Sanitation at watering time

[Izzie]

Do you think just spraying the soaking bowls heavily with a Physan 20 solution in-between plants would "sanitize satisfactorily", or does that only work if you soak it in the Physan?

I've got some great ideas from this thread.

[Jerry Delaney]

At this point, I'm going to throw a rock into the fan. A number of years ago, an experiment was supposedly done to see if orchid virus could be transmitted via the root system. The rhizome on a healthy, virus free plant was severed and a piece of plastic inserted between the now separated leads. One half was deliberately infected and some time later (can't remember how long) both leads were tested for virus. Only the deliberately infected lead tested positive. Now, even if this was true, I'm not sure how much can be drawn from the data. I have never seen this experiment in print. It seems that the information was kind of just passed via word of mouth (boy, talk about something unsanitary). Keep in mind that at the time this was done, virus testing was in it's infancy and false negatives were most likely quite common. I just wonder if anyone else have heard of this test and if it really means anything. Perhaps it's just an old orchid growers wives tale.
More germane to the original question, there are lots of other potential pathogens other than viruses that could be transmitted by orchids sharing the bath water. Have I ever had my orchids share the bath water? You betcha!! However, that does NOT mean that it's good practice. I have also been guilty of running with scissors in my hand and was lucky enough not to fall!!

[Cym Ladye]

Originally Posted by Izzie

Do you think just spraying the soaking bowls heavily with a Physan 20 solution in-between plants would "sanitize satisfactorily", or does that only work if you soak it in the Physan?

Izzy,

Physan 20 will kill certain bacteria but in my experience, it is not a viricide, in spite of its claims. Use a clorox soak at a 5% rate. Much cheaper and definitely more effective. Best to soak pots and utensils for at least an hour. I use plastic handled steak knives for dividing my Cyms and single edged razor blades. The washed knives are soaked in 5% clorox and the razor blades baked in a 325-350 F oven for an hour on a flat tray, or just sent to recycle.

Royal mentioned clay pots. These may be thoroughly scrubbed and then baked at about 325 F for an hour or so. Most tedious, to be sure so most of us have switched to plastic and use clay only as a decorative container for non orchids.

CL