LC Mary Ellen Carter is not well

[Katherine]

Is this yellowing leaf sunburn, over-watering or over- watering?

I left my orchids for 2 weeks in the care of a neighbor and some of the plants were very heavy when I returned. Then the last few days we have had really hot weather, so I don't know what to think. Also it is in Orchiata which seems to dry quickly.

[OrchidAddict]

It looks to me like your neighbor was over-sunning the Catt. The worst-looking leaf was probably getting the most of the sun, and that's why it's looking yellow and wrinkly. It appears to have some black sunburned spots on it as well. You may lose that leaf. The other two look like they should sort themselves out. I would get this particular Catt into lower light for a little while to let it recover. You can give it some Superthrive in the water, too, to help it bounce back.

In my opinion, overwatering or underwatering would be unlikely as the cause here, mostly because of the short amount of time in which the damage occurred. Persistent underwatering will cause shriveling of the p-bulbs and wrinkling of leaves over a period of time, but I don't think it would happen in just the couple of weeks that you left it with your friend. And over watering would take even longer to show up, because the roots would have to rot due to the standing water before the leaves would show any signs of dehydration. I'm pretty sure that yellow leaf just lost too much of its moisture due to extreme sun.

In good news, the other leaves appear to be in fairly decent shape. I see a slight bit of purplish discoloring on one of them, but that's most likely just pigmentation from the sun.

I think your orchid just got shocked by some conditions that were quite a bit warmer and sunnier than yours! Give it some time and some TLC, and it should bounce back.

Oh, and as far as your orchid feeling "heavier" when you picked it up, my guess is that the caretaker noticed something looked awry and was trying to compensate by giving your orchid a lot of water before returning it to you, so that you didn't accuse her of causing the damage by letting the plant dry out.

Hope it bounces back quickly for you!

[Katherine]

Many of the orchids were heavy. I had 4 milk jugs of water filled before I left, and they were empty when i returned. I know that she was also filling the humidity trays with the water...but I had watered them heavily before I left and told her most would not need watering, and for her to stick her fingers in the medium before she watered them. I am not complaining, she did the best she could.

[gardenguysorchids]

My experience with sunburn is that the leaves are much more discolored and there is that ugly black. I have a feeling there was a little too much watering done.

[Katherine]

My experience with sunburn is that the leaves are much more discolored and there is that ugly black. I have a feeling there was a little too much watering done.

The black on the top of the leaf has been there for as long as I have owned the plant, which is about 9 months or so

[OrchidAddict]

My experience with sunburn is that the leaves are much more discolored and there is that ugly black. I have a feeling there was a little too much watering done.

I'm curious... would overwatering affect just that one leaf like that? I'm relatively new to the world of Catts, but when I see a Catt with one leaf looking yellow and wrinkly and the rest looking okay, it strikes me as more of an environmental thing than an systemic plant problem. None of the other leaves appear wrinkled or yellow... wouldn't the rest of the plant show signs of distress too if this were an overwatering situation?

I'd love it if someone could explain to me further how overwatering could cause these types of symptoms to be present. Is the Catt rotting already? I find it practically impossible to overwater my Catts, simply because they are in such sunny, warm areas that they dry out very quickly. I water my Catts more frequently than any of my other orchids! Well, except for the Vandas, that is.

I always thought that leaf wrinkling meant that that particular leaf was losing too much moisture and beginning to collapse. Whenever this has happened with one of my Catts, I've put it in the "greenhouse" for a recovery period so the leaves don't lose so much water due to transpiration. They usually perk back up in the very high humidity. But as for the yellowing, that usually says to me "too much sun" or "too high temps" or "too low temps" or something along those lines. My yellowing leaves are usually a sign of an environmental cause (unless I'm dealing with crown rot or collar rot, but that's a different thread).

I'd love to hear what others have to say. I recently accidentally sunburned a large Catt that arrived in the mail... I was super-excited about it and didn't take the time to introduce it to the sun gradually, and, well, I got pretty much what you see above! It's still up in the air as to whether the worst leaf of the bunch will survive, but I definitely have some charred p-bulbs and wrinkly leaves. It's in ICU at the moment... I think it will bounce back, though!

Well, good luck!! I'm sure under your loving care it will bounce back!!

[plucker]

The leaf will fall off soon enough. Nothing you can do about that one.
The plant is drawing all energy to invigorate new growth. You should see new growth soon - hopefully, whether that be from roots or a new lead.
Until such time as seeing the roots take off, I would imagine you will see a form of decline - ie psudobulb shrivelling etc.
I am assuming that this was repotted recently and that there is a dormant or new eye available.

[Katherine]

The leaf will fall off soon enough. Nothing you can do about that one.
The plant is drawing all energy to invigorate new growth. You should see new growth soon - hopefully, whether that be from roots or a new lead.
Until such time as seeing the roots take off, I would imagine you will see a form of decline - ie psudobulb shrivelling etc.
I am assuming that this was re potted recently and that there is a dormant or new eye available.

I had potted it some time ago in Orchiata. After seeing the condition it was in I pulled it out of the pot to check its roots. I had a few rotted roots, but I believe that is from lack of air circulation over the winter because I was not running a fan. However, it does have a new sprout trying to emerge from an old, tiny p-bulb just below the medium line. to the right of the red string, behind the yellow p-bulb.