Oncidium/Odontocidium/Oncostele? Catatante leaf tips browning - Orchid Board

pezmaker · #1 10-28-2014, 11:52 AM

Hi all! I'm curious about my o.something catatante and its browning leaf tips. Is this something to worry about? So far it has only been on the leafs that are not on the tops of the pseudobulbs.

I "flush" water when dry, with room temp not RO but very filtered water. Probably one ever week to week and a half. It's in a bark/charcoal/white pellets mix. It gets morning direct sun in an east office window with tinting.

I WAS shallow watering for a while, maybe 3 months. Sprayed the media with a spritz bottle -I got lazy and stopped watering in the break room.

-- edit --
Yes, really bad idea when I got lazy and watered with a spritzer. I thought "Oh, I'm still spraying until it drips out the bottom." Not bright. I've now got a system to do it at my desk and I thoroughly flush-through water all my orchids now. Again.
--/edit--

The browning started, so I went back to properly watering. It's been probably 2 months now and old leaves are still creeping post where I cut the brown off, and new leaves are still starting to brown.

Thank you!
Dave

sent from nibbler, my android phone. probably with errors.

WhiteRabbit · #2 10-28-2014, 09:36 PM

silken · #3 10-28-2014, 10:18 PM

It doesn't look too bad but I am thinking it might be sunburn. Most Oncidium types don't require bright sun. Even with tinting, an East window could be hot and bright. How far is it from the window? Have you ever felt the leaves in the morning to see if they feel warm, when the sun is on them? If so, it is too much sun. Are the brown leaves closest to the window or do you turn the plant?

pezmaker · #4 10-29-2014, 12:45 AM

I hadn't considered the possibility of sunburn, but I'm not sure. The leaves with issue are actually away from the window. It's a slow creep from the tip on down . Well, the one is sort of starting on the side of the tip, but the other leaves that were affected started at the tip. I sanitized a small pair of scissors and sniped off the end of a couple of the leaves, maybe an 1/8" into the green to be sure if it was something insidious I'd get it all. After a few days to a week the brown started creeping back in on only those leaves, and only from the tip.

That combined with the improperly shallow watering for a while lead me to believe it was maybe a mineral buildup, but the deep watering (with great drainage) hasn't seemed to mediate the issue.

With it not being spotty, I'm not sure that it's sun burn. Then again, I'm new to all this and you aren't

, so I'm going to give it a go and see what happens.

silken · #5 10-29-2014, 01:50 AM

It likely isn't sunburn if it spreads. Do you treat the cut ends of the leaf when you trim off the brown? You could use cinnamon on the cut edge to seal and disinfect.

pezmaker · #6 01-05-2015, 11:41 PM

Hey all. This is still happening to my otherwise beautiful onicidium, and now a leaf on one of the previously "unharmed" pseudobulbs is starting to do this. Again, from the tip. It almost seems like it's leaching nutrients or moisture or something from the leaves. Is it advisable to uproot it to make sure it's not rotting from below? Being a newb, I totally expected my issue to be something common and easy to diagnose

WhiteRabbit · #7 01-06-2015, 07:48 PM

Is this near a forced air heat vent?

pezmaker · #8 01-06-2015, 07:56 PM

Nope. Well, kind of. Office environment. I have 12 plants together and lots of open containers of water trying to keep humidity as high as possible.

snowflake311 · #9 01-06-2015, 10:38 PM

That first photo looks like Sunburn too me. I Burnt the Crap out of my Spider plant leaving it in the car on a hot sunny day. If water gets on the leaf and stays there then the sun shins on it the leaf will burn Badly. Learned that the hard way.

I am kind of new to this but I would say it is sunburn since I have a sunburned plant that looks just like that.

It also happens FAST over night or with in a few hours.
Here is mine shortly after it got burnt. Now the Burn area is Crispy and dry more like yours is now.

I removed most of the burn area when it got brown and crispy but here is part of it now Months later. I burned it in Sep.

But do not worry the plant is fine and just looks ugly. Here is new growth.

pezmaker · #10 01-06-2015, 10:41 PM

This has been very slow, and slowly edging down further and it all started at just the tip. it started back in, say, august, and it just keeps slowly working its way down the leaves. on the newest pseudobulb, it's probably half way down the second largest level of leaves, with the ones coming off the tips of the pseudobulbs not doing it at all.