Cinnamon: kiss of death, or life?

Not to "name" names
(actually I thought I would ask
in a separate thread instead of hijacking)
but in another thread it came up
to sprinkle the whole root zone/area/rotting mush
with cinnamon.
Now I had heard,
and this might be a wive's tale,
that cinnamon is a root growth inhibitor.
So what do you think,
is it just a superstition and is mass sprinkling advised,
or is judicious application on cuts preferred?

I always use cinnamon, I love it! I can't get physan or phyton here.
I always have cinnamon in the house, it's handy and the orchids smells great
I haven't noticed any negative effects of using cinnamon, I only use a little on cuts or broken roots

I've used cinnamon for many years, my mom taught me to use it. Used wisely it works well. Don't drown the roots, but a good sprinkle works well. By the way, those of you so tough you use physan, etc. I have it too, but use it mostly for media and cleaning pots.

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Diane

"NA BEAN DO'N CHAT GUN LAMHAINN"

Ennui, very funny options in your poll!

I'm afraid that here, I have to opt for the big guns if anything even starts to break out. Really can't afford the time to go traipsing lightly around, dibby-dabbing cinnamon.

It's a nice, mild, natural bactericide and fungicide, but it's also a dessicant. Personally, I wouldn't recommend dousing roots with it since too much can seriously suck the moisture out of the velamen and kill any live roots wholesale.

So which of the four poll choices is most appropriate for how I feel?

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Louis J. Aszod

I use it for cut leaves ,but for roots I get out the cannon . Gin

Hmm! I've never heard of cinnamon harming roots. I've sprinkled it, quite liberally, on the roots of my first Psychopsis (a rescue from a club member who was *not* succeeding with it) and it certainly didn't set it back. It's growing nicely now--two growths progressing.

I've used it on other plants where I suspected root rot, too. Have I been inadvertently doing more harm than good? Yikers!

I haven't voted and won't until I've heard a few more opinions. Thus, if you have any opinions and experiences, please post--I, for one, am very interested. (BTW, I do understand 's position. As a commercial grower, he can't easily afford to use some of these natural controls as they are often a bit less effective with really large collections.)

Cheers,

Rob

I could post a recipe for a Cinnamon Fluff Cake. Really good.

Oooh, Funny Kev. How 'bout Cinnamon Floof Cake?

Jeers,

R

well, on the ends of leaves or spikes,
I've not had any worry about applying cinnamon
as a preventative.
But when it comes to the roots,
you guys can call me weird,
but I fall into the "let it be" camp.
I'd peel off all the mush,
leaving the wirey strings,
and maybe give a rinse off with water.
Mostly when I'd found root rot,
it was because I'd overpotted, or overwatered.
I figure, if I fix the problem I won't have any more rot.
You could say I'm in training for
"benign neglect."
As Louis says, it takes time to dibby-dab,
and maybe if I'm feeling protective,
I might carefully blot only the cut root ends,
but in general when it comes to roots,
I try to fix my culture problem and hope the rest will follow.

I do exactly the same thing. Was actually surprised to find out people were using a fungicide on roots--I think that's really interesting, since I've never done it. Root rot to me is a culture issue; if I found it, I cut off what was dead and repotted in fresh medium that I mixed a little coarser so that it would dry off quicker.

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Louis J. Aszod