Thread: Help!
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Old 05-12-2006, 02:31 PM posted to alt.binaries.pictures.orchids
Pat Brennan[_1_] Pat Brennan[_1_] is offline
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First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Aug 2006
Posts: 34
Default Help!

Hi Diana,

I do not know what is going on. I, like Rob, Gene, and Ray, wonder if it is
not some culture issue. Hard, dry and very fast moving is not your normal
creeping crud. I do not think it is the Steve infliction, it is moving too
fast. I checked the weather for you for the past month, it sounds like it
has been lovely and not a single night would have cause this. The sun is at
a very low angle now. I would carefully check to make sure shading is still
right. Has anyone been using roundup or grass weed & feed?

Do you have a bush snail problem? I have seen bacteria/fungus problems show
up very quickly moving into plants via open bush snail wounds.

If these were my plants here is what I would be doing:

First Day,

First, depot one or two and make sure the roots are ok. Since one of the
plants was mounted, I know this is not a problem. But one of the first
things I always do is check roots.

Second, I would flush everything. A real good flushing of two or three
passes.

Third, I would spray with a systemic fungicide cocktail. There are a couple
I use, Spectro (Cleary's 3336 and Daconil) is very good and the components
should be available in consumer sizes. This spraying will be absorbed into
the plant and remain effective for about a month.

Fourth, I would put out something if bush snails might be an issue.

In a couple of days, I would spray down the plants. After the leaves are
dry, I would start a weekly spraying of Phyton 27. The first couple of
times I would use it at the higher recommended level and after that move
down to the lower recommended level. Phyton 27 is also sold in consumer
size.

After the flush, the next time the plants needed water, I would do it with a
weak fertilizer solution. The time after that I would use a trace mix.
Trace mixes can be found at the local garden center as an Iron supplement.
Read the labels, many of the iron supplements are really formulated to
address all trace problems.

Lastly, I would isolate. Put everything with any signs of the problem in
one area. The bad leaves are not going to get better and dieing tissue is
going to continue to die. But over a short period of time we would like to
see problem areas quit growing with no new ones showing up. Plants in the
healthy area should stay healthy. If healthy plants continue to get sick,
we have not addressed the problem and it is time to move to plan B.

Pat