I'm guessing...looks like it could be fungal. You could try a regular schedule of fungicide spray.

Jane

Fungal. Try tyomil a little bit.

Thanks! I'll try & report back.

You might be watering too much.

Remember this? I sprayed once with thyme & rosemary oil. Now there's yellowing & the roots look unhappy.

Further advice?

the yellowing part is the newest growth. Should I remove that?

I unpotted to check roots. I've been drowning them. The plant above just didn't make it. My other 3 catts are now in pure tezontle (lava rock) in light of my heavy handed watering.

I still wonder if the thyme oil played a part, though. Should I take care that it only gets on leaves?

I very wise botanist once told me that if you are not killing some plants, then you are not trying hard enough. Meaning you are just doing the easy stuff and need to expand your horizons. Even at the expense of killing plants. After a couple of decades growing orchids, I have a shoe box full of dog tags of the departed. So this plant might survive but it is fading. Don't cut anything. Remove it from the pot. Lay it on a plate and mist it once to twice a day. Give it bright but no direct light. Give it root stimulant if you have it with the mist. And/or just buy a new one in bud....

I never heard of giving any herbal oil to orchids. There are some poisons that come in oil or are powdered water soluble. I know the oil preparation will amplify the sun and harm the plants.

When I unpotted & cut off the bad roots, I decided it was too much. I threw it away. It has 3 sisters though. We'll see how they do. My fear now is that the afternoon winds are pretty strong & without roots holding them to the tezontle, they may go flying.

A rhizome clip is necessary to hold the plant in place. If they wobble around they don't like that. It may be part of the reason for failure on the plant in the topic. Get clips for the other plants. What kind of pots do you have?

Isn't the thyomil, suggested above by Northern Orchids, Thyme Oil? I found a purportedly organic fungicide spray, as Jane suggested, and it is 0.63% thyme oil & 0.63% rosemary oil. The only parts that seemed affected by either the spray or lots of watering were roots & new growth still with papery sheaths. Leaves & unsheathed pseudobulbs unbothered. Perhaps the oil is too strong for tender growth?

They're in small clay pots with holes on the bottom & sides. I bought the orchids & pots at the Vallarta Botanical Garden, which has a great orchid conservation programme. (That's just side info., not intended to imply that the pots are stellar or anything.)

Thiomyl is a fungicide - not an oil. https://www.amazon.com/Southern-Ag-Ornamental-Systemic-Fungicide/dp/B0052OFDOW

Amazon won't send Thiomyl to Mexico. Maybe Mexican Amazon will have something.

have you tried copper fungicide ?

So far, I’ve not had to. The survivors are doing ok. I have them sitting in a clay pot. I mist daily. They’ve grown roots. Now I need to get rhizome clips & pot. Yes, they’ve been sitting unpotted for months. I’m horrible.

Take them into the back yard,find a willing tree- and place orchid firmly in place. They will thrive!

There are growers who prefer to grow catts in empty pots! It's another type of mounting, with plants rooting to the interior of the pot. If your plants are growing roots, that's good progress!

I’m in coastal, tropical Mexico, so I think the fairly high humidity has been helpful. If/when I pot, I think I’ll just use tezontle (lava rocks). Or maybe I’ll find a tree, as suggested.

Just received a Catt division. It just finished blooming, so no new growths yet. He told me to put it into a 6" clay pot with just a few rocks to help stabilize it. Then I wait for new growth to start befor adding any type of growing media I choose, or nothing but more rock. I would go with lava rock when I get to that stage.

Harvey, I haven’t found rhizome clips anywhere here, even online. I am possibly not searching properly because often a direct translation isn’t good. Anyway, what are your thoughts on making my own?

What I imagined I would do is: take a length of wire & wind it around outside rim of pot to secure, then come up over the rim & across whatever portion of the base of the orchid I can get across, back down the rim opposite from where I came up, and then back around the outside of the rim (or through earlier loop) to secure. Alternately, for thicker wire, I could just cut a length of wire a bit longer than from one hole in the side up & over to a hole on the other side, sort of crimp one end in a hole, bend up & over, across the orchid, bend down on the other side, and then crimp the remaining end in a hole on the other side.

i tried straightening paperclips & doing it but that didn’t work.

