It was indeed Steve, and I think he lost some plants that he had owned for
many years. I don't know if he ever found a cure. I had never seen anything
like what he posted.

Diana


"al" wrote in message
news:HanNg.10072$OI1.7228@trnddc05...
Cool.

What do these two books say are the symptoms to look out for? Does Bob
Gordon say if the term "microfungus" refers to a specific pathogen or
group/subgroup of fungus pathogens? It is such a funky word. I am not
saying it does not exist as a pathogen to be dealt with...

Steve posted links to pictures and the thread you are referring to is
mentioned among the threads that come up in the search I mentioned. I
don't know if the pictures can still be accessed. I also scanned the
links and read some of the symptoms describe when the term was used and
they didn't sound like what Van described, of course this means nothing
except I didn't see any common buzzword symptoms in the verbal
descriptions. I do remember thinking Steve's pictures looked like a mite
infection to me, but that's a memory. I didn't try to access the picture
link he posted. I also noticed about 3 or 4 over the counter fungicide
names that were mentioned as being a cure or treatment in these links.
And what you listed used over a 6 month treatment period would cure just
about any fungus nature could throw at an orchid plant.

"Pat Brennan" wrote in message
...
The best and only write up on the topic that I know of are in BobGordon's
books "Culture of the Phalaenopsis Orchid" and '"Phal Cultu A
Worldwide Survey." The pages on cure are well worn in my books. Two of
the three required fungicides are not sold in home consumer sizes. If
you do not already have Subdue, that will set you back over 200 bucks. I
have bought Triadimefon (Bayleton) as Strike 50% WDG (under $100).

If I was a hobby grower and it showed up I would try Daconil (consumer
size available around $20) and (and not or!) Cleary 3336 (around $50, but
a good chemical to have if you have a greenhouse.) treatments for six
improvements. If I saw no improvements after 6 months I would toss the
plants. Do not assume the plant is cured until you get clean leaves for
a year without chemical treatments.

A few years back someone in this group posted very good examples of what
I call microfungus. I do not think he ever cured it. Based on what I
have read in this group it sounds like it can spread to Oncs and maybe
other orchids.

Pat



"al" wrote in message
news:BOkNg.3297$xh3.3254@trnddc01...
if you go to Google groups at
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.gardens.orchids/
and search the archive of this newsgroup for the term "microfungus" you
will
find threads in which the term has been mentioned as far back as 1995.
I
don't think anything conclusive has ever been posted about it and I tend
to
think of it as a kind of 'internet' lore, because I have not been able
to
find anything written about it anyplace else. I have even asked a few
agriculture extension agents I know... None of my text books on botany
or
pest management mention it, but they all talk a lot about fungus
problems.
And most fungus diseases that infect living plant tissue are microscopic
so
the term is somewhat confusing and misleading to begin with and probably
applied a bit loosely when nothing else seems to apply...

Whenever this term comes up I wait to see if somebody can post something
definative.

"van" wrote in message
oups.com...
I was talking with an orchid grower today who warned me about a problem
that orchid growers seem to be having, but don't know much about it or
what to do. It is called a microfungus and once it sets in it
eventually kills the orchid. It spreads very easily throughout a
greenhouse or collection and affects phrags, paphs, phals, and other
things. Small brown or orange lesions appear mostly on the undersides
of leaves and discoloration eventually spreads killing the leaf or
entire new growth or eventually the plant. Healthy established plants
may have the microfungus symptoms but still grow and bloom.
Apparently not much is known about this and there is no known cure.
Phyton 27 may help control it but it never seems to go away. One West
Coast commercial greenhouse operation apparently lost an entire
greenhouse orchid collection to what was attributed to this mysterious
"microfungus."

Anyone know more about this "microfungus?"

Thanks