What is on my Phal?
 

I have five Phalaenopsis aphrodite grouped together. They are doing well generally but had some recent stress while I was away from an extended period. They’ve been displaying bud blast and I’d attributed it entirely to the recent stress until I just noticed some discoloration/spots behind a few of blooms.

The two blooms most affected have smaller, darker, more elongated and three-dimensional specks which don’t appear to move in addition to the larger, paler, round discolorations which are also more numerous. Those two blooms also have a slight thin bit of web from the base of the bloom to the stem.

I haven’t noticed any issues anywhere else on the plants except that a new leaf on one may have little red specks.. spider mites? But I’m fairly sure I’ve seen spider mites before and these are hard to see with the naked eye, even with a headlamp.

I’m hoping this has been caught early, whatever it is! :crossfing

I appreciate any help or guidance!! Thank you : )

https://imgur.com/FSduJ2U

Imgur: Phal pic 1

Imgur: Phal pic 2 (sorry I couldn’t get this to embed an image… this is my first time posting).

:help:

Almost certainly Botritis, a fungus that attacks blossoms when kept very hiumid with no air flow.

Nothing you can do to "treat" for it. Fix those conditions and you won't see it again.

Thanks so much for the suggestion of botrytis.

Quick update:
I got antsy, couldn’t leave it alone, so I brushed the plants aaaall over with a 2% soap solution:nailbite:My hope was this might do some good and maybe wouldn’t do any harm?
But, the odd thing was, I tried brushing the backs of the affected blooms (for the heck of it, and like I said, I was getting antsy) and all the spots came off fairly quickly/easily. Would this happen with botrytis? I did get a fan going nearby too for some light airflow and am moving it around.

Also, I just remembered. I was deadheading canna lilies outside yesterday. And I brought the bag in with the garden waste intending to put it in the compost but hung it over a dining room chair and got distracted. The orchids were on the dining room table.

Thanks again for the help!

hmmm, a couple of those small black spots looked like maybe they coulda been thrips. the ones we get a small, thin black (can see them easily), and they move at a decent pace...and can sort of "jump" around. they can leave marks on plants parts, but the marks shouldn't come off when you wipe them. so...probly not thrips.

if you see those tiny reddish specs that move around then probly those are some sort of mite. false spider mites can also be reddish and leave that tell-tale single stranded whispy web. but a lot of them can look like an old spider web. if you have mites you can usually wipe the bottom of the leaves and see reddish/brown streaks on the paper.

but yes, it absolutely is probably what ray said!! hahaha, best of luck!

Botrytis is usually a disease of cool, very humid environments. What are the temperatures in you growing area?

We tend to pump the AC here in Maryland so although it may be humid outdoors, indoors I feel it’s usually too dry (at least for my comfort, so I’d imagine for orchids too). Although they may have gotten too humid/damp in their pot.

Overly cool could certainly be a possibility too. We keep the house at about 73° F (23°C) during the day and 65° F (18°C) at night. The orchids were in the dining room which has large SW facing windows covered with semitransparent window treatments. There’s a register (forced air) at the base of the windows. They were on the table probably 8 feet from the register.

As of this morning there are no more specks or dots on the backs of any of the previously affected flowers(!) They seem to have dealt quite well with being attacked with a basting brush yesterday. And as I’d mentioned, much to my surprise, the dots all washed off quite easily. I had thought that at least the lighter colored ones were necrotic, but I suppose not…?

I did turn the little fan back on but it makes me uncomfortably cool even on the lowest setting and at a distance, so I’m just wondering about that. Maybe I need a smaller fan.

It does sound like they picked up some dirt.

I'm thinking it's housefly poop

Thanks so much everyone for the help! Luckily the spots Attachment 168173haven’t returned in the past 36 hours or so…

But in the process of doing all this though I discovered some root rot. So now I’m wondering if that may have been the cause of the bud blast that originally got me started down this road. They were potted entirely in sphagnum moss that, as I discovered, had gotten incredibly compacted. Removing it was quite tricky.