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little_bea

Help with damaged Brassolaelioc rustic spot cat

little_bee
14 years ago

This Cattleya was doing fine until I re-potted it about two weeks ago. I cleaned out a lot of dead roots. We just went through some very cold weather which probably stressed the plant anyway. I just noticed that there is a brown blister on a leaf and the leaves are turning very purple. I lost a few.

Any suggestions of what that blister is? I attached a link below but will try to post the picture. Thanks

http://photos.gardenweb.com/garden/galleries/2010/03/brassolaelioc_rustic_spot_cat.html

Comments (4)

  • terpguy
    14 years ago

    Sun damage. The purple is a sign that the plant is receiving the upper limits of its light tolerance...a sort of suntan. This is a good thing under most circumstances. I encourage this coloring on any plant I have the produces it. The brown blister is where the sun got a little too intense. Its pretty easy to make a mistake with light this time of year. The light is currently getting more and more intense through the windows. If you can reduce the light just a little bit, that will help keep the purple tint but not be strong enough to burn the leaves.

    I do suspect this came about as a result of your repotting. When you repot, the resulting stress on the plant is such that the plant can't tolerate its normal amount of light. So for a few weeks after repotting its good to keep it in lower-than-normal light and gradually work the plant back up to the normal light intensity as it gets established. I'll admit I don't do this; I'm impatient and just put my plants back in their regular light. For the most part I don't have any problems but there have been one or two plants that have had this repotting sun damage.

  • arthurm
    14 years ago

    This orchid needs high light to flower, but when you did the repotting perhaps you should have placed the plant in a more shaded situation so it would recover from disturbance to the roots etc.

    Your my-page details just say United States and you do not give growing situation details, but in some places direct sunlight would be too harsh even for this orchid.

  • little_bee
    Original Author
    14 years ago

    I live in South Florida. The sun hasn't been to strong, especially with that cold we had come thru. It is in a North west corner with morning sun then filtered sun after about 2 - 3 hours. I don't like that brown blister I'm seeing.

    Thanks.

  • terpguy
    14 years ago

    LOL You should see my orchids. Maybe 1/3 of them have some sort of sun damage/blistering; doesn't bother me in the least. I push the upper light limits of all my plants. Really, the blister is just a sunburn. Nothing to worry about; it won't spread and kill your plant. Just ease up on the light slightly and it'll be ok :)

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