Cattleya with ... virus?

[Erin Raven Skye]

Ah, so you like the cats, you just won't wager on them I get it.

[Erin Raven Skye]

I wasn't too concerned after reading what you said about the older leaves falling off, but some of the newer ones have just fallen off. I took some quick pictures, here's one of the psuedobulbs others are in my gallery. Is it a goner?

[Ross]

Originally Posted by Erin Raven Skye

I wasn't too concerned after reading what you said about the older leaves falling off, but some of the newer ones have just fallen off. I took some quick pictures, here's one of the psuedobulbs others are in my gallery. Is it a goner?

Not a goner yet. Yes if any of those nice plump pseudobulbs got fried too, then they will turn brown and eventually come off. I just took a couple photos of one of mine to show you how resiliant these things can be.

This is a backbulb section of C. intermedia. It is ugly looking and the pseudobulbs are supershrivelled from being in extreme light and lack of water. I cut the runner but left the thing potted up for approx 1 month (maybe 2.) I used the method written up in one of the earlier articles on the forum home page. It looks pretty much gone, even though the leaves are stil (pale) green.

What's not immediately obvious in the first photo is the new growth (complete with emerging root tips) that grew.

My point is, the show isn't over till it's over. In your other images in the gallery I see several positive things about this plant. There's still lots of green. Yes the leaves may drop (hopefull not all of them ) but not all the pseudobulbs are gonners (I think.) I may very well eat my words in the end, but still you have a live (but sick) plant. Don't shock it any more than you have, so keep up the regime it had gotten used to regarding water. And keep a close eye out for new growths and roots. I'm trying to be as positive as I can. Hope it all works out for you

[Ross]

Originally Posted by Erin Raven Skye

I wasn't too concerned after reading what you said about the older leaves falling off, but some of the newer ones have just fallen off. I took some quick pictures, here's one of the psuedobulbs others are in my gallery. Is it a goner?

Idea! Since the 2 pseudobulbs look brown, why not remove the brown papery stuff (layers) from the outside and see if the bulb is still green underneath.

[Dorothy]

Do not fret. Think positive!
As it has been said before .. the plant will abort what it can not save. If your roots are white and healthy and you have new green growth or any green left at all. Do not give up on it. Give it time and see how it does.

[Erin Raven Skye]

Originally Posted by rsfrid

Idea! Since the 2 pseudobulbs look brown, why not remove the brown papery stuff (layers) from the outside and see if the bulb is still green underneath.

It's a very light green.

[Erin Raven Skye]

Originally Posted by Dorothy

Do not fret. Think positive!
As it has been said before .. the plant will abort what it can not save. If your roots are white and healthy and you have new green growth or any green left at all. Do not give up on it. Give it time and see how it does.

I'm not too sure the roots look so good Dorothy. When I first got the plant, it seemed to be fused to a clump of charcoal and styrofoam. I pried off what I could, bought some orchid potting mix and potted it. Just now, when lifted the river rock I have supporting the psuedopod (it was growing sideways and kept causing the plant to unearth itself) the whole plant came out of the pot. A bunch of the roots look shriveled, there are a few plump ones, but not a pretty white like on my phal.

Don't want to cause it any more stress by messing with the roots, should I wrap it in sphagnum, or try to repot it?

[Ross]

My first reaction was "I'm not going there." But since I pretty much took over this operation (I ain't even a doc!) I feel obligated to respond. My reaction is to leave it alone. It WAS growing until you moved it, right? So if you personally were in an emergency ward with an unknown condition, would you want a lot of doctors trying all sorts of things that could interact? My personal experience with orchids says that roots don't have to be pearly white to function. The orchid I posted pics of had wasted roots that were pretty brown and nothing looked healthy (I might have cut them all off, given some of the advice posted here.)

I stand by my recommendation (take it or not - you decide - I won't be hurt) to leave it alone till something happens. Is this plant SOOOOO valuable that it must not die? If so, we might need more than emergency room, we might need intensive care. Hope you don't read serious here, I am just trying to help and feel obligated since I started to respond.

[Erin Raven Skye]

That's ok Ross, I have a sense of humor. Have you seen my reputation lately?? As for the cat, I wasn't intending to cut any roots, but the plant is pretty much out of the pot now. It's because all of the older leaves are on one side...(growing sideways no less!) So it's kind of like a see-saw, only with too many people on one side. I put the river rock there to balance it out, but upon moving it (the rock), the plant popped right out. My first instinct was just to wrap it up with some moss, but since I can't find any, I'mma gonna have to repot it. (unless you can think of anything less shocking to it) More unhappy times for my little cat. I think the orchid police are going to show up at my house any moment, reporting me to the orchid social services

[Ross]

Originally Posted by Erin Raven Skye

As for the cat, I wasn't intending to cut any roots, but the plant is pretty much out of the pot now. ------------- My first instinct was just to wrap it up with some moss, but since I can't find any, I'mma gonna have to repot it. (unless you can think of anything less shocking to it)

My personal view (based on my experience) is that you may be shocking the plant. Repotting is a shock even under the best of situations. Remember, these guys don't go through this in nature! So the less you do to shock the plant the better off you'll be. Packing the roots with moss (I assume you mean sphagnum) might be too much at this time. I've killed plenty and been successful lots and my feeling is still to give this guy a chance to do his thing. If you want to place in bag with sphagnum (sag-n-bag) that's fine. But I'd really hope you would back off and see what happens with this guy. I like to move slowly, but for sure, I understand when impatience takes over :big grin: