"Diana Kulaga" wrote in message
...
Well, we have a little problem here. Walked out on the patio on Friday
morning and saw severe damage to a number of Phals. Mind you, seeing them
every day is unavoidable, so I can assure you that these probs were not
evident the day before. Clearly, something had been in the works, but I
hadn't noticed. ....

Diana

Sorry, Diana, I've been in and out of the loop here for a few months. I had
something similiar to what you're going through before I started growing
exclusively in a well screened GH. Beside that, what I did at the time to
start saving a fairly good number of plants with great success was to mix up
a bushel basket of Physan to the old time concentration of 1 Tbsp/gal. A
mature plant can take that as a 15-20 min total immersion soak. I stripped
off all damaged leaves and roots, wired the plant label onto the plant and
tossed it in the bushel while I tackled the next. I expanded some
long-fibered sphagnum with Physan and spread it in the bottom of several of
those big transparent storage tubs you get at WalMart. They make a great
ICU. Pack in the patients dripping wet. After several days, any with some
roots and no other signs of the creeping crud can be moved to an ICU where
the top is left askew for better air movement, and then potted fresh in a
frew more days. Treat new pots and medium with Physan. A followup spray of
Physan can be done a few days later at the lower rate of 1 tsp/gal rate. For
the others left in ICU, treat as you would for the sealed bag treatment for
invalids. Move to ICU #2 as you see improvement. Re-treat a second time in
ICU #1 if you see any sign of the crud returning. I saved all but a few
which was probably my own fault. Good luck playing nurse on the massive
scale. It's a lot more demanding than just being a caretaker. And it's less
rewarding seeing a new root rather than a new flower but it does beat
playing in traffic. Keep us all appraised of success or failure.
Gary