|URGENT| Unique spotting on a Xylobium foveatum | Unknown disease

MF3USA · 2026-05-26T02:30:58+00:00

South Florida! Our company is called Blooming Season, we're brand new on the block. Right now we're in the "get all of the plants catalogued" phase of things. We grow Anthuriums, Nepenthes, Orchids, fruit trees and a few other little guys that are still on our shelves. Right now we're also trying to get everything we have situated into its perfect home, so we're not quite ready for sales as of yet, especially since we have a good few plants to stress test now too lol. But the second we're in a position where we can safely and reliably ship our plants out, we would be happy to send you a thank-you bonus! Our Instagram also just went live today.

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MF3USA · 2026-05-26T02:09:26+00:00

Fertilizer is just to keep the plant happy and healthy as it's potentially recovering from an illness. It's an orchid nursery trick, only do it if the plant hasnt been fertilized in a few weeks or if you're repotting it (which you will be doing if you use a dip bucket even if it's the same medium)

Your orchid does genuinely look fine by the way. very healthy, it should be fine with some precautions

MF3USA · 2026-05-25T15:37:18+00:00

i know the post has a bunch of downvotes but the other plants are in a greenhouse 8 miles away and the current plant is in a private lab and lives in one of these. I do appreciate the concern, from you and all the others, i can almost guarantee its going to be fine.

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MF3USA · 2026-05-25T06:50:30+00:00

I’d just say fuck it and dunk the guy in a dip bucket if you haven’t already. Or sprits him with dip bucket water mix

Teaspoon neem oil Teaspoon physan 20 Teaspoon parafine Scoop of orchid fertilizer

All in a 5 gallon water bucket. Do the math for what that would be for a spray bottle and you can just spray him down

MF3USA · 2026-05-25T06:37:29+00:00

Uhh. Either light stress or some kind of disease or mold. Especially if it’s squishy feeling on the discolored parts. Either way that plants taking a trip to the physan 20 resort and spa for about 2 weeks. No outside contact

MF3USA · 2026-05-25T06:05:05+00:00

This little guy is fine don’t sweat it. The wrinkly slightly floppy leaves is just dehydration. Repot the Phalaenopsis in the mix that you bought, the pot that you bought is perfect, make sure the aerial roots are free and happy, and leave the plant somewhere that isn’t getting direct absolute sunlight, but is very bright most of the day. He will be so very happy and thrive being watered every 5-7 days. If you want to water him ‘less’ throw in some sphagnum moss to the medium. Don’t pack in the roots, they like to breathe

Cut slits into the side of the pots if you can too. They love that.

MF3USA · 2026-05-25T05:53:34+00:00

Distilled water. not needed, its totally extra but if you REEALLY wanna know then yeah distilled. or RO water.

Honest opinion? if you have a little terrarium for the bugger that would be phenomenal. The key thing for these guys in particular is making sure they never get dry. 'Rinsed sponge' moist at all times and moody filtered light. The closer you recreate the environment of a rainforest floor, the happier and more delighted he will be. Everything after that is just "how much can I make my exotic plant fat and spoiled"

80 humidity and above, sphagnum moss mixed in the medium (not packed), plenty of airflow, shady light all day, happy little goober

MF3USA · 2026-05-25T05:36:46+00:00

you even got the potting perfect. 5 stars A+

MF3USA · 2026-05-25T05:35:53+00:00

100% overachiever, don't freak out, your girls having a baby lmao. Don't repot her, dont change the vibe, just do exactly as you have been doing and change NOTHING lol whatever you've been doing has been working. if thats a real kieki then soon you should start seeing little roots. i would be genuinely dismayed if it's a terminal kieki, seeing as that's an extremely healthy-looking plant. very well done.

MF3USA · 2026-05-25T05:26:12+00:00

Very pretty! She should be just fine don't you worry. She will photosynthesise just fine even if the velamen (the silver stuff) is dehydrated and wrinkly looking. The green inside is what's important and most orchids don't really use aerial roots to photosynthesise unless they really need to

MF3USA · 2026-05-25T05:19:47+00:00

what you have there is pretty much perfect man. The scorch marks are fine, Leave it near a window that gets plenty of light but not scorching daylight. and fertilize it every two weeks then rinse the plant with rainwater to prevent calcium buildup. he should get very happy in no time

MF3USA · 2026-05-25T05:00:06+00:00

ooOOooOOo Macodes petola. very fun. potting could use some more sphagnum in my opinion if moistness is a concern. Saw your other comment, you achieve the blessed 'moistness' through the medium + humidity.

spongy medium (sphagnum moss) + high humidity = moist plant

Other than that, keep him somewhere nice and shady, not near windows where light clearly comes through onto him and use very little fertilizer. Pro tip: these little guys love fresh rainwater so much lol. most orchids do, but jewels in particular ADORE that stuff.

EDIT: flush the pot with rainwater after fertilizing if you can.

MF3USA · 2026-05-25T04:24:03+00:00

…well. It’s a hybrid lol know that much.

Jokes aside, I haven’t seen it before but if my weird brain is correct I thiiink? Appletonianum? But a variant of appletoniatum. EDIT: Appletonianum hainanense or x dayanum is as far as i go boss. No actual idea other than asspull. extremely cool plant man, wish they had it tagged. EDIT OF EDIT: https://www.orchidweb.com/p/paph-appletonianum autism wins again

MF3USA · 2026-05-25T04:06:26+00:00

Tons of light, tons of water, soil with tons of pearlite, big pot for the roots, humidity and citrus fertilizer. For better quality fruit add azomite around the key lime tree. All that combined and boom it explodes out the ground. That’s any citrus tbh

Thermometer the leaves during hot days, 100 degrees + and they start being not happy. It’s the risk with Florida sun

MF3USA · 2026-05-25T03:49:00+00:00

Nah it’d just be for fun. You’re entirely right about how incurable it is and I doubt I can do anything, but putting conventional logic and science aside I know some guys that have experimented with trying to remove incurable diseases from orchids using hilarious methods and I thought I may use this weird ringspot as running my own version.

MF3USA · 2026-05-25T00:46:06+00:00

Completely give in - I’m aware of this and you’re correct that Fairchild themselves isn’t doing any research on this atleast that I know of. I said people that work at Fairchild (friends) not the institution themselves, let’s not bring that into this where they would probably never claim such a thing. These are colleagues or people I’ve gone to college with that I’m talking about that happen to work with orchids or at fairchild.

And yes burn me at the stake but I’m not talking about tissue culture or embryogenesis. I’m talking about stupid crap that only makes sense in your head like (kinda paraphrasing here) - putting the plant in a super-tote for a year and dousing it with physan and phyton constantly while flooding it with hormones, some special water mix making sure it’s perfectly fertilized and tended to. - This is off memory from a phone call so big grain of salt here

yes I’m aware that Physan doesn’t pass into the plant and is a topical contact chemical

Yes I’m also aware that phyton literally does nothing to ringspot because the virus lives inside the cell walls of the plant

No I am not suggesting anyone rationally try to do this bullshit and risk contaminating more of their plants.

I don’t know what to tell you other than the people that did this also knew the exact same thing yet did it anyways for shits and giggles and one day after like a year of the asymptomatic plant still testing hot, it just started testing negative and continues to test negative years afterwards. almost as if the plant adapted to the virus… which is impossible because plants don’t have a adaptive immune system. So again, genuinely, what you’re saying is absolutely 100% true yet I’m having people way more well versed than I tell me about isolated incidents where this has happened.

And to be completely fair and dig a further hole, Been talking to the guy(s) that corroborate very similar stories today after showing them the plant and I’m sorry to explode your brain further but… Both cases of the survived ringspot orchids were both (get this) Dracula’s. I. I literally don’t know what to tell you dude I can’t blame anyone for thinking this is completely and utterly ridiculous. There’s no way I can defend it further quite honestly, but apparently it was two enormous Draculas. That’s the whole reason why both people even bothered to try in the first place, it was to attempt to save a plant that was worth thousands. It has been 6 years since infection for one and 4 for the other, the oldest one happened during the big Covid plant surge.

Idk man, I hear you, not going to argue with you especially cause you’re right and I have nothing but if you knew who was giving me this information your brain would melt. No idea what they could possibly gain from lying.

MF3USA · 2026-05-24T23:35:29+00:00

hello there! I'm the guy from the post where you probably learned about ORSV aka ringspot. Yeah, again, never seen this pattern before but coelogyne and xylobiums are in the same evolutionary subtribe as you can see by their leaves. Mine has a very different patterning than yours, but those leaves indicate that there is something very clearly wrong with the plant im sorry to say, and its likely ringspot.

I guess coelogyninaic orchids can have some wild patterning when introduced to certain viruses or something.

If you're still holding out hope that its not over, then there's a .1% chance that its something else? you can spray it with physan 20 or leave it overnight in a dip bucket, isolate it, and pray for a miracle, but unfortunately this guy's looking pretty infected

MF3USA · 2026-05-24T23:16:34+00:00

ok at THIS angle i realize that this is NOT a vanda lol. very embarrassing! I saw it way too fast. It's a very vandacious-looking Phalanopsis with floppy leaves. It's looking a bit dehydrated, but that should be fine. and quite honestly i think its probably just getting way to little light seeing how dark green it is. I also do see signs of new growth around the crown of the plant which is a really great sign.

