What is wrong?
 

Hi,
On my cattleya plant, there seems to be a new shoot coming up but on the very top, it seems like there is a leaf (?) that turned brown. Anyone know what this is or what is happening? Thanks

It looks to me that your new lead rotted. You probably got water inside. Hopefully the plant will start another one.
Joann

Your plant has an infection that is quite serious :(
It is either Pseudomonas or Pythium Black Rot.
The best pictures I have seen of disease are in Sue Bottom's presentation which can be found at this link:
http://www.houstonorchidsociety.org/...ySueBottom.pdf
Pseudomonas tends to infect from the top down for a cattleya and pythium comes from the bottom up.
You can look at the pictures and see which appears to be more likely...
I would start by removing the diseased part of the plant; cutting at least one inch into healthy tissue.
Remember not to re-use your razorblade to re-cut if you see diseased tissue in your initial cut; get a fresh blade and cut again.
Either infection is contagious and if it's Pythium, I personally would toss the plant. :twocents:

I agree, cut the infected lead off. I've had the same thing happen several times and never lost a plant yet. But it can happen. Good luck.

Oh no :(
 

Wow, I am so sad but even more shocked as I thought this was one of my healthier plants. I am adding more photos so you can see the rest of my plant because everything else seems so green and healthy. The roots when I checked a day ago looked good too. One of the pictures I am holding a white piece of plastic so you can see that brown, dead area on what I thought was a new stalk. Could you look at the new pictures (of the whole plant) and see what you think? If it is quite infected will all the "green" eventually just die off? Sorry for the quality of the photos. The plant looks like I sprayed salt on it. Doesn't look like that in person. Thanks for your help.

It looks like it can use a bit more light. It's a bit dark green in color.

So does the rest of this plant look sick?

I can't see the roots.

As far as I know, there's nothing wrong with the leaves or the pseudobulbs on the rest of the plant.

However, I can't say anything about the roots because I can't see them.

How often do you water?

Btw, if you haven't done it already, I suggest pulling the rotten leaf out of the shoot or removing the entire shoot with sterilized cutters.

These pictures are much clearer and the rest of your plant looks pretty heathy...but you really don't know the real deal until you look at the roots.
If the roots are in good shape, a little surgery will work.
Pythium and pseudomonas are tough infections to control if they involve most of the plant. But if the area is limited and can be removed, you will be okay.
These infections move pretty quick though and this is why sometimes :tombstone:
I literally saw some brown on the base of a pseudobulb in the morning before I left for work and made a mental note to operate when I got home....by the time I got home, it was half way up the bulb :shock:
Fortunately, it was the oldest bulb.
Basically, don't delay and dig in :biggrin:

I don't recommend unpotting the plant at this time of the year. This looks like a simple rotted leaf, happens to me all the time. You either got water in the leaf opening on the new growth while you were watering, or perhaps it got burned from heat from your heater. You can remove the dead leaf carefully and the new growth will probably continue to grow; mine do. No need to unpot the entire thing - that just causes the plant unnecessary stress and will set it back growing time because it will have to recooperate.

sorry for off-topic, but many thanks for this link!

I agree with Becky15349. The rest of the plant looks fine and you already said you checked the roots and they look good. The potting media doesn't look old either from what I can see. I would remove the brown leaf, and make sure the rot doesn't extend further into that growth. If it does, remove it further down to healthy tissue. You could treat with Physan if you have it or put some cinnamon on the area after removing the dead part. I just recently won a cattleya at our society's draw and it had a growth just like this. I think it either got frozen or bumped while being transported (we are in the depths of winter here). I pulled it off and thought the new lead was a lost cause. But it looks fine and I think it is going to continue to grow! Just keep a vigilant eye on it after removing the brown part. How long have you had the plant and is it possible you misted that growth too much or poured water on it? Trapped water could cause that.

moving fast
 

I had to go out this morning and by the time I got home, that whole shoot below it is turning brown/black. So I am guessing it is that pseudomonas that is quite contagious and is running fast. To top things off, I am a RN and when I read your post about Pseudomonas, I wanted to throw up. :shock: It is a very serious infection as far as humans go. I also have 20+ orchids that I am cringing about that could be infected already. Some of them I have had for 10+ years. So I just dumped the one that had the bad shoots. I have never done this, but after seeing how fast this is going already, I'm not quite sure surgery would have worked and I needed to get it away from my other ones. I don't know if a person can pick it up from a plant, kind of sounds silly, but again, not taking chances.
Thank you all for all your suggestions. Thank you Eyebabe for the fast post and the link so I could see pictures. Stay tuned....I have another orchid that looks like something is going on. So I may need more help. Thanks again everyone!
p.s. This one that has the infection was bought online. It was my first one bought thru Ebay.:(

Even if your decision was to throw it away...I would have still put on some gloves and got my razor out and found out the extent of the infection.
The information would be, imo, at least good for learning.
I am a physician and "pseudomonas" disturbs me as well.
So wear gloves, use physan and bleach to clean up.
Hey, at least it's not MRSA :shock:


I wanted to add a second note here as well.
It sounds like pseudomonas since it was traveling DOWN the stalk. This is less contagious than Pythium in my opinion.
Physan does not kill pseudomonas or pythium specifically. Nor will cinnamon. Physan is a generalized treatment and will kill Erwinia. It is also good for cleaning surfaces.
Phyton 27 is copper based and will kill Pseudomonas.
Pythium is a fungal infection and killed with Subdue Maxx. Subdue Maxx is very expensive but the high concentrate of one quart ($200) will last me a lifetime.
I have both of these chemicals on hand and have successfully treated both of these infections several times with a "survival" rate of 80% (about ten cattleya plants over 7 years with two or three losses). I also use Physan and cinnamon but I use them for general preventative maintenance of infection.
Now Phaleanopsis...that's another issue for me! When they get infections/rot even my chemicals fail me :((

...and finally Vina, you are welcome for the link :biggrin: