Vanda leaf getting brown
 

Dear all,
I am new to the forum and after searching on the web for a couple of days related to my issue, I have decided to subscribe to this forum since it seems many competent people are writing here. Hope you can help me.

I have a vanda since 2 weeks, it came in a glass, I removed the plant from the glass and I hanged it the day after on my window. I live in Romania, now outside we have 55 degrees F. Humidity in my apartment is around 65/75 (quite high I would say). Ventilation is not optimal in these days when I am at the office the windows of my apartment are closed. The vanda is hanged on a window facing south est. I water the roots every day about 1 minute in the shower, twice a week I let it soak for 15 minutes, trying to wet only the roots and blowing away possible drops of water form the lower leaves afterthe bath.

The plant had two stems, one had and still has flowers, the other was green and about to flower, but it dried few days ago, I guess due to the stress about the change of environment for the plant.

Since one week I have started to notice that one central leaf is getting brown. When I bought it was not like this. I think it is a fungus, and since I saw pictures and videos of vanda getting rotten in few weeks starting with a small spot like mine I am very worried.

First of all, is this a fungus? How can I detect the exact type and chose the corresponding product? At the moment I have with me "Previcur Enery" and I am about to buy "Aliette 80 WG". How do you suggest to act?

What about the black spots on the upper leaves? Can I clean the away?

Finally, there is some dirty at the basis of each leaf, and it is not easy to remove it. Any suggestion?


thanks a lot for your help,
Luigi

Vanda's tend to drop leaves. It's what they do, even when they are grown in optimal conditions. Yours looks fine to me but you've got your work cut out for you in your growing conditions. Sounds like you've got a reasonable regimen established for water and if anything I'd suggest you provide supplemental artificial light, especially during the dark of winter.

Thanks for the reply. So the spots are not the consequences of a fungus? I am glad to hear this...

I am working on the light, however it is difficult to choose among alternatives.

best,
Luigi

Welcome to the Orchid Board!

I think the leaf spot is sunburn. Is it on the side facing the sun? It was probably not in sun at the store. They like sun but it can take time to adapt. A fan to move air on the plant when it is in sun can help.

What is the temperature inside your apartment?

The roots look good. Vandas need a lot of water. The leaves have small linear wrinkles. That means it isn't getting enough water. You could water it twice a day. You could put it into the vase and fill the vase with water to soak the roots for several hours every 1-3 days.

An Orchid Board member, jcec1, lives in England, and grows Vandas in vases. Use the Advanced Search feature in the top menu to look up those posts.

Hi, thanks for the reply.
so the temperature in the apartment now is 66-71 degrees F. It should not be a sun burn, since the side facing the sun is always the other.

Can you help to identify where you see the linear wrinkles? In which picture?


best,
Luigi

The two closeup photos.

Some updates. The "dark spot" is getting larger, as you can see from the image. I talked with the guy who sold me the vanda in the shop and they suggested me to remove the leaf, and check what is underneath. I am not sure about this suggestion, since the guy didn't appear to me to be an expert. I asked if he believes it is a fungus, he said just to use some cinnamon in case.

Now I am not sure about what to do.. Should I cut the leavf now or wait to see what happens? If the leaf is lost (since the spot is getting larger), then I can also cut now in my opinion.

However I would appreciate your opinion before I take any action.

thanks,
Luigi

I am no expert on vanda's, have lost a leaf here or there in the past. It's never killed any plant.
What kills a plant is when an infection gets into the stem, they are adapted to losing a leaf and it shouldn't affect the orchid too much.
That's my opinion. I wouldn't even bother with cinnamon, just make sure it stays dry at all times, the worst thing you can do is get it wet which could encourage the spot to spread.
It is in such an awkward position I don't think you can cleanly cut all the brown away so I would just leave it.

