Today I noticed one of my rescue cattleyas has brown spots on the aerial roots. I also noticed a couple of black spots on my dendrobium leaves. Should I be worried about these spots?

I wonder if the orangy-brown spot on that plump white root may be damage from the bark chip/potting medium?

That's definitely a possibility Lin. Sometimes the orchid wobbles a little and since it's a surface root it's probably getting scraped? Hopefully the root will still be ok? I just get worried about seeing brown spots because I always think it's a virus or bacterial infection.

I honestly wouldn't give it any thought! My advise is to get more Orchids to spread the attention! In the aquarium hobby you call those "dither fish", so how about some "dither Orchids"?
No, really, not to worry!

I'm with Ursula. I see nothing to worry about. Pour yourself a glass of wine and plan an orchid shopping trip.

Jim

Ok I feel a lot better now. I have a few orchids on my wish list that I'm going to try to get this year and I check the clearance rack at Lowe's to see if they have any interesting orchids. So far they've just had a lot of dehydrated phals and mini phals.

Cameron, if your cattleya is wobbling a little as you said, you should try to stake it or fasten it more firmly so it doesn't move in the pot. People use little spring clips, that look like tiny hair clips to fasten the pseudobulbs to the stakes or if hanging, to the hanger. If the tips of the roots rub, or get damaged, that can cause them to stop growing and they're very tender when young. You want them to grow and attach to their pot or to the medium.

Otherwise, I'm with the others, nothing there to worry about. The root tip in your picture looks very healthy. I think the brown spot on the root may be just a "bruise". The dark spots on the Den leaf is a very common affliction that doesn't usually cause any significant damage. Some orchids have it all the time and they just carry on. But keep a bit of an eye on it to make sure the spots don't get a lot larger.

I'll add a couple of stakes to the pot. The orchid was in really bad shape when I got it and I had to cut off a majority of the roots since they were dead. I'm glad it's recovering and growing lots of new roots. I'm glad the leaf spots are common. I was worried I was doing something wrong. I'll keep my eye on it to make sure it doesn't spread.

Yesterday I got another Latouria dendrobium. It was the last one and it was severely dehydrated. I soaked it in liquid kelp for a few hours and surprisingly the roots became plump again. I was afraid I'd have to cut them off but they're firm again. I put a little sphagnum in the media to help provide moisture until it develops new roots. I also have it in a plastic bag to provide humidity. It has two new growths on it so I feel there is some hope. The manager marked it down to a quarter of it's original price. The images are a bit graphic. It's Stephen Batchelor X Nida.

Latouria can root very qickly but I would be very careful with a plastic bag. You may be better off just keeping it a bit more shaded then you might normally grow it which would 2-3 hours of sun, otherwise bright exposure.
You might want to read up on rhizome clips. At one end they clip under the outside rim of the pot, out across the media, then over the orchids rhizome. This will help to secure the plant to avoid bruising the roots which is what your first photo shows. The more you protect those roots, the happier the plant will be.

Thanks Bill, I'll remove the plastic bag because the last thing I want to do is stress the plant even more or kill it. I'll find a more shaded spot because right now I'm growing it near my grow light. I got some galvanized wire and I made a couple of makeshift rhizome clips that keep it somewhat stable for the most part but with the deli container I'm using, I had to improvise with the shape of the clip.

Well depending upon your strength of the grow light, it make be okay where it is. But too much light would stress the plant when you need "it's internal workings" to concentrate on producing roots.
Sometimes a bag works and sometimes it leads to rot. Why chance it? Good luck Tex87!

I think it's a 6400k bulb but it's also an old bulb. I noticed the leaves are starting to turn yellow. I may change the mid back to orchid bark and lava rock because the sphagnum is still moist after a few days. Thanks Bill, I'll need all the luck I can get.