Spotting on plants
 

A friend and i recently got some orchids shipped to us. I had 1 previous shipment the week before. I have oncidiums and a cattleya and she has 1 oncidium and a Vanda. All are fairly small plus sized plants. She messaged me and sent some pictures of her 2 and said they have black spots and she fears it could be mold. I haven't seen what she has seen on any of mine although I do have tiny pin sized spots on some of my oncidiums. I will attach pictures. Any reason for concern? What should we look for?

Thanks for any advice.

I see nothing of concern. Most Oncidiums have quite a few tiny spots when grown in houses, where humidity is lower. It varies with the hybrid. Some have a great many spots all the time. It's not of concern unless individual spots keep growing in diameter, or they are soft and mushy.

My friend said the Vanda leaf was soft and squishy and the black was down in the crown. Ugh

I don't see that on the one photo that could be a Vanda, but maybe the photo angle doesn't show it. If that's the case the most likely cause is cold temperatures in shipping. Many Vandas will be severely damaged if they get to 50 F / 10C. Vandas tolerate shipping very well when it isn't cold.

I don't know where you live but I rarely risk shipping orchids in winter unless they're coming from a southern state to me here in Arizona. I would contact the seller right away.

It was shipped January 31st and we received it on the 2nd. It was packed with 3 other plants, all the others were oncidiums and it had a heat pack inside. I am in SW Virginia. It was cold Monday night with a low in the 20s and the ther 2 days was in the 30s for lows and highs in the 50s.

Vandas are much more sensitive to cold than Oncidiums.

I am going to go with it was just too cold for the Vanda when it was shipped. None of the other plants I have have any issues whatsoever.