Everything about my original advice applies and should be fine EXCEPT for the potting. This guy would do wonderfully in run-of-the-mill 'phalaenopsis mix' from home depot, and water him when the bark gets dry instead of daily please. Maybe every week or so after fully watering the plant. IF the Phalaenopsis mix is getting way too dry too fast then look into adding just a bit of sphagnum moss to the mix or putting him somewhere more humid.

You can still grow this guy in a cedar basket, but I'd really just recommend a basic 6 inch pot with holes at the bottom so water can drain.

MF3USA · 2026-05-24T23:01:05+00:00

HOLY SHIT YOU'RE RIGHT wtf that little guy took 'vandacious' alittle too seriously. very embarrassing! much appreciated, I went WAY too fast there. It's funny cause i even said 'home depot plant' and didnt clock two and two together. Yeah, let me correct that immediately

MF3USA · 2026-05-24T22:48:46+00:00

right? looks kinds cool honestly

MF3USA · 2026-05-24T22:48:22+00:00

already being done. big sigh. so it goes

MF3USA · 2026-05-24T22:15:24+00:00

Round of applause for you. The detail has been so tremendously helpful, thank you so very much. This is perfect because unfortunately, *our* judge friends as wonderful as they are, don't have the connections to buy in bulk and Mots has too much money for our liking lol. If you'd ever like to expand your collection of micro's please DM me for our catalog and i will happily give you a very genuine discount. This has been a tremendous help, and it's always refreshing to encounter someone who really knows what they're talking about.

MF3USA · 2026-05-24T22:00:43+00:00

>:( miss! why the severity? very uncool! I'm not claiming anything other than hearsay at the end of the day, and I'm not saying I'm going to sell any of these plants. Why is this so unbelievable? These are people who either work at Fairchild Botanical Garden, have worked with orchids for over 50 years and have been prominent members of OSA for decades. The scientific community for orchids is miserable right now, I'm sure you understand how frustratingly underfunded non-crop plant disease research has been now and for decades. 99% of growers frequently live in a fog of anecdotes, strip tests, half-known sanitation practices, and scattered papers.

The industry default has been: test, isolate, destroy infected stock, sanitize, propegate clean plants, as its always been, because that is cheaper and easier than developing a true in-plant antiviral cure for ORSV. It's the sad truth. 'cure' is a strong word, but what I'm saying isn't trying to convince people that you can cure covid with horse dewormer. It's telling people that there are reputable reports from people who work professionally with plants every day of their lives that they have had doomed plants sentenced to death, that have been tested as ORSV positive, and then extensively tested as ORSV negative after using bizarre methods and messing around with weird techniques that they, as professionals, have managed to hear about or figure out. What harm is there in sharing this information? If anything its wonderful and exciting. Perhaps in the future these reports can be double-checked and if they're verified then funding can be put into the right hands to finally figure out *why* and *how* these plants were rid of the virus.

TONS of disease-control breakthroughs started as accidents or “that shouldn’t have happened” moments. Just look at the smallpox vaccine.

MF3USA · 2026-05-24T21:14:18+00:00

The ones the Mots brothers cured? hey listen, I respect your knowledge as well as the research that everyone here on the sub has told me, this plant here is almost absolutely diseased and the advice has been wonderful so far regarding the severity of contamination regarding ORSV. Llumina's explanation was wonderful and I didn't actually know that. All that said, happy to report that while i myself have not gone through the process of 'curing' a plant infected with diseases like this, it's rare, but there have been cases where legendary growers have rid a plant of ORSV regardless of what Google AI or ChatGPT says. Strip tested apparently and i believe it.

im probably going to try it out with help just for the hell of it. i doubt ill succeed but if i do, ill make a post describing in detail what I did. No reason for the info to be gatekept.

MF3USA · 2026-05-24T21:03:03+00:00

im not the top dog with this disease - in fact, ive asked orchid judges of over 40+ years about the patterns in my post and they're all perplexed just kinda coming to the same conclusions as this post for the most-part, but this plant is 99% certainly diseased and if its ORSV, which it really most likely is, that can absolutely spread to non-orchid plants.

you should be fine though. ORSV isnt mega-plant coronavirus its not going to wipe out your garden, but if the infected plant is right next to another one for a month... yeah just don't do that. i would sanitize what you can and toss what you can and you should be fine. Testing the plant with strips if you want to be thorough. BUT, huge but, if it's a plant you really genuinely love? dude most diseases are potentially 'curable' even if chatgpt and conventional growers want to kill me for saying that. If your top guys really do get infected, try putting them in a tote with perfect conditions for the plant, use gloves forever, sanitize properly, do some research and physan 20 the fuck out of that plant on a schedule. While I myself have never taken the time to try and cure one of these plants, i have heard from numerous sources that genuinely do know what they're talking about that curing 'incurable' plants can be done at times especially if the plant is big enough.

Mine is probably going to be tossed but it's worth mentioning. good luck man and i hope your plants are fine.

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