My new orchid has spots!!!

[staceyneilzora]

Hello,

I am new here. I fell in love with orchids this summer, when my mom gave me a gorgeous Phalenopsis that has bloomed and rebloomed spectacularly.

For Valentines Day, my husband gave me an Oncidium hybrid Alcra. Sunday's best 'Muffin'. It looked fine 2 weeks ago, but I just noticed some alarming spots. On the worst leaf, the tip is yellowish and has small maroonish-brown spots ringed in yellow-ish halos. There are also areas of very TINY freckling on the pseudobulbs.

I understand that Oncidiums are prone to harmless sun spots, and I wonder if that's what it is. But if it's viral, I want to get it out of the house before it infects anything else.

The plant is next to (not directly in front of) a south-facing window covered by a very sheer blind. Given that it is winter in Maine, the daylight hours are short and sun is weak. Under the window (about 3' from the orchid) is a radiator. It is about 68-70 during the day and down to maybe 60 at night when we turn off the radiator to sleep. We also run a cool-mist humidifier at night right next to the orchid, which counteracts the dryness in the house but does not make it excessively moist in the room.

Here are photos of the plant:


Is it possible that the plant was stressed or over-exposed to sun during it's shipment and these spots took a while to appear, or do the spots appear immediately following stress/sun? What about viruses?

Any advice much appreciated!!!

Thank you
Stacey

[orchid-man]

This can be a problen with some of the Oncidium inter-generics.Its hard to say what the cause is as there are so many possibilities.One that can be ruled out is virus.One of the other main causes is water on the leaf without adiquite air movement

[staceyneilzora]

So it sounds like it is not serious. Just cosmetic??? Or can it harm the plant? Maybe it's the cool mist humidifier at night, although it's SO dry during the day that I would think it dries right off immediately. Maybe it was something that happened to it at the store or en route to the store. I am sure those plants are not really treated perfectly!

Thank you for your input!
Stacey

[Gin]

Hi , A lot of the intergenitic types develope the spots , Not viral , Enough sun to bloom equals freckles .. The plant is fine Pretty blooms .. Gin