My phalenopsis orchid plant has yellow black spots on two of its leaves. (Big splotches) What's wrong with it?

I tried cutting off one of the leaves and it seemed okay until the yellow, black splotchy stuff came back again. The splotches are really dark and shrivels up part of the leaf and is surrounded by a ring of yellow. It's not sunburnt because it doesn't get any direct sunlight. Is it fungul, bacteria problems? How do I get rid of it? Also, how do I get it to bloom again?





Any orchid advice will do. Thanks!

My phalenopsis orchid plant has yellow black spots on two of its leaves. (Big splotches) What's wrong with it?
The description of the symptoms sounds like a bacteria, not a fungus. Bacteria are a little more difficult to control because they spread so easily. One thing I would suggest is that you stop watering from overhead. Try to get the water only on the roots and soil. Bacteria are spread very easily by water, so keep an eye on this.





Here's a link to a page that can help, but I also suggest that you take a sample to your local cooperative extension office where they can give you a diagnosis and offer some other control measures.





http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/Vine...





http://www.orchids.com/support/supportFA...





Hope this heps!
Reply:Orchids ... can be a lil tricky... they need good drainage it sounds like to me it is either getting to much water or not enough... I know that sounds pretty crazy... but is is true... they like to be misted or to be grown in a very humid place like a bathroom... they are tropical... hope that helps
Reply:It sounds like too much water to me. Orchid pots are traditionally clay or ceramic pots with holes or slashes through the sides. This is to allow air circulation and to keep water from accumulating. Orchid planting mix is generally pretty coarse bark, for the same reason.





When mine get too much water, the leaves also get a leathery texture to them. Orchids should be watered more like cactus than traditional houseplants.





Moth Orchid (Phalenopsis) is triggered to bloom by the amount of sunlight it gets, seasonally. I think, that they are short day bloomers. Which means you have to cut back the amount of light they get, so they set their flowers. This means they typically bloom in the early spring, and maybe the fall (if you're lucky). Mine have bloomed without any real efforts on my part in February-March (in Michigan).





While the plants are in bloom fertilize them with a nitrogen (first number on the fert. package) rich fertilizer. While they are without flowers, use something higher in phosphorus (second number).





I hope that this helps


Good luck-
Reply:Orchids are very hard to grow
Reply:My husband likes orchids but I didn't think we had room for them in the house so we put them out on our front porch where it is sheltered from the rain but not from the cold and wind. They all started developing black spots. I told the nurseryman about it and he suggested a spray which I used deligently. That really didn't help. I read someplace that the plants could have caught a cold. So I brought them indoors and made sure they were near windows where some sunlight would be available. They get filtered sunlight at least a few hrs a day. No new black spots and the two pots of orchids on a table near the west window that gets more hours of filtered sunlight and warmth is doing the best. Other pots on tables getting filtered sun from the south and east are doing OK too.





I don't know anything about orchids, that was only my experience. Good luck with your orchid.
Reply:well, some discoloration of the leaves is normal, but it sounds like it could be fungal. orchids are pretty tricky plants to raise. does it have an adequate drainage system so that the roots are not staying wet all the time? you need to make sure, also that your orchid gets the proper plant food....i'm not an expert on orchids...my daughter got one last year and she left it with me when she went back to college..i have managed to keep the thing alive and looking fairly healthy in the last several months...it has a stalk coming up that looks like it will be a bloom (i hope)





also, i forgot to add, when i had her plant out on the porch, it was getting too much sunlight and it was turning yellow on the leaves, until i moved it inside to less sunlight

camera