New Phalaenopsis Compot- Need Help!! Leaves Fell Off of One Plant

[Jayfar]

Originally Posted by OzPhal

Hey Jay,

Part of what you're saying is right there - in a way... quaternary ammonium compounds are very quickly deactivated by organic components... things like potting mix etc... what's important with these products though is to use the corerct dosages to ensure that there's sufficient active ingredients to do the job even allowing for some deactivation... they do work! quats are one of the best antimicrobial compounds around as they do their job and are quite specific to deactivating and breaking down cell walls of bacteria, fungi and viral particles

True, but I'm thinking that with some of the more serious bacterial infections pathogens are already inside the plant and only a systemic, such as Phyton 27, can kill them, where Physan, on the other hand, doesn't get inside the plant.

[OzPhal]

Orchidsarefun, neosporin would be one that could be used! it's effective against both gram negative and positive organisms and targets bacterial cell membranes as their mode of action which is good! It doesn't seem to interact with plant cell walls... only problem with using antibiotics is that you have to be 100% certain it's a bacterial infection and not a viral one...

[sweetjblue]

Island Girl, I'm going to add my to this discussion if you don't mind

Looks like you have some bacterial rot going on there that was probably started during shipping. Consider this, you have moisture in the compot (however slight) , wrapped up in paper and closed up in a box for a few days during high temps with no air curculation. Not surprising to me to see the spots on the leaves.

Putting these in the glass container you have is probably not a good idea right now IMHO as the compot really doesn't need it. These seedlings aren't fresh out of flask. I have the same cross in compot, probably from the same flask so they've been deflasked for several months. They don't need that high humidity any longer. What they need right now is fresh circulating air to let the leaves stay dry and heal. Keeping them that humid only magnifies the problem.

To try and stop the rot that has now taken hold of your plants, spray the leaves with Physan 20 or use brown Listerine and then let the leaves dry. However do keep your potting media slighty damp,not wet, and to do that you should spray the moss early in the day so that the leaves and crown are dry before night fall. You can always wipe off any excess water from the leaves and crown after spraying if need be.

DON'T water from the bottom letting the media soak up water. That is one of the worst ways to water plants potted in moss, they get too soaking wet and the pot stays wet for too long leading to root rot. When you do have to water, water from the top, letting water fill to the brim and then let drain.

I really don't think that the vendor that these came from would have sent these out like this (pretty sure who it is) as I've received several flasks and compots over the years. Never received anything that looked like yours and he has a very good reputation for quality plants. You may however want to contact him over the number of seedlings you received, fairly sure he'd make it right for you.


Judi

[OzPhal]

Originally Posted by sweetjblue

DON'T water from the bottom letting the media soak up water. That is one of the worst ways to water plants potted in moss, they get too soaking wet and the pot stays wet for too long leading to root rot. When you do have to water, water from the top, letting water fill to the brim and then let drain.
Judi

Sorry for going a little OT Island Girl -

It's interesting you say that Judi... there's many schools of thought out there in regard watering and what works best - in general it's highly dependent on your conditions etc - sphagnum moss has never been a friend of mine - in winter it stays too wet - i've got a few seedlings in it at the moment that I'm moving across to my 4 parts bark, 1 part perlite, 1 part charcoal mix. For that bark mix soaking works really well and, for the most part, i thought, soaking of the sphagnum was working well for me too! i found that if i soaked them for about 30mins then about three days later the sphagnum was lightly damp and i thought it was ok... I actually re-potted a seedling this morning that i'd been growing that way and i noticed that, although the majority of new root growth seemed ok (they hadn't gotten right down the bottom yet), that some of the older roots had succumb to root rot. So then would soaking work better in baskets i.e. the mesh sided pots. Filling from the top would work well so long as you never let your moss dry out completely...

Do you grow your phals in sphagnum Judi? Do you simply fill it up and then let it drain straight away?

[sweetjblue]

OzPhal,

Yes I grow my Phals in Sphagnum at least the ones in pots 4" and under. Anything over its a combo of sphag, bark, charcoal and perlite as the pots take longer to dry.
And yes, I water pots just as I stated. I was told of this method by Carri Raven-Reiman of the OrchidPhile and it works quite well in fact (at least for me), especially if the moss is firmly packed. If I remember correctly she has the method posted on her Facebook page somewhere. Since using this method I have noticed that I have alot less root issues with plants planted in pure sphag.
Soaking moss would work better with mess sided pots as well as clay, more air movement thru both.

As had been said on OB, ask 10 people you'll get 10 different answers for both watering and media. It all depends on your conditions. I was basing my answer on what I saw and knowing the vendor and how he plants his compots. Do what works for you.

As I stated I was just giving my

Sorry if I offended anyone.

Judi

[OzPhal]

Thanks Judi, appreciate your feedback

Originally Posted by sweetjblue

OzPhal,

Yes I grow my Phals in Sphagnum at least the ones in pots 4" and under. Anything over its a combo of sphag, bark, charcoal and perlite as the pots take longer to dry.
And yes, I water pots just as I stated. I was told of this method by Carri Raven-Reiman of the OrchidPhile and it works quite well in fact (at least for me), especially if the moss is firmly packed. If I remember correctly she has the method posted on her Facebook page somewhere. Since using this method I have noticed that I have alot less root issues with plants planted in pure sphag.
Soaking moss would work better with mess sided pots as well as clay, more air movement thru both.

As had been said on OB, ask 10 people you'll get 10 different answers for both watering and media. It all depends on your conditions. I was basing my answer on what I saw and knowing the vendor and how he plants his compots. Do what works for you.

As I stated I was just giving my

Sorry if I offended anyone.

Judi

[Jayfar]

Originally Posted by sweetjblue

I really don't think that the vendor that these came from would have sent these out like this (pretty sure who it is) as I've received several flasks and compots over the years. Never received anything that looked like yours and he has a very good reputation for quality plants. You may however want to contact him over the number of seedlings you received, fairly sure he'd make it right for you.


Judi

Agree 1000% with what Judy said.

[OzPhal]

Also, I know ones are saying that it's too wet and that there is too much moss in there! but how long before this photo had you watered them? It's only an issue if they've been that wet for a long period of time.. in regard there being too much moss i would probably tend to agree there but we have to weigh up what's more important - disturbing the plants by repotting them as well as treating the infection or giving the plant as much energy as it can to fight the infection.... I personally would allow the plant to fight the infection in conjunction with Physan 20, watch how you water the plant! ensure you use the soak method rather than the over head watering method and then, once the plants have gotten over the bacterial infection and started showing signs of growth then, and only then, go messing with repotting them.

[Island Girl]

Yes, as of this morning, the vendor contacted me, via email, And from what I've heard from everyone, he is a reputable dealer. My other phals from him are beautiful! He said that the gigantea are sensitive to temp changes.. But he did offer to replace, so that might be the best thing to do now that I think about it..... Cause I asked him if there was anything I could do to save them, but I dunno, like I said, I'm new to this!

Thank y'all so much for all your help!

[OzPhal]

That's great news you're making great progress and you're in the right place to learn! you'll make mistakes along the way - we all have and still do! but you'll always learn something...

Originally Posted by Island Girl

Yes, as of this morning, the vendor contacted me, via email, And from what I've heard from everyone, he is a reputable dealer. My other phals from him are beautiful! He said that the gigantea are sensitive to temp changes.. But he did offer to replace, so that might be the best thing to do now that I think about it..... Cause I asked him if there was anything I could do to save them, but I dunno, like I said, I'm new to this!

Thank y'all so much for all your help!