# Are these brown spots a disease?



## Ceca (Mar 1, 2019)

Only got this 2 weeks ago. See the pics attached, it started with the flower but I was told it was just the flower dying, but now I noticed brown spots on the leaves as well.

I've soaked it for 15 min once a week and used Orchyd mist on it occasionally. Its at a northfacing window.

Thanks!


----------



## Ray (Mar 1, 2019)

Yes - probably a bacterial or fungal infection due to letting water stand in the leaf axils and in the pouch.


----------



## Ceca (Mar 1, 2019)

Thanks, anything I can do to fix it or is it a lost cause? Also are they not rained on all the time in the wild? I barely misted them and definitely not in the pouch.


----------



## Ozpaph (Mar 2, 2019)

cut the flower.
no more 'soaking' - just water the plant thoroughly, avoiding the leaves for now.
In nature they have constant air movement to dry the leaves quickly


----------



## mrhappyrotter (Mar 2, 2019)

Ceca said:


> Also are they not rained on all the time in the wild? I barely misted them and definitely not in the pouch.



Yes, they are. And they also get diseases and infections in the wild (along with getting chewed up by pests and mechanically damaged by falling debris, animals, etc). However, in regards to pests and disease, there are factors in their native habitats that help mitigate these. Pests have predators, and pathogens are kept in check by a thriving microbial community, and other environmental factors (air flow, UV light for instance).

In home culture, we usually can't provide ideal conditions, and plants often start their home life in a stressed state. We don't have the same microbial community and we usually don't have predators to take care of the pests. So, we have to take steps to help our plants out. Sometimes we have to spray for pests, sometimes we have to ensure that we minimize / avoid water on the leaves to prevent infections.


----------



## ehanes7612 (Mar 2, 2019)

yeah, paphs aren't particularly fond of soaking and don't mist them, don't know why that gets perpetuated in the culture. It's a waste of time, does nothing for humidity control and can cause issues, especially for home culture.


----------

