Oncidium leaves turning translucent. Virus or sunburn?

[Evil Gnome]

Hello friendly folks,

Long time stalker here, I decided to post this question as I became slightly worried about my oncidium lately - it had a rather ridiculous amount of aphids on it a while ago that I managed to get rid of using pesticides however it has now developed a translucent patch on one of the leaves and it leaves (no pun intended) me worried that it might be something more serious.

The plant is situated on a southern facing windowsill - temperatures are quite mild most of the time as we don't get too much hot weather in Scotland however there were a couple of really sunny days recently so it might have gotten a bit too much exposure. I water weekly, together with my phals by submerging it into a tub of room-temp water for 20-30 mins and letting it drip before putting the plants back into the glass outside pots - I check a few times afterwards so the plants don't sit in water.

Being a real newbie to orchids I will assume user error before anything however I thought I'd ask here just in case it's something I can remedy.

I attached the photo - the affected leaf is the one on the right.

Many thanks in advance.

[WhiteRabbit]

Glad you found us!

Looks like burn. I'm not an expert, so I wouldn't rule out something else, but I really don't think it's a virus anyway. Oncidiums with their thinner foliage can get burned thru - it's happened to me.

I'm sure others will chime in!

[tucker85]

It looks like sunburn to me also. Oncidiums need pretty good light but being in Scotland your orchid may not be acclimated to bright light and a couple days of sunlight might have burned it. Don't worry about it. It won't harm the orchid.

[Evil Gnome]

Hey there, thanks for the warm welcome. I was hoping this is what might have caused it - normally the weather is pretty constantly overcast, so maybe the plant got scared when actual sun came out to play. Fingers crossed.

[james mickelso]

This is sunburn. Virus doesn't show like this. If you took a leaf, any leaf, out into the sun for a few days it would lose it's green chlorophyll and look just like this. This leaf looked like yours but is dry now.

[Evil Gnome]

I moved my plants deeper inside the house, away from the sun (which is almost gone anyway) so hopefully it should be the only leaf I'm gonna lose. Should I cut that part off with a sterilized blade or just leave it? I don't mind the look and I wouldn't want to stress the orchid any more than necessary.

James - yea mine looks pretty much like yours - down to the black 'scorchmarks' on the side of the leaf.

[james mickelso]

just "leaf" it alone. let it be. it will fall off on it's own.

[orchidsarefun]

Originally Posted by Evil Gnome

I moved my plants deeper inside the house, away from the sun (which is almost gone anyway) so hopefully it should be the only leaf I'm gonna lose. Should I cut that part off with a sterilized blade or just leave it? I don't mind the look and I wouldn't want to stress the orchid any more than necessary.

James - yea mine looks pretty much like yours - down to the black 'scorchmarks' on the side of the leaf.

you should think about putting up shade-net as opposed to moving the plants. I have had to do so with mine - I follow the seasonal change or the movement of the sun, or try to...

[Evil Gnome]

Originally Posted by james mickelso

just "leaf" it alone. let it be. it will fall off on it's own.

bah dum pshhhh - great pun also my preferred solution when it comes to plants - I had bonsai for years as well, doing that was the best solution for them.

Originally Posted by orchidsarefun

you should think about putting up shade-net as opposed to moving the plants. I have had to do so with mine - I follow the seasonal change or the movement of the sun, or try to...

My wife would obliterate me and my flowers if I started sticking stuff on windows. For now I make do with a small 'craft' table that I move closer or further away from the window for those 3 days of sun we get around here