Question

Is this a fungus, dise   QUESTION: I think this is a cattalya when a new leaf starts to come out it turns brown with black spots ther is also brown with balck spots on the sheething or what ever you call it. There is a photo below. The roots are growing well and I'm getting new individual leaves no flowers at all. Is this a fungus, virus or disease?

ANSWER: Hi Terri,

Sorry for not getting back to you sooner after responding to your other questions.  

The covering over the pseudobulbs (growths) appears to have some fungus as you guessed.  That can happen if there is water present on the covering over night, for this reason it is best to do any watering in the morning.  New leafs turning black is also probably due to fungus for the same reason above.  

Most cattleya orchids require quite a bit of direct sunlight to grow and bloom well.  From the photo it looks like the leafs are medium green in color, for it to produce blooms the leafs should be a lighter green.  Try to place it where it will get a minimum of 4 to 6 hours of direct sunlight, especially through the summer.  

Hope this helped.

Jim Kawasaki
San Jose, Ca.



---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: I didn't get an email response to the other questions could you please re-send the other answers to my questions. Thank you very much! Can I treat with Physan 20 to resolve the problem? Terri

Answer
Hi Terri,

You didn't get the answers I sent to the other questions?  I'm not quite sure how to retrieve previous answers and resend it but will take a look around to see if I can do that.  

Hope you had a great Christmas!  

Jim Kawasaki
San Jose, Ca.