Cattleya has black spots ?
 

Hi there!

My boyfriend got me a Cattleya for Christmas. It came from a nursery in Chicago and shipped to us in Dallas. I’m very excited. That said when I took it out of the box today I noticed that the bud sheeths and one leaf has a lot of black spots on it. Can someone help me identify what the spots are? I’m worried it’s a viral thing or potentially a fungal infection. Are the bud sheeths okay?? I’m worried they won’t mature and bloom now with those spots...

I don’t have an ID on the Cattleya and am not sure how long it was in transit in the box. I can probably get that information though from my BF who ordered the orchid.

Pics attached!

Thank you guys so much!

Bunnylotus

Not indicative of virus. Possibly fungal... or just cold damage. If the spots don't get bigger, then no problem... you can use a sharpie to make circle around some of the spots, and see if they get bigger. The more damaged leaves do look to me a lot like cold damage. If they drop, not a problem. The spots won't stop maturing or blooming of the flowers. If the buds got cold damage then they could be impacted. But it would be the source of the problem, not the spots, that would be the issue.

You know that Would make sense. They had put those heat warming pads in the box probably to try and accommodate for the weather/temp issues.

Hopefully the buds make it! I will take your advice on the sharpie and monitor the size of the spots.

The really spotted pictures are the bud sheeths, just that one leaf is really speckled. So I hope they don’t drop!!! According to insert the Cattleya should bloom in 2 or so weeks so I will keep the thread posted on any updates!

Thank you Roberta always!

the spots look purple to me and thus generally quite common with cattleya as a sign of receiving a good amount of light, one leaf has turned a bit yellow, that's all. Nothing to worry about. Losing one leaf in the post is fairly common

I agree. I see nothing to be overly concerned about.

Thanks you guys!

Upon reflection now that I have looked at the Cattleya in daylight yes can 100% confirm what y’all said- the spots are indeed purple in nature not black! See flower pod for reference.

Thanks everyone! Mystery solved!

Also found the ID tag!

Just looked it up, and it is a very dark flower - should be gorgeous. With that much color, pigmentation in the leaves is completely normal, especially in high light.

Houston we’ve got buds!!
 

Have seen quite a bit of activity on this orchid in the past few weeks! Hoping more buds break through the sheath too! Will take pics once she finally blooms!

Bunnylotus

The blooms are stunning - but some deformed?
 

Well at last this orchid has bloomed!!!! It is STUNNING! Just absolutely stunning!!!! Couldn’t be happier. See the pics attached. I did notice however that two of the flowers have weird mutation/ deformities. Kind of neat to see and am interested to lear what causes it 🧐.

You’ll see that they have almost a fifth petal growing off of the inner part of the flower (the column?). What causes that to happen? The other two that have bloomed / opened are totally normal.

-Bunnylotus