Ariel, here is my method.

The first pic shows how they come new. The second shows how they are recommended to use. The third pic shows my modification. I have never seen anyone else do this. It is called a rhizome clip for clay pots. It is different for plastic pots. The mod allows me to fill the pot. On the last pic you can see a hole on the side of the pot that can be used to secure your plant also. The clip needs to be not near any new growth,

Bend the wire so it is pointing down so you can have spring like pressure on the plant. Most of the time I need just one clip. sometimes 2. The bend that goes around the top of the pot needs to be tight. I lightly hammer it on with my pliers. If your first attempt is not what you want you MUST squeeze the part on the top of the rim again. Each time you remove the clip that part must be tight and re squeezed .

Look for rigid wire around 1/8". maybe slightly more or less. The long end of the wire must be bent to go lower in the pot, but that is just to allow pressure to hold the plant in. Each time that you try and are not satisfied you must re bend the wire.

If you have skill and tools you may want to try to drill 2 holes in the pot like in the last picture. Make sure the overall length after it is bent to be less than the diameter of the pot.

This has become so easy for me that I could have potted 3 or 4 plants in the time it took me to get this response together. I hope this helps. Buena surete!

That is SO MUCH simpler than what I envisioned! Thank you!

I’m an idiot & just can’t get it to work!

I think I’ll find someone to give the catts to. Having plants was once calming & therapeutic for me but lately I am left feeling frustrated and inadequate.

keep trying! Can you buy orchid supplies from the US? I buy them pre bent and get the longest one. I cut to the length needed. I make the modifying bend which is very easy. Remember after a failed try to re bend the part that goes on the edge of the pot so it will be tight. And when connecting to the edge as you push down or hammer it will have a tendency to go sideways. You need to control that so it goes down straight. It is so much easier to show than tell/ Did you find the right wire?

I can’t get it to work with the plants. They still flop around. I may ask a local orchid guy if he can help me out.

Importing from the US is iffy. It can sometimes take months & frequently items go home with customs agents. I doubt rhizome clips would be very tempting, though.

What kind of wire did you find?

Ariel, use your imagination. You can come up with a way to hold the plant in a sturdy way in the pot. If you use wire, twine, staples. Anything which will keep the plant from moving around.

If the plant moves it can break new root tips. You want to protect the roots from movement.

I have used garden staples when I didn't have clips. The staples are used to hold down weed cloth into the ground. I would think you could find those.

If not, try using stakes pushed down into the rock as far and stable as you can. Run some twine around them and the plant. Your mission is to keep the plant from moving until it roots into the rock. Once that happens, you don't need to worry.

I would also mention, your plants appear to be growing inside by a window. I would move them outside for air circulation and stronger light.

Jane

I do this when I pot something that is top heavy

Even in a pot with a single drain hole, you can push the wire up through the bottom over the edge and tie it on the side. After a few months the roots will secure the plant, then untie the wire and slide it out.

It was 1.8 mm with plastic coating. Jane, those pictures were before I moved. There, outside was way too much sun (I’m in Mexico right on the coast). Here, I have a direct sun all day rooftop patio, a balcony that has morning sun & then very bright shade, and a terrace with sun filtered through the jungle. I also have west- and north-facing windows. So once I actually get them in pots, I have better options for placement. Right now, unpotted, they’re near a west window.

I think I will try twine. Wire clips aren’t working for me and I think I will be able to be more precise with twine.

James, my pots are very similar to what’s in your picture. I should be able to do something like that. I also have lots of twist ties.

Thank you all. I know I seem melodramatic. I’ve had some really frustrating setbacks with my plants (not just these orchids) lately and everything I try has failed. I appreciate the encouragement.

1.8 is too small. around double that should do it...