Left Lc. Stephen Oliver Fouraker alone at the other house. Would get
there about once a week to water and check the orchids aobut once a
week. I got it this winter and haven't repotted it yet.

The weather warmed and I think it got too dry. The mix has some
timed release and the medium has some sort of fibrous mold. It looked
like bark, no ammendments. The alarming thing is the new growth is
soft, not opening out into flat leaves, and the leaf tips had about 2"
of black rot. Could anything else have been the cause?

I cut the black off of it, opened the leaves a little and dusted with
cinnamon. The new growth, 3 leads, were all effected. Will repot it
tomorrow into something different and treat it with Physan 20. If you
have any other suggestions please toss them into the ring. I also
brought it back with me to the (hopefully) more favorable environment
in a sheltered corner of my plant room.

Hopefully whatever is plaguing Ollie will not progress to the point of
killing it. If he lives through this, he'll be pretty ugly for a
couple of years.

TIA,

Nancy

Once in a while, I have a Catt that does that with a new growth. The tip
goes black before the leaf is even opened flat. I'm pretty sure my
Stephen O Fouraker has done it. Years ago, I read that a calcium
deficiency can cause that. In recent years, I have been using a
fertilizer that includes calcium. (Our tap water is very pure. TDS
reading runs about 17.)
I think I have still had the problem since the newer fertilizers but I
can't really remember when it happened last. I did find that if I cut
off the black tip, the leaf would go on and grow fine but, of course, it
always had that tip missing.
The cause of your dead leaf tips my be something else. Perhaps too much
fertilizer, made worse by letting it get too dry thus concentrating the
fertilizer even more.
Something to consider: Sometimes, when a new leaf is diseased, deformed,
or just plain growing in an awkward direction that will always be a
problem, I just break off that new growth and make it start a new one.
I've been known to break out a developing bud just because it is growing
to the edge of the pot or upward toward the sky. If there is another
visible bud aimed in a better direction, it will grow after the first
one is removed.
In the case of disease, you don't have the problem until the growth is
pretty far along so you just have to decide whether it's better to keep
it or remove it.

Steve



Nancy G. wrote:
Left Lc. Stephen Oliver Fouraker alone at the other house. Would get
there about once a week to water and check the orchids aobut once a
week. I got it this winter and haven't repotted it yet.

The weather warmed and I think it got too dry. The mix has some
timed release and the medium has some sort of fibrous mold. It looked
like bark, no ammendments. The alarming thing is the new growth is
soft, not opening out into flat leaves, and the leaf tips had about 2"
of black rot. Could anything else have been the cause?

I cut the black off of it, opened the leaves a little and dusted with
cinnamon. The new growth, 3 leads, were all effected. Will repot it
tomorrow into something different and treat it with Physan 20. If you
have any other suggestions please toss them into the ring. I also
brought it back with me to the (hopefully) more favorable environment
in a sheltered corner of my plant room.

Hopefully whatever is plaguing Ollie will not progress to the point of
killing it. If he lives through this, he'll be pretty ugly for a
couple of years.

TIA,

Nancy