Is this color break?
 

I have a cattleya. I think it may be: blc love sound 'pachi pachi' x slc. jeweler's art carved coral'.

A friend gave it to me. I don't know if the blooms have color break or if this is the way this orchid blooms. I will add pictures of the leaves too

one more

On flowers, yes, those streaks and uneven tone are considered color break.
On leaves, it can be due to some physiological issues or can be caused by virus.

You cannot be sure unless you get it tested.

If a flower was already blooming during shipment could it affect the color if it was cold? It was shipped from Hawaii to NJ last week. It has been very cold in this area. Not sure how the grower packed the box and how many hot packs were included, if any. I am thinking not and that woud leave the only other reason for color break in blooms to be viral.

SJF:
Usually cold damage looks "watery" or shriveled; perhaps a mild cold damage could cause this effect. I found a really good example of your orchid on "Hawiian Tropicals Direct" website (HAWAIIAN TROPICALS DIRECT - BARBARA IANNONE)
You have to scroll down quite a way as the pic is one of several.
The blooms have a pink shading of color around each petal, but the pics do not show the streaking and odd coloring that yours is showing. And the leaves bother me due to the pattern of lighter green / yellowish colors.
I agree - test it before you let it slobber on your other orc's - really suspicious looking.
A real shame if it is viral - VERY PRETTY ORC!
I really love the color - screams tropical to me!
Steve

Thanks Steve. That is actually the grower of this orchid according to the tag. It was just purchased. I am worried because I also bought orchids from the same shipment and wonder if the plants touching each other in the box could have spread it. I just took more pictures, had time since it is snowing. I am going to post them. I was looking on the AOS website and wondered it it could be orchid blossom midge. I love the color of this orchid. I have the worst luck lately getting diseased plants :(. There is a small white spotty area on the one flower stem that could be insects. Something chewed the petals at some point. I have a lot of plants from this grower that I buy in the grocery store. I would hate to have to test all the plants as it would be very expensive

and these pictures

I can't say for sure as the pictures of the stems are a little fuzzy, but it looks like you have a mealybug there; either that or scale. And if you have one showing, you have half a million that are hiding. There is a great way to get rid of any pest anywhere on the plant or in the soil using dry ice - I read about it in the "terrarrium" section and posted it a couple of time - search for "dry ice" and you should be able to find the posts. Works great, no residue or poison and plants get a CO2 treatment that they love.
As far as the blooms go - fist of all I think they are older blooms which affects the general coloring, plus any bloom that is shipped is likely to get bent, crushed, etc and this will effect the coloring also. But it usually does not cause streaking in my experience, so I really can't say.
There really is no way to tell unless you test. I pick out the most suspicious and I have a "possibly infected" area that they live in until they are tested. Once tested, I mark the tag with a test date if they are clean and then move on to others as I can afford it. It is costly, but it would cost more to replace your entire collection wouldn't it? Just be careful not to cross-contaminate (easier said than done, I know) and until the collection is completely tested.
It's about the only way the average hobbyist can afford to do testing.
Let us know - I would love a clone of this one, but want to know your results first.
Steve:waving

Thanks Steve. I will let you know. I guess I have to bite the bullet and buy test strips from Agdia. It is expensive

Sorry for the fuzzy pictures. These seem better

Thank you for the new pics - but I am still not sure. If that is the only white spots you have, just swab them with alcohol and keep looking for new ones - especially around the base of the leaves and where the "stem" enters the medium - it's hard to say from here!!!
Yes, Agdia strips are expensive - but again, I have to do small amounts at a time (shoestring budget and all that!!) and overall the cost balances out if you end up with a clean collection that you can enjoy for years. Or decades - ! A sick collection will eventually die off or just get so ugly that they are not (IN MY OPINION) worth having and investing fertilizer, etc. into.
Best of luck!
Steve:waving

Agreed Steve. Thanks again

A good example of color break caused by virus. Plants grow very well but now always exhibit this mottling.

Thank you. Is this how it would progress if it is a virus in mine? I ordered test strips from Agdia. It looks like they will ship tomorrow morning. A UPS label has been created.

