help.

I think I will move this to the diseases section so you can get more help.

[Call_Me_Bob]

im not sure what is wrong, but i hope you can save it. those flowers are gorgeous!!

[johnblagg]

with all the red color I would think sunburn...

[Anisa]

I wouldnt worry about purple color but spots and yellowing looks like bacterial brown spot (Pseudomonas). The affected parts need to be cut off and plant needs to be treated cooper based bactericides like Phyton27 or whatever you can get. Hope this helps!

[BobInBonita]

I lean towards sunburn. I always try to keep my 'chids towards the high end, and when I go just over their tolerance they have gotten the leathery, brown- purple-red look like some of your leaves.

You mention you've had them two years, and it's hard for me to see the medium in your pictures. It looks kind of "barky" in one and mossy in another. Moss at two years can be iffy.

I would:
check the roots and media on both - repot now if rotten and when starting to grow if solid.
trim the leaves that look dried out,
trim the black areas.

The rest of your collection looks great. You're doing things right for most, probably just need some tweaking on these.

[Ray]

In my experience, sunburn results in parchment-like patches on the leaves, and they usually appear a matter of days or a week or two after the exposure, not many months later.

I would think that if this was a bacterial infection, substantial rotting would be present, which does not seem to be the case.

That makes me think that the plants could be carrying a virus, but not being all that knowledgeable about them, I cannot say for sure.

[VickiC]

Yes, I agree....they are sooo pretty! The colors are right down my alley!

Thanks for your reply,
Vicki

Originally Posted by help

im not sure what is wrong, but i hope you can save it. those flowers are gorgeous!!

[VickiC]

Hi John,
No more will I make the shadecloth mistake that I did if I can help it. I'm unfortunately a pro at turning my poor orchids "sunburn-red".
Thanks for your reply,
Vicki

Originally Posted by johnblagg

with all the red color I would think sunburn...