Mosaic Virus? Trying not to panic...

[Davina]

Hi guys,

Somehow I've stayed clear of diseases for a long time amongst my orchids, but having upgraded to a fully functional greenhouse and thus increasing my orchid collection exponentially seems to have brought up some new problems.

Here are a couple of pictures, both from adult plants as seedlings, that are showing signs of spotting on the leaves.

As far as I can tell, it looks like the Cymbidium Mosaic Virus on a lot of leaves, but being inexperienced with these diseases I'd rather get some experienced advice before panicking...

Any thoughts or feedback would be most welcome, as generally it's advised to discard any plant showing these signs, which I'd rather not have to do of course...

[katrina]

It could be virus...but it might be bacterial /fungal. The only sure way to know is by testing. Adgia test strips are available for home testing...I've used them whenever I see anything suspicious. They are cheapest in bulk and if you keep them in the refrigerator they stay good for a long time.

[Davina]

Hi katrina,

Thanks for your reply, those test strips did seem very handy and I was planning on buying some, but was just wondering if anyone could tell by the patterns on the leaf whether it was a fungal disease or a virus.

Can the spots on the leaves really be that similar?