Black Spots vs. Variety in Pigmentation
Hello everyone, I received these plants the other day from a local greenhouse and I was wondering about some of the spots. The first pictures are of Cattleya (laelia) tenebrosa. I am concerned about the mottled dark red/ black spots and I am not sure if these are bacterial or fungal black spots or high concentrations of anthocyanin. I have heard that some red spotting is natural, kind of like it is natural for humans to get freckles out in the sun. I do not have these in incredibly high light but they may have experienced higher light levels at the greenhouse. I have mine in a greenhouse shelving unit in a southern floor-to-celing window. I have researched all the different spots on the St. Augustine Orchid Society website, so am not looking for a referral as much as someone who may have seen the same thing. I have also attached a picture of my Cattleya bicolor here where the new growth has similar looking spots that formed far before I got these new plants. I was amounting the C. bicolor spots to freckles.
The smaller leaf is a C. leudemanniana seedling and I am wondering if there is bacterial brown spots on this small leaf or if this is left over sunburn or growth defect/water spots. This orchids came from online.
If these do look incredibly serious can someone let me know how they deal with something that is on the whole leaf like this. However, it is very likely I am overreacting, and if I should just leave well enough alone and accept pigmentation differences for my orchids, I will try and do that! Let me know if you need to hear any more about my culture practices, but I have only had these plants for a day so it shouldnt really have to do with any of my own practices.
Thanks!
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