Hi, Group,

Lately we've been watching far too many of our Vandaceous plants losing
leaves. The leaves turn yellow and drop. The plants are otherwise healthy,
blooming regularly and bug free. We haven't changed anything; water,
nutrition, location, all the same as usual. And to be precise, it's not all
of the plants. Some are just as full as ever.

Any ideas?

Diana

Are they breaking from the abscission point next to the central stalk?

K Barrett

"Diana Kulaga" wrote in message
...
Hi, Group,

Lately we've been watching far too many of our Vandaceous plants losing
leaves. The leaves turn yellow and drop. The plants are otherwise healthy,
blooming regularly and bug free. We haven't changed anything; water,
nutrition, location, all the same as usual. And to be precise, it's not
all of the plants. Some are just as full as ever.

Any ideas?

Diana

Are they breaking from the abscission point next to the central stalk?

Yes, they are. And they are not soft at all. Remember that big Asctm. we
discussed over in abpo last year? The one we decided was mislabeled? That
has always had a tendency toward leaf loss, though not of the magnitude I'm
seeing now. And it has so many offshoots that you hardly notice it, really.
A further clue: some of the plants are getting reddish spotting. This is
coloration only; no soft spots. And a few have leaf tip blackening. It's
almost as if I'm seeing sunburn, but nothing has changed and these are not
new plants. Anyway, there's no sunburn damage, so that can't be it. I'll try
to get a couple of pictures tomorrow.

I'm not really worried about this, but if they need something I'm failing to
deliver I'd like to know it.

Diana

"Diana Kulaga" wrote in message
...
Are they breaking from the abscission point next to the central stalk?

Yes, they are. And they are not soft at all. Remember that big Asctm. we
discussed over in abpo last year? The one we decided was mislabeled? That
has always had a tendency toward leaf loss, though not of the magnitude
I'm seeing now. And it has so many offshoots that you hardly notice it,
really. A further clue: some of the plants are getting reddish spotting.
This is coloration only; no soft spots. And a few have leaf tip
blackening. It's almost as if I'm seeing sunburn, but nothing has changed
and these are not new plants. Anyway, there's no sunburn damage, so that
can't be it. I'll try to get a couple of pictures tomorrow.

I'm not really worried about this, but if they need something I'm failing
to deliver I'd like to know it.

Diana


Mine have been losing leaves and then the stem rots, too. Usually its
'crown down' rot, but this seems to start in the axils and penetrate to the
main trunk.

I lost all of my favorite orchids to this stuff, so I hope it ain't what
you've got. Happened faster than you'd notice, either, so no chance to hit
them with a fungicide.

K

"K Barrett" wrote in message
. ..

"Diana Kulaga" wrote in message
...
Are they breaking from the abscission point next to the central stalk?

Yes, they are. And they are not soft at all. Remember that big Asctm. we
discussed over in abpo last year? The one we decided was mislabeled? That
has always had a tendency toward leaf loss, though not of the magnitude
I'm seeing now. And it has so many offshoots that you hardly notice it,
really. A further clue: some of the plants are getting reddish spotting.
This is coloration only; no soft spots. And a few have leaf tip
blackening. It's almost as if I'm seeing sunburn, but nothing has changed
and these are not new plants. Anyway, there's no sunburn damage, so that
can't be it. I'll try to get a couple of pictures tomorrow.

I'm not really worried about this, but if they need something I'm failing
to deliver I'd like to know it.

Diana


Mine have been losing leaves and then the stem rots, too. Usually its
'crown down' rot, but this seems to start in the axils and penetrate to
the main trunk.

I lost all of my favorite orchids to this stuff, so I hope it ain't what
you've got. Happened faster than you'd notice, either, so no chance to
hit them with a fungicide.

K
Hi Diana, we recently had a talk from a guy who knows quite abit about
vandaceous.I remember he said one of the main causes for leaf loss in vanda
is temperature,too cool.What have your temps been?
Thanks Keith

Kenty, I'm in South Florida and it's April. I promise you it's not too cold
right now, LOL!

Kath, I don't think this is what you described. There is no massive leaf
drop, and the central stems are firm and in good shape. Maybe just a fluke,
or simply time for some topping.

Thanks.....

Diana

Good, I'm glad its not what mine had. Like I said they are gone baby gone.

K

"Diana Kulaga" wrote in message
. ..
Kenty, I'm in South Florida and it's April. I promise you it's not too
cold right now, LOL!

Kath, I don't think this is what you described. There is no massive leaf
drop, and the central stems are firm and in good shape. Maybe just a
fluke, or simply time for some topping.

Thanks.....

Diana

"Diana Kulaga" wrote in message
...
Kenty, I'm in South Florida and it's April. I promise you it's not too
cold right now, LOL!

Kath, I don't think this is what you described. There is no massive leaf
drop, and the central stems are firm and in good shape. Maybe just a
fluke, or simply time for some topping.

Thanks.....

Diana

It could be delayed reaction from last summer. They got hit pretty
hard with odd conditions while you had them locked down - too dark and
not much air movement. They are just settling out and regrouping.
Keep a closer eye on the ones that drop more than a couple of leaves.
They could be in topping territory or they could be in stress. You
might want to baby any root tips up the stem, if you can find them.
When I get there I put Spanish Moss on the plant to encourage humidity
and higher rooting - But where you are it would encourage bugs and
other pests.

It would not hurt to treat for "fungus among gust". But I would
suspect nothing is there.


SuE
http://orchids.legolas.org/gallery/main.php

We do topping as necessary, and I have routinely air layered Vandas that act
like palm trees, LOL.......

Last summer the plants had far less stress than times past, actually.
Nothing went into the garage. We brought in hanging racks and placed them
near light sources, and out on the patio (where we panel the whole thing in)
we took the panels down immediately after the storm. We were lucky, and got
our power back right away, so fans went on immediately. Of course, even
moving them like that is stressful, and we did it during some cold snaps
last winter, too.

Once my back straightens out I'll give 'em a dose of Physan, just to be on
the safe side.

Diana

Diana: I'm going with the "blame the weather" theories. If the red is not
from sun [you sure, no loss of nearby trees that might have been providing
more shade than you thought?], then it should be temperature which has been
weird and yo-yo-ish for the last several weeks. Up until just a couple
weeks ago, we were cooler than normal (except for a couple of hot spells),
now we're having record highs ...

Here at JBO, we had less leaf loss than usual last Dec-Jan, then they made
up for it in Feb-March. Kenni

"Diana Kulaga" wrote in message
...
Hi, Group,

Lately we've been watching far too many of our Vandaceous plants losing
leaves. The leaves turn yellow and drop. The plants are otherwise healthy,
blooming regularly and bug free. We haven't changed anything; water,
nutrition, location, all the same as usual. And to be precise, it's not
all of the plants. Some are just as full as ever.

Any ideas?

Diana