Orchid diseases - is your orchid showing signs of disease or ill health? This hubpage will help you identify whether your orchid plant has a fungal or bacterial infection.

Most orchid diseases are caused by either fungi or bacteria. Identifying which disease is affecting your orchid plants is critical if you are wanting to give the plant the correct treatment. Before we discuss the fungal and bacteria diseases, we ought to first take a look at other, non-disease, factors that maybe affecting the plant. If the leaves are streaked either brown or black, or become mottled, then this could be a sign of a virus infection. There is no cure for orchid viruses, so they best thing you can do is remove the infected plant away from other healthy plants and see if it recovers in isolation. Probably the most common sign of an unhealthy plant is yellow leaves. More than likely these are just old leaves dying back, or the plant is being fed too little nitrogen. Other causes of leaf yellowing are too much light, loss of roots or the temperature of the room is too low. If the pseudobulbs are starting to shrivel, this could be sign that the plant is not getting enough water.

Fungal infections usually manifest themselves as small brown spots that eventually turn black. Yellow spots, with a black edge, are another sign of a fungal infection. The main causes of fungal disease in orchids are poor air circulation and a too high humidity.

Orchid fungal diseases can be treated with any plant fungicide sold at your local garden store. Another well-used treatment, also available at garden stores, is Bordeaux mixture - a combination of water, hydrated lime and copper sulfate.

If your plant has brown/black smudges on the leaf edges, this is a sure sign of bacterial blight. Providing the infection is not too advanced, treat the plant with Physan. If the orchid's leaves are turning black and wilting, then the best you can do is immediately remove it from other plants and remove all infected areas. With orchid bacteria diseases, repot the remaining healthy plant into a new pot with new potting mix.

These are some general guidelines for dealing with orchid diseases. For more valuable orchid growing information, have a look at the Orchid Care Expert.

Learn How To Care For and Grow Amazing Orchids Using Easy To Follow, Step-By-Step Techniques

• Find out how much light your type of orchid needs.
• Does your Cattleya need to be watered at different intervals to your Epidendrum? It certainly does...
• Follow the 7 step procedure for producing hybrids.
• Find out how the use of bamboo skewers can solve your watering problems.
• Are you using fertilizer on your orchids? Learn to use it in the correct frequency.
• Find out how to care for your orchid throughout the year with the Taking Care of Your Orchids For Every Season chapter.
• Hot tips for buying the right orchid.
• Learn about growing orchids in a hydroponic garden.
• Recommendations on which orchids are suitable for experts or which can be grown by beginners.
• Hot tips for growing virus free orchids.

For more information on this unique orchid care guide, visit the Orchid Care Expert.

For the newbie orchid grower, starting off with younger orchid plants is a great way to learn how to care for them as you watch them grow and blossom. When getting a young orchid plant for the first time, try and find out as much about it as possible. Knowing what species it is is very important, as is the sort of environment it is found in the wild. From here you'll have a better idea what watering, temperature, light and humidity requirements it needs.

Make a list of supplies you may need for your young orchid plant. This should include the correct potting mix and a specialized orchid fertilizer. Keep a plant pesticide and fungicide handy in case your plant suddenly gets attacked by something. Orchids generally need repotting once a year so there is no hurry to get another pot just yet. A water sprayer is handy as it is easier to control the quantity of water you give your plant.

It is essential that you get the potting mix right. Most orchids do not grow in the standard garden soil or garden plant potting mixes. There are species of orchid that prefer a bark potting mix and others that prefer a sand mix. Always leave the young orchid plant in the potting mix that you received it in. Don't repot the plant until it has grown to a size where it has overgrown the existing pot. When you do repot, select a pot size slightly bigger as orchids do not like being transferred to containers that are much larger then the one they are in.

Often young orchid plants are kept in potting media that appears quite dry. This is done on purpose to prevent fungal infections. Orchid roots rot very easily if they are over watered. It is much better to gradually water the plant over time, rather than do a sudden soak if the potting medium is very dry. Because young orchid plants are not yet flowering, they require different light intensities to those needed by mature orchids. If the lighting is too low, the leaves will start to turn a dark green color. Gradually increase the light by changing the plant's position and when the leaves appear a healthy light green color then that should be fine.