Luigi--- I have about 50 vanda's and vandaceous relatives I grow outdoors year round. If that were my plant, I would not touch it. If it falls off, it falls off. I seriously doubt it's a virus and you won't know without testing.
Regarding plant getting wet. IT MUST! That is what they live for......BUT......make sure you have good air flow around the plant so it dries fairly quickly in between waterings. OR, as someone else mentioned, you could try growing it SH but I know nothing of that method. Other than fertilizer, mine are pretty much grown by mother nature.

I would leave it alone.

Thanks for all the comments. I see you all agree on letting it alone, and thus I will do as you suggested and monitor any developments.

If I can ask one more question, would you go for some antifungal treatment or just wait? It's my fist vanda and as you can imagine I am worried :-)

best,
Luigi

I haven't seen fungal diseases that look like that. I still think it somehow was too hot or got too much sun.

The sun in these weeks is not hot and the side of the plant facing the window is the other. Previously it was in a shop of a mall, so I would exclude direct sun. Also in the shop there was no direct light close it (such as a led lamp or similar).

I have notice that people suggested not to water the plant every day in winter. I was watering it every day in the last three weeks with warm water. You mentioned that the leaves have small linear wrinkles and that my plant looks dehydrated. Now I am confused :-)

Do you agree that in winter (20 degrees C inside, 5 outside), on foggy days, I should not water everyday and wait 2/3 days before one shower and the next (in the shower in winter I only wet the roots)

Maybe the leaf suffered because of some issues related to watering or to the change of environment (consider that there must have been some suffering, since the plant lost a spike when I bought it -- I moved it from a vase to a hanger)

Thanks estación seca, I am learning a lot.

PS: I checked a little bit below the leaf and the stem looks green. This looks a good news to me.


Luigi

I water mine every day.

Dear all,
some updates. The situation of the leaf has deteriorated over time (see picture). This was expected since you told me I would have been probably lost the leaf. I didn't touch it until now, following your suggestion.

However today I decided to remove the dried part and below it I saw the issue has extended also to the other leaf underneath (see other image). I took a picture of what is below at a distance of 12 hours and I see a small enlargement of the issue. My worries is that this is going to be propagated to the entire plant sooner or later.

I know you suggested me not to interfere and leave the plant to lose the leaf, and I did. However I didn't expect other leaves to be contaminated by the same issue.

In the light of this, what is your opinion now? Should I remove the sections of the leaf which has been contaminated or leave as it is?

Thanks to everybody for your help

Luigi

PS: in the second picture, left side is 12 hours before the right side

Luigi ...... ventilation and air-movement can help cut down on unwanted organisms activity.

Satisfactory lighting levels and temperature range will allow this nice orchid to grow properly.

When in a container, and if humid for a long time in the container, then some unwanted activity could occur.

In your case, a safe dose of the alliette or even a copper spray onto the stem and leaves, is not expected to hurt the plant.

The focus will then be to ensure satisfactory growing conditions ----- that could include considerations about gentle air-movement around the stem and around all the leaves.

Luigi ----- also, sometimes losing 1 leaf can be normal. Sometimes, a newly developing aerial root may just cut things off for an existing leaf ...... cuts off supplies at the base. And the whole leaf can fall off.

This might not be the case for you. But it's not always bad when a leaf falls off a vanda.

I don't know what is causing that. I would still leave it alone.

I agree with ES. If the side of the leaf is not rotting or mushy or wet etc ....... just allow it to remain dry, and leave as-is.

Thanks everybody for the comments. I will keep on following your suggestion and monitor the situation. In case I will perceive the problem is spreading to a contiguous leaf I will think about taking some actions.

For the moment 2 overlapping leaves have been involved. The black spots where one over the other. The issues has been spreading (or originated) between layers of leaves and I am monitoring if in the same positions the third layer is going to be affected or not.

Thanks SouthPark for the specific comments.

I already took actions to increase the air ventilation by ordering a small fan to be turned on every hour for about 15 minutes, it will arrive beginning of next week. Also the light is not sufficient in my opinion (we have many cloudy days in this period): a led to integrate natural light is on its way.

I will keel you updated.

best,
Luigi