I just had to let everyone know about this fabulous new item I learned about yesterday from attending the Great Lakes Judging Centers seminar on Pests and Diseases.
We had a total of 49 people, judges and local hobbyists alike, attend this incredible two hour event via ZOOM!
The first half centered around Orchid Pests and went from mealybugs through aphids, scales, and thrips through cockroaches and grasshoppers!
The second half was on diseases, from Black rot to root rot to Pseudomonas, through Erwinia and edema. It was just an extremely informative session!

But the best part is is that it is all accessible to Everyone Of You! Now for the good part, you can find all of this information on the St. Augustine Orchid Society web site. Just go to the site and click on the "menu" tab.
Once there scroll down to "Problems" then "Pests & Diseases" and here you will find images and text talking about every major insect problem that plague our orchids, including mites. There are several images depicting each insect problem as well as comprehensive tables on pesticides. Really pesticides from A to Z. Not only what they are but what insects do they control best as well as their method of control. It shows you what insecticides work effectively together and which do not!!
Within the same section you then proceed through diseases. Diseases such as Erwinia, Black rot, Leaf tip burn, fertilizer damage, viruses!! There are wonderful images of each problem, several for each. There is an extensive table of all the chemicals, fungicides and bacterial preparations to help you deal with these problems. There is detailed information as to which chemical is most effective in treating what problem. Methods of application are shown as well as at what concentrations should they be used at!!!

I encourage every grower to visit the SAOS web site! This is just a fantastic thing that they have put together and please make use of it.
NOT TO MENTION THE ENTIRE SITE IS GORGEOUS!!

Super informative, Bill!
I am making this to a sticky!
Here is the link
https://staugorchidsociety.org...

My pleasure!
I just had to share this as quickly as I could!!! Pretty cool huh?

Well done!

Absolutely awesome Bill...thank you so much ,
Great idea to make it a sticky Ursula!

You are welcome Lindsey!

An excellent resource, Bill. Thanks for pointing it out.

It does make me wonder how widely grown Cymbidiums are, though, since I rarely see any photos of confirmed viral infections on society sites like these. That's why I had to put my own together: The thread "Cymbidium Leaf Markings" in Orchid Insect and Disease Control-Part 1

@BigBill for providing this info ! I read up on "Black Tip on New Growth" issue I've had & it appears to be Calcium deficiency... according to the website.

The New growth on these Young Cattleya would turn Black on the very tip overnight and slowly progress down the growth.. and Yes they were in active growth (under lights) I lost several growths to this & first was told it may have been due to getting water / fertilizer into the developing growths.

Will now use Cal-Mag 1 tsp per gallon as recommended on label.

Lately I've been keeping the oscillating fan on 24/7 & no longer Mist.

I remain unconvinced that a calcium deficiency is the real cause Glenn. Why? Because the problem shows up over time. It happens over the course of several weeks. A Cal Mag problem would gradually appear and gradually get worse.
While in Florida, in the extreme heat and humidity, everything seemed to speed up down there! A seedling had a black tip to a new growth and was dead within 48- 120 hours. In total, I probably lost 150 Cattleya seedlings over the course of two years time. A fan and less sunlight helped to slow it down. Neem Oil helped even more.
The other possibility, root rot starts in the media, spreads to the roots and then up the rhizome to the growths. This is another problem that progresses quicker then Cal Mag but, it kills a seedling much quicker.

Think of it this way, I got to be overweight by eating my wife's Italian cooking. I didn't go to bed one night and wake up fat the next morning. It took months. I would hate to see you lose anymore plants. Try Cal Mag but be prepared for rot.

I agree with Bill. If the leaf tips are going black overnight, this suggests something more rapid than a nutrient deficiency. Keep a close watch on the plant and as Bill says, be prepared for rot (and check the roots if you can).

This week I've had a new and interesting "case study". A Cymbidium I had tested returned a positive result for both Orchid Fleck Virus (OFV) and Odontoglossum Ringspot Virus (ORSV). This is the first time, out of the dozens of plants I have had tested, that I have ever had a result with more than one virus.

In this case the necrotic markings were different to my previous experiences with OFV and ORSV and only one leaf tip had a faint chlorotic marking that I have seen with ORSV (and I didn't see that until I got the test results and went looking for it).

Necrotic markings:


The chlorotic marking that I attribute to ORSV:


In this case the plant wasn't a valuable one (thankfully), so it has been a valuable learning experience. I haven't encountered OFV symptoms often enough to say that these necrotic markings wouldn't appear in just an OFV infection (in fact the thin leaf with the necrotic tissue near the tip does look similar to a photo I have seen), but this will be a useful reference.

Boy, you know the more that I look into viruses, the more frightened I become.
In your examples Joshua, those blackened marks that I saw on orchids 30 to 40 years ago never really caused me concerns. I was foolishly thinking bacterial or fungal. Now viruses are likely to be the cause.
In that bottom most image, that chlorotic green and yellow striping has always caused me to be concerned. Especially in examples where the yellowish green color was immediately adjacent to the veins of a leaf. Then as you get farther away from a leaf vein, the tissue gets greener. That "striping" I figured was clear evidence of the virus being present.
Testing has become the most definitive way to know for sure.

Bill, I think you are wise to take it seriously. I fear too many growers don't know enough about viruses to prevent spreading them through their collections. In one sense I was fortunate to encounter them early on and have to ditch a lot of plants; it's meant I researched viruses and have been paranoid about them ever since.

I've been working on an article about viruses (particularly in Cyms) for my local Orchid society and it's going out in parts in the newsletter. I am planning to post it in full on our website in a few weeks, so will happily post a link to it then.

The full article is finally up here:
https://www.cosv.com.au/orchid...

Comments and feedback are welcome!

Joshua, you wrote an excellent article, this is very informative and useful!!

Thank you for posting this!

I agree, excellent! Very well written with research based but clearly expressed information.

Thanks Ursula and Alice! It's written mainly with Cymbidiums in mind, but most of the recommendations should apply to any orchid genus.

I had to break down and get rid of my mealybugs. The population is heavy again three weeks later. So I am returning to Neem Oil. I am hesitant because it is fragrant and all orchids are underlights.

First dosage is today. 1/2 gallon pump spray bottle filled with water. Then 2 drops of mild dish soap. To this I add 1/2 teaspoon of Neem. Spray everything I can reach, over and under, pots included.

Repeat on or about March 15th and again on March 30th or 31st. From that point on, I will do what I call a touch up spray on the first weekend of the month. I will skip April and spray May 1st, June 1st etc.
by either July or August, I will get better coverage and results due to Neem oils systemic properties.

It is that time of year for indoor growers! Those bugs are just too comfy in our environment ! Usually by February I see them popping up here and there, my Neem oil bottle is always within reach!

Treating with alcohol proved a waste of time! Terribly disappointing.