# Rust orange spotted flecks on leaves



## Russ1992 (Apr 27, 2021)

Hey crew I'm having a hell of a time with this orange spotting on the leaves of my paphs. I have no idea what it is or how to stop it. What's worse is its affected all my paphs. See the images of this badly affected sukuhuli.

I purchased it from Sam at Orchid Inn.


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## abax (Apr 27, 2021)

Have you contacted Sam about this problem? I'm sure he'd have some suggestions.


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## Russ1992 (Apr 28, 2021)

I'm actually talking to him right now lol. He wants culture specifics like crazy. Will post when. I find out more.


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## Ray (Apr 28, 2021)

I believe it is an infection - probably fungal, but maybe not. I believe that a copper-based treatment is the way to go, as it covers fungi and bacteria.


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## Ozpaph (Apr 28, 2021)

doesnt look serious - go copper and plenty of ventilation


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## Russ1992 (Apr 30, 2021)

I appreciate it guys! You're the experts. For the time being Sam at Orchid Inn and David at Paph paradise told me to drench or spray it weekly with hydrogen peroxide for 2-3 weeks. Will let you know bit so far I haven't seen any changes.


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## SouthPark (Apr 30, 2021)

I'm with Ray on that one. I had something like that develop on one of my juvenile paphs, which was certainly and absolutely spreading. A spray of copper solution stopped it in its tracks. And the juvenile paph is doing excellently after that episode. Hard to say what started it though, as the leaves of my paphs are never wet. But spider mites are definitely hanging around. My juvenile paph didn't get the spotting near the base though. Just got it on the regular portions of its leaves. But it's all good now.


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## Russ1992 (Jul 28, 2021)

Update: Treated with Physan, Thiomyl, Copper, and Hydrogen Peroxide and nothing worked! I put the afflicted paphs outside so they have plenty of air movement. They have all become very poor growers. Only producing new sprouts when the previous leaf is stuck at a newborn size of an inch. Will let you know if I find anything else out. Contacting Norman at Orchids.com


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## GuRu (Jul 28, 2021)

Ray said:


> I believe it is an infection - probably fungal, but maybe not. I believe that a copper-based treatment is the way to go, as it covers fungi and bacteria.



I agree, it's either a bacterial (higher probability) or a fungal infection. Have a look at Orchid diseases (English) or Orchideen Krankheiten (German) and you will find a lot of information, photos and help of the treatment.


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## paphiopere (Dec 20, 2021)

[QUOTE = "Ray, publicación: 709760, miembro: 45"]
Creo que es una infección, probablemente por hongos, pero tal vez no. Creo que un tratamiento a base de cobre es el camino a seguir, ya que cubre hongos y bacterias.
[/CITA]

Comprendí que cualquier tratamiento a base de cobre afectaba en gran medida el crecimiento de las plantas.


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## BrucherT (Dec 21, 2021)

I guess I’m the only one here who thinks this is related to your water/watering/fertilizer rather than a fungal issue, though the fungal issue could be secondary. What’s your mineral content? What fertilizer are you using? When I’ve seen this brown spotting stuff, it’s been from me using tap water plus fertilizer over a long period. I burnt the roots and the plant started to necrotize, then walk off the necrosis with the brown spot. Just what it looks like to me and I’m far from the most knowledgeable, so please heavily grain-of-salt my thoughts and I in turn defer to others. I’m not saying it can’t also be fungal but the whole plant has a too-much-salt look. Another possibility: Sam uses systemic fertilizer granules in his mixes. Little green balls that wear away over very long periods. If you’re feeding as well, without being conscious of his long-dissolving stuff, it could create a chemical burn. If it’s affecting all your Paphs, as you say, it’s got to be a cultural issue and nothing to do with the vendor. So of course he and we need “cultural specifics like crazy.” People in this forum have solved so many cultural issues for me. One thing nobody here has mentioned is the plant looks dehydrated, which means the roots are not able to do their job. I learned that in here too. Hydration is key. I would unpot every affected plant and clean it, going over every root and leaf surface looking for insect troubles, cutting away what I’m going to guess is a lot of dead root tissue, etc, then I’d soak everybody in their own separate bowl of RO water, completely submerged for several hours, then I’d remove, douse with all the chems, let dry, then pot up into medium soaked in KelpMax (Ray’s got me addicted to the stuff) and keep treating with it until roots form. I’ve been absolutely astonished how that potion can make a rootless plant fill a pot. It’s a godsend if ever there was one. Regarding the spots themselves, nobody has mentioned “Dragon’s Blood,” a plant-based potion I also learned about here, which seems to stop a fungus dead in its tracks when applied directly to the brown area (if this is fungal).

