Is this Fusarium on dormant Cattleya eyes
 

:hello everyone

Newbie orchid grower here from the UK (only 7mths and already addicted) in desperate need of some advice from this group about Fusarium on my cattleya.

I found out yesterday my Ikea Phal has Fusarium and now it is in the bin :((- I am paranoid that my newly acquired Cattleya Tim Treasure x Pot. Chatoyant might have it too. There are dormant purple cattleya eyes!

Am being paranoid or there is something wrong with my orchid?

Timeline of events - I try and keep the details to the point.

- 9th Aug 2018 - It arrived to me from Poland as Flowering Size with 5 p/bulbs and a sheath.

- 12 Aug 2018 - I repotted it in S/H, removed the 2 oldest p/bulbs as it was too deep in the LECA - I think they were the seedling p/bulbs), checked for evidence of the dreaded Fusarium Ring of Death and let then let it settle on a seedling heat mat - after a few days, as expected, it lost 99% of its original roots

- Since then it has grown new roots on the newest P/bulb that had the sheath - leaves are abit dehydrated, growth-wise it has been rapid - it took 1 week for the buds to pop out its sheath and to get the size it is in the attached images. (all taken at the same time as this posting - flower in bloom is not my image but from Google)

- The pot sits on a heat mat 24/7 on a South facing window - Day Temp around 25-28C, Night Temps 17-19C with the window slightly open. During sunny/hot days I move it 2 foot back from the window - Cloudy days I leave in on the window sill.

My question are:

1) Are the dormant purple eyes a sign of Fusarium?

2) The leaf with the buds have a slight purple tinge to the underside of the leaf (it faces the window on that side) Could the purple eyes along with the purple tinge on the leaf simply a sign of too much sun and not Fusarium (I checked for this when I cut the 2 old p/bulb off a month ago

3) As the cattleya blooms have Pink/Purple could this be that there are hints of these colour on the p/bulb? But the root tips are green!

I thought I post my questions here for some credible expert advice :bowing rather than on Social Media.

Kind regards,
Eleanor

The purple color is perfectly normal...not fusarium. Definitely not fusarium.

The color looks good...it does not look like light stress either. Many catts will show purple on their leaves...especially on the young/new growths.

No need to worry.

Welcome to the Orchid Board!

Many Phals have purple leaf undersurfaces and purple collars where the leaf meets the stem. I am almost completely certain the Phal you threw away did not have fusarium.

Many Cattleyas have purple eyes. Your plant does not have fusarium.

Many plants - not only orchids - develop purplish pigmentation as a response to high light conditions. This is good in most Cattleyas.

Almost nobody needs to worry about fusarium. Stop watching whatever you were watching that frightened you about fusarium.

Most likely you binned a perfectly healthy plant that does not have Fusarium.

Thank you for your responses and putting my mind at rest. Phew.

''sigh!'.... maybe I should of posted my first question related to the Phal that I binned. I thought, if I did my research on the i-net, I don't sound silly posting a dumb question on the forum.

You're not silly...you are learning and with orchids, that really never ends.

There is a lot of good info on the web but there is also a lot of misinformation. IMO, its best to ask questions on a forum like this because then you get feedback from a group of growers...many of which have been growing for years.

Again though, do not feel silly because we were all newbies at one point and asking questions is the first step in learning.

Thank you Katrina and everyone for their feedback and support for newbies :-)

I don't know who created this notion that fusarium is a threat to orchids. I'm sure that there have been cases where it has been, but by and large, it's just not something we commonly have to worry about. I've never had fusarium on any of my orchids, and I don't know anybody who has had fusarium on their orchids.

Just to say thank you to everyone for the advice I received here. It prevented me from hacking her to death.

She opened her bloomed today in my care and I can't help but share! :biggrin: :cheer: