Black spot on a cattleya

[Jo Ann]

again… it never attacks any of the other orchids just the cattleya’s …it happens so fast …I thought over potting what was causing it…so this time I left the plant in its a 2 x2 in pot that was from the nursery it came in thinking that was probably the safest thing to do until I could pot it up right … how can a plant rot in a 2 x2 inch pot…?.. Please help what can I do to stop this other then give up on cattleya’s? I know there has to be a solution…

[isurus79]

Is the spot soft or hard? If its hard, it could just be sunburn but if its soft, then it might be rot. I have lots of problems with sunburn (which is much better than rot!!!) here in HI, I would imaging FLA might be similar. Do you have any pics??

[Jo Ann]

Hi Steve,

Nope no pics..I should have taken some …I was too depressed..Its not sunburn I only wish it was…the spots started in the joints of the leaf stem and then just spread into the leaves I think that it was the cool damp weather that caused this …I did the cinnamon thing too it and sprayed it with copper fungicide. I checked it today and cut off the brown roots which left none…and the new growth which had started to blacken too. It is now down to 2 or 3 leaves (it’s just a baby seedling) the only thing that gives me some hope is at the very base of the pseudobulbs are 2 tiny green root… nubs? I’m not sure what I can do…I’m afraid to put it in a bag to see if it will reroot… seems like the last thing it needs is more moisture so at the moment I just placed it in a 4 inch clay pot with dry orchid mix and moved it away from the others in case its contagious…

[isurus79]

Wow, thats a bummer. When that happens with my big guys I yank em out of the pot, cut off the infected parts, apply the neccessary fungicide and let them dry out in a shady, but dry spot with no media at all for about a week. With a seedling, I think you could do the same, but only for a few days. Otherwise the plant will die without the storage resources that a big guy would have. I might be worried though, that a completely dry media would actually suck out some of the moisture from the new roots as they form, thus killing them. You might want to just let the plant hang out in the air and water it every other day until you get a decent root system going. Or even mount it. That way, its dry and it still has some place to attach to and you dont have to worry about descication or new root breakage in a few weeks. Thats probably what I would do, but maybe someone has a better idea?? Either way, good luck!!