Newly purchased Cattleya leaves and pseudobulbs turning yellow

[Jeremy T]

Hello everyone. I am new to the orchid hobby and have been doing well with phalaenopsis. I have recently decided to stretch my wings and try a cattleya, and humbly in need of some help.

So, 4days ago I bought my very first Cattleya(Rth Shinfong Little Sun x Rlc. Hsinying Sunbeam/Youngmin Golden Boy) at an orchid show. It has 7 "healthy" looking pseudobulbs ; 2 with blooms (5 in total) and one with 3 buds. The pseudo bulbs with flower/buds are super"fat". I must admit I didn't do a thorough check on the condition of the plant before purchasing it. The flowers were a bit damaged but I felt can sacrifice the already bloomed flowers for a pot with 7 pseudobulbs. All other pots have only 3or 4 pseudobulbs.

I kept my new baby 2feet away from a south east facing window. 24 hrs later I noticed that 2 of the pseudo bulbs and it's leaves have turned yellow. The following day another leaf and pseudobulb has turn yellow too.

Not knowing what I'm facing, I removed the sphagnum moss that it came with and thoroughly sprayed hydrogen peroxide (left for 5minutes), followed by listerine(as fungicide). The moss smells of mold too.

Once I've removed the media, I could only see a half cm of green root and 2 white roots. The rest feels dry, mushy and some are hard, but they are all in brown colour.

I haven't repot it and I let's it dry out overnight. After that I let the bare roots soaked in very diluted " CalMag" + Epsom salt for 4hrs.

Right now 4 of the pseudobulbs (and part of the leaves) are yellow. I am wondering if my plant is dying from my care or it has some fungal/bacteria/virus infection?

I have attached a few pics of this 5day old baby under my care. I would be grateful and appreciate some advice on what I can do next to safe my very first Cattleya. Thank you.

[Nexogen]

At -5 degrees Celsius, if you keep a cattleya look exactly like the one you post. Probably the color will turn brown in the future. I was at the orchid exhibition, the plant was in very wet shpagnum and at that temperature the roots gave way. Do not wet it, keep it only at high humidity until it begins to grow new roots.

[Jeremy T]

Originally Posted by Nexogen

At -5 degrees Celsius, if you keep a cattleya look exactly like the one you post. Probably the color will turn brown in the future. I was at the orchid exhibition, the plant was in very wet shpagnum and at that temperature the roots gave way. Do not wet it, keep it only at high humidity until it begins to grow new roots.

Thank you for your advice Nexogen. Much appreciated. I am very glad that you do not think the issue is fungus or disease related.

As this cattleya still has 2 surviving buds, would it be better to remove them completely and let the plant concentrate its energy to grow roots instead?

Thank you.

[Nexogen]

I think you must not cut off the plant, leave it alone. You could sprinkle it once a day with water at room temperature. Leave in peace and do not touch her was and is still stressed. The plant will return to life (if it comes back?) when she wants it. You just have to leave it alone.

[Jeremy T]

Thank you so much for the advice, Nexogen.

Will give it more TLC (increase humidity and a bit of misting every day) and hope for the best.

Will provide an update to share the positive outcome (if it does recover)

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[Orchid Whisperer]

I suspect that spraying the roots with peroxide followed by Listerine will turn the remaining live roots into dead roots.

[estación seca]

Welcome to the Orchid Board!

Listerine contains alcohol, which is great a killing roots. Hydrogen peroxide also damages roots.

As Nexogen mentioned, wet sphagnum is bad for roots. Cattleyas are epiphytic orchids that always need air at the roots. Wet sphagnum has little air. And if your plant was at -5C for any length of time, it has frost damage. Cattleyas cannot tolerate any frost.

The best hope is to keep the plant humid, as Nexogen mentioned, and warm. I would not repot until the plant begins to make new roots. This might be weeks to months from now.

[Jeremy T]

Hi Estación seca and Orchid Whisperer.

Thank you so much for your advice and sharing your knowledge. I will do exactly what all of you have suggested. I must say I am very happy that no one thinks it is fungus or virus related issue.

I do wonder, how much light should it get considering the stress it is going through?

I have set up "an ICU" to mimic tropical climate just for this baby. It is barerooted and securely tied in a glass vase, which is placed above a big glass cylinder filled with water + a spare fish tank heater to increase the temperature & humidity. It gets some misting from my humidifier twice a day for 30 minutes.

Thank you.
J

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[Jeremy T]

Thought I should give an update with pics. Yeah, it rebloomed and I still have all the leaves and pseudobulbs, and a keiki. Still bare rooted, in a semi water culture setting. Will repot in lava rock once the blooms falls off, although I am tempted to try growing an orchid pod .

[aliceinwl]

I think I got a plant just like this. If it helps, here’s a link to my trials and tribulations: Cattleya in moss questions Mine are starting to push some vegetative growth so hopefully there will be new roots soon.