I don’t think I’m contradicting any of the more experienced folks here, just expanding on and throwing out some other ideas. I’m sorry for your troubles. Hoping you’ll share a lot more photos of your whole grow, setup, water/feed details, etc. Hoping for the best outcome for you.


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## SouthPark (Dec 21, 2021)

I forgot to include pics before. One of my juvenile Paph. vietnamense got the nasty gold/brown spread thing ----- and the spread was quite fast. For that particular case - the copper spray worked. The outcome was abrupt ------ and spectacularly amazing. So the first couple of pics show a new little leaf that came out, which is the big leaf in the third photo.






This third pic below was taken approximately 20 minutes ago. The 'big' leaf is actually the little baby one seen in the first two pics. And here, we can see that the same gold/brown spreading thing developed ----- so I had to hit it with something again. I just used copper right away for this particular case ... which worked a Christmas treat once again. Whatever it is ------ is definitely stopped real good once again. It's true that the copper worked for these cases. And hard to say what is involved with similar symptoms for other peoples cases. Just showing pics - just so that we can see how nasty the 'pathogens' can be on the orchids. And hopefully - a suitable application of something can sort them right out.


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## Ozpaph (Dec 29, 2021)

That could be spider mites. Wipe the underside of the green leaf with a clean white tissue and see.


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## Russ1992 (Feb 19, 2022)

BrucherT said:


> I guess I’m the only one here who thinks this is related to your water/watering/fertilizer rather than a fungal issue, though the fungal issue could be secondary. What’s your mineral content? What fertilizer are you using? When I’ve seen this brown spotting stuff, it’s been from me using tap water plus fertilizer over a long period. I burnt the roots and the plant started to necrotize, then walk off the necrosis with the brown spot. Just what it looks like to me and I’m far from the most knowledgeable, so please heavily grain-of-salt my thoughts and I in turn defer to others. I’m not saying it can’t also be fungal but the whole plant has a too-much-salt look. Another possibility: Sam uses systemic fertilizer granules in his mixes. Little green balls that wear away over very long periods. If you’re feeding as well, without being conscious of his long-dissolving stuff, it could create a chemical burn. If it’s affecting all your Paphs, as you say, it’s got to be a cultural issue and nothing to do with the vendor. So of course he and we need “cultural specifics like crazy.” People in this forum have solved so many cultural issues for me. One thing nobody here has mentioned is the plant looks dehydrated, which means the roots are not able to do their job. I learned that in here too. Hydration is key. I would unpot every affected plant and clean it, going over every root and leaf surface looking for insect troubles, cutting away what I’m going to guess is a lot of dead root tissue, etc, then I’d soak everybody in their own separate bowl of RO water, completely submerged for several hours, then I’d remove, douse with all the chems, let dry, then pot up into medium soaked in KelpMax (Ray’s got me addicted to the stuff) and keep treating with it until roots form. I’ve been absolutely astonished how that potion can make a rootless plant fill a pot. It’s a godsend if ever there was one. Regarding the spots themselves, nobody has mentioned “Dragon’s Blood,” a plant-based potion I also learned about here, which seems to stop a fungus dead in its tracks when applied directly to the brown area (if this is fungal).
> 
> I don’t think I’m contradicting any of the more experienced folks here, just expanding on and throwing out some other ideas. I’m sorry for your troubles. Hoping you’ll share a lot more photos of your whole grow, setup, water/feed details, etc. Hoping for the best outcome for you.



Brucher my apologies for responding so late to your thorough and much-appreciated response. After a full year of additional experience, I agree with nearly all of the conjectures you have mentioned.

First the salt content and fertilizer. Essentially before getting a TDS meter I was using water that was above 350ppm BEFORE fertilizer, plus a full dosage of MSU which I can imagine put it off the charts. I was soaking at the time and not flushing at all. Compounding this issue was media that I believe was too dense and watering that was too frequent. The roots were totally rotted at this point. Additionally, there wasn't good ventilation around the plant (stuck in a corner of the house) leading me to believe the orange spots might have initially been a mite issue which is possibly why it wasn't responding to any fungicide or bactericide. 

I haven't had the groundbreaking results that others have had with Kelpmax but it's probably because I use it every 6 weeks or so. I have read that Ray was using it twice a month. Some hobbyists have used it even more with tremendous results. So that is definitely on the table. All in all with all of these cultural understandings in place I rarely see these problems on my plants. 

Now if I can just get them all to put out a lot of healthy roots, richly textured leaves, and hefty buds...

I can see now why it takes YEARS to become a master.


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