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Black Spots and Yellowing Tips

10 years ago

Hello everyone! I've always admired orchids, and about a month and a half ago I decided I try my hand at them. I did my research, looked up a reputable source, and bought my Oncidium Twinkle. I got it through the mail all wrapped up and it looked like a really healthy plant. But about a week ago, I found these tiny black spots on the tips of two of the leaves. Those black spots are still there but now one of the tips is turning yellow. The pseudobulb now has, for lack of a better word, wrinkles in it. I've been watering it by soaking it for 10 minutes in room temperature water each week and I mist it each morning. I bought a humidity tray about a week ago in an attempt to improve it, but nothing seems to be working. I have not moved it from it's original pot and it gets about 6 hours of the light at the level in the picture. Can anyone tell me what's happening to my beloved new orchid?

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Comments (4)

arthurm
10 years ago
Hopefully someone with indoor growing experience will add to this......
But to my eye, the potting material is way too coarse for the type of orchid.
Smaller sized chunks of bark and a filler such as perlite are needed.
Cannot see the black spots in the photo but if they are very tiny like pinpoints they occur naturally and are not a worry.
The end of the leaf dying is more of a worry and indicates that the plant is not happy.
Here, this orchid is often killed by overwatering and is not a good beginner's orchid. This happens because the plant always comes from nurseries in a fine mix and then it is killed by kind hearted people.

This post was edited by arthurm on Sun, May 26, 13 at 18:06
vtandrea
10 years ago
I'm in zone 4 and have about 35 orchids of different types. The oncidiums are a pain in the butt because they seem prone to fungal problems (black spots), yet many of them need quite a bit of water. As for wrinkling pseudobulbs, I was told by a very reputable grower that eventually all orchids will probably develop them. I'm still a novice but I'm kind of experimenting with watering the heck out of a new Wildcat--about every 2 or 3 days. As for the fungal issues, on the advice of some of the experts on this forum, I'm using Physan 20 after watering. (When I remember.) Don't worry, your oncidium may end up with orchid acne but will probably still bloom for you.
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jane__ny
10 years ago
I grow mine in fine bark mixed with sphag and perlite. I wouldn't worry about the spots (I can't see them), but the leaf tip could be something else. Maybe the fertilizer you are using?

I would move the plant out of the large bark. If the plant came to you in sphag, I have found orchids show signs of problems when switched suddenly from sphag to bark. I would change your potting mix.

Jane
Snodgrass121
Original Author
10 years ago
Thank you all so much for the help! I recently found out that the water in my town is really hard and basic, which is what I had been using for watering. I've since switched to filtered water and it seems to be doing better. I haven't changed anything else yet because I don't want to shock its system. The bark mix that it is in is what it came in and I have stayed clear of fertilizers. In about a week or so, the local garden store will have sphag back in stock and I'll change out the mix. Thank you all so very, very much!

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