Mottled leaves underside - Cattleya
 

Hello

Attached you will find some pics of my LC Dinard which I purchased two weeks ago at an Orchid show.

I noticed today as I was cleaning it what appears to be mottling underneath several leaves.

Would anyone have an opinion as to what this could be? Is this some form of deficiency?

I managed to purchase x3 orchids from another vendor which looked very suspect so in the bin they went.

I am hoping it is not a virus!

Thanks,

Petyr

The leaves in the photo just look a bit dehydrated. This could be just due to the the stress of shipping. If they are on older growths, they may be shed once the new growths mature (it looks like you have a nice new growth coming) especially if the roots are not good. Remember, the older growths act as a reserve for the plant while new growth and roots are developing, so if those old roots aren't wonderful, the plant will still do fine. (Don't be in a hurry to cut old roots...they are still functional, as well as helping stabilize the plant) Virus is typically much more subtle - if flowers show color break it can be suspected. But don't rush to conclusions. New plants should be kept separate from the rest of your collection for a month or two if possible to avoid possible spread of bugs/pathogens that might have hitchhiked. But assuming that this plant was imported recently (as opposed to being grown locally from when it was a baby) you should not panic about what is likely a cosmetic issue.

Could be mechanical compression damage from recent shipping. Was the grower who sold it to you at the show a local grower, or was it shipped to the show’s location?

But, in agreement with Roberta, always isolate new plants from your main collection just to be safe.

Hi both,

Thanks for getting back to me.

The grower is local in the sense that the grower is based in the same country however the location of the show was about 4hrs from where the grower`s nursery is based. The grower moved the plants via car/van to the show.

So annoyed if this is a sick plant as I have been hunting for an LC Dinard for ages. I have isolated it on my kitchen windowsill alongside other orchids that I am watching. I am attending another show in a couple of weeks time so will look again to purchase as a back up (just in case).

Today another orchid I own showed signs of bad colourbreak in its flowers / purple splotching on the leaves (had assumed it was highlight induced) - it was a sickly freebie from another nursery. In the bin that went.

Color splotches on leaves could be sun exposure or other environment issue. Color break in flowers is very suspicious, however. If the plant was sickly, then certainly not worth the risk of trying to rescue it.

I want to tell you that you involuntarily have stressed the plants (moving from the greenhouse to your house), you have changed the way of life of these plants.
For this you have to wait for the plants to be accommodate with the new owner ...
If somehow you have disturbed their roots, you have applied extra stress.
In these pictures you can see that the plant is dehydrated, probably due to lack of roots. You have to wait, probably until the next vegetative cycle. I give you a advice; do not watering the plant too often. Watering, under the current circumstances creates more problems. You only need to keep the plant at high RH, only in this way it can re-hydrate itself.