No, that picture is one of bad cases.
Many do not even show symptoms at all, some show mild symptoms. It's very different case by case.

I'd hate to be the bad guy, but I'd almost bet your beautiful orange flowers are virused.

I know we all love your plants and want to wish the best even when the truth might not be what we wish.
So to be sure, have your plant tested.
That's the only sure way to know and have peace of mind.

I do not think it is cold damage at all.

Anyways, you have the test kits now.

Please let us know what the result comes out to be. curious to know!

I suspect it is too. It scares me because a friend bought it from me from the same store that I bought several from on the same day. She knew I have wanted and orange or coral cattleya. The plants are from the same grower. The scary part beyond them coming in on the same order the day before is that a lot of my orchids are from that grower including one that I posted a thread about in this forum asking if the other plant looked like it has a virus. Most of my plants are from this store, TJ., I have a few bagged from Lowes, some from planting myself at orchid classes, some gifts, some online and from flower shows. If this one is virused from the grower is it likely a lot of theirs are virused? I love the variety of their plants, number of blooms and price point.

The test strips are tracking to be delivered on Friday and I will test it right away.

I pick up orchids at a grocery store or big box store as well. Most of them, I treat them as cutflower though: once flowers fade, they are out! simple as that. but rarely, I would keep them.

As you pointed out, the orchid providers for these stores (especially TJ, which is my favorite of them all for variety!!!) do not care too much about plant quality.
For them, it's money. They buy lots of clones, bring them out to bloom, then ship them out.
They are meant to be sold for just flowers.

I see lots of beautiful orchids at TJ, and I mostly buy these for flowers. They are cheap.
but even then, I don't buy any pretty looking orchids just because they are cheap and I will throw them away later any way. I worry that I might bring pest or disease into the house.
So I am very careful in finding what I buy. at least clean leaves and flower is what I go for.

I do find most of their oncidium intergenerics seriously sick. I rarely buy them.
Yes, quality is an issue. but hey, you get what you pay for.

With that said, I don't think these growers knowly throw sick plants in the market. It's just that selling flowering orchids (and as many as possible) is their main goal.

So far, I have kept about five orchids that I got from TJ, they at least look clean and grow and flower very nicely. I have bought quite a few from them. As I said, almost all of them go out once flowers are gone.

Positive for ORSV in a matter of minutes. Toss it away :_(:((. Would you save the plastic pot with attached saucer and bleach and then soak in Physan or is it not worth it?

What is the etiquette with plants with viruses, do you gently tell the grower?

Yes, I made a mistake and I am going to correct the statement above. It is only positive for ORSV. I have a
Onc. ornithorhynchus from a different vendor in Hawaii also postivie for ORSV. They were never near each other :_(

Well, it is confirmed now. Thank you for posting and sharing.

As for contacting the vendor regarding virused plants, some people are cool about it, some do not care.
But since your orange cattleya came looking terrible and now it is confirmed, I think you should at least get the refund for the catt.
They should never send flowers with such apparent streaks all over them.

After all, ORSV and CymMV are two most common viruses affecting cultivated orchids. not a big surprise but big disappointment for sure!

Very big disappointment! Also disappointed that some orchids that were not performing well, from a different area of my house, I kept the new one isolated also tested positive. They were from an e-bay vendor.
I had just put them in new pots with orchiata or other new potting mix :((. Can I bleach, rinse and then soak the pots in Physan 20 and successfully remove the virus? They are new pots

Well, I'm sure basically all growers may have virused plants. They grow so many and just can't test every plant they grow. not practical.
so every once in a while, you get virused plants. It's not pleasant but just a reality.

Nonporous pots like plastic pots can be cleaned and reused. I would use regular bleach (following label instruction for disinfecting, I think it says 1/3 cup per gallon of water, soak 5 min, then rinse well) just to be sure. wear protective gloves!

Also, unless your plastic pot is of rare and expensive kind, I would just dumpt it. but your call. I tend to dump things away easily. lol

I wonder what the vendors would say if everyone started bring their test strips with them before buying any orchids... intresting thought...

Of all the positive tests I received so far the one that makes me the maddest is the orchid I potted at Dukes Farm. I took an orchid class there two days prior to Superstorm Sandy. It was my second class there. We got to pot either a slipper orchid or an Oncidium. I chose the Onc. amp. They all had a lot of yellow and brown spotting. The instuctor let us know, without us inquiring, that the plants weren't diseased but affected by one of his co-workers overspraying with fungicide on a too hot and sunny day. I asked him directly when he was helping me divide the plant to back up the pseudobulbs for re-planting if he was sure it wasn't more than the spray and he told me, "it is just what I said". Well, something in my gut told me to test it because the new growths were also mottled. I couldn't see how a fungicide could do that. Positive for CymMV!!! I am so mad!!! When we toured the back greenhouses the slipper greenhouse was almost empty, it had looked sickly the visit prior to that, and all of the greenhouses were suffering from black rot. Now I see that the rot and other cultural issues must have been secondary to viruses. I am going to e-mail them tomorrow. They should inform all of the other people that paid for and took the class that they could have (do have, since they were all from the same master plant) virused orchids. I don't think they are unaware of the virus :(:((

Well, as sad as it is, many people just don't want to admit plants are virused even when suspicious symptoms are all over or quite certain. They say things like oh, it might be some fungal, it might sun burn, it might be this and that...but never want to say or admit the possibility of virus.
It happens a lot on this board as well.

I know some people are just not comfortable or feel they might make others feel bad if they said their plants looked virused. but I think otherwise. it can only help. we are here to help each other out and to be well informed not to be sugar coated and feel good about fake truth. well, well,

knowing what the problem is half the solution.

---------- Post added at 10:05 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:59 PM ----------

One more example, there's a local orchid vendor who always have oncidiums and catts looking sick (virused to me). I asked him once about why, and the answer was fungus. There you go!
then when I mentioned the word virus, he looked he was VERY uncomfortable. Since then, I stopped using that word in front of him, instead, I just do not buy sick looking plants.
now I want to test plants I got from him just out of curiosity.

The worst part of the situation is that they said during the class that they routinely test their plants and always flame everything. They freaked when one participant held her Onc. over the bin of potting media...hmm wonder why :((. We paid for a class, at least be honest and just tell us that there are health issues and we won't be able to pot an orchid today. I was so excited to have a hard to find variety. Now it is in my garage so that it doesn't infect the rest of my plants. I am careful, but there are some gnats from either plants or fruit. I bought a venus fly trap, pitcher plant and mosquito dunks today to try to get rid of pests.

Sorry to hear the results. I try to be careful, plant-wise, what I bring into the home as I grow some exotic plants and some have been with me over twenty years. There are a few that were given to me by people who are now gone, for special times in my life, so they are priceless. I don't think virused or otherwise diseased plants should be permitted to be sold, clear and simple.
I would tell the vendors very nicely that though you absolutely love the plants and you feel they are great vendors, you recently discovered that some of the plants were virused and thought that they might want to know. Just leave it at that. If they thank you and offer a refund or replacement, they are good vendors and trustworthy. If they get defensive or angry, you will know to stay clear of them.
Killing virus (denaturing) can easily be done by temps or pH so I usually either boil plastic pots or soak plastic in bleach. I usually soak in the bleach for a few hours as I am extra paranoid. I bake my red lava rock.
Again, sorry to find you had to toss some orchids.

---------- Post added at 09:58 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:45 AM ----------

And, I was also told by someone who has collected plants for many, many years and who teaches botany that the surest sign of virus is a decline in vigor. Sometimes it is subtle or sometimes the symptoms can be masked for a time with high-quality care but stress usually will lead to clear symptoms and a decline. I think this makes sense from my own education. I probably keep a clean collection because my care is less than optimal and virused plants would probably fail rather quickly and be tossed.

Thank you for the information. I was sorry about all of them. I was extremely upset about the Onc. amp and the coral Cattleya. I have wanted a coral/orange catt. for a long time :(