Pinkish Mauve Ascocenda

[angel]

Such a beautiful color, Angel! I hope it does well.

Thank you, Patty. I hope I can still revive this one. The photos were taken during its last bloom some months ago.

[angel]

What is wrong with your plant?? With blooms like that i'd be begging the poor thing to live! If it is a rot...try spraying it with hydrogen peroxide. If it is just not growing well, try soaking the roots in a warm water fertilizer bath with a glob of honey mixed in. I hope it will stay healthy for you. What amazing flowers!

Thanks for the advice, Connie. Yeah, it would be a shame to lose such a beauty. I've noticed, as with my previous ascocendas, that the lower part where most of the roots are begin to go dry, and then the rest of the plant died soon after. At times, I didn't even see it coming. All of a sudden I had a dying plant that couldn't be saved anymore. This has very seldom happened to any of my other orchids: vandas terete and semi-strap , mokaras, kagawaras and whatever, just the ascocendas. It has also occurred two times to my semi-strap vandas.

[angel]

Thanks mmursuli and Betty for the LIKEs.

[vandagirl]

All of a sudden the roots begin to dry up. Doesn't happen to any of my other vandaceous orchids.

I'm sorry about that. Do you give them enough water then. I find that my Asco's and Vasco need more water than the Vanda's.

[cdayinflorida]

Angel, Take a picture of the roots and post it.
Also...cut a root that is still alive and look to see if it has a purple ring in it. Let us know.
Angel, you need to spray with a systemic fungicide.

[angel]

I'm sorry about that. Do you give them enough water then. I find that my Asco's and Vasco need more water than the Vanda's.

Yes Willeke. Even if the watering fell short, if ever, it wouldn't be that short as to result in a dead plant.

[cdayinflorida]

I don't believe this has anything to do with watering. For the roots to just collapse and die makes me suspect fusarium.

[angel]

I don't believe this has anything to do with watering. For the roots to just collapse and die makes me suspect fusarium.

thanks for that, Cathy. But does a fusarium infestation move from plant to plant? Because in my situation, it only happens to some ascocendas and a few semi-strap vandas and over a long period of time. I mean in a year, it never occurs to more than two plants. And of course I haven't introduced any intervention. All my orchids are planted very close together but I didn't notice the situation being passed from one orchid to the next. All were isolated cases.

[cdayinflorida]

Angel, Yes it does move and by all the typical avenues such as water splashing on a neighboring plant. I'm going to IM you a site to take a look at some photos.

Here is some info:
Fusarium blocks the flow of moisture through the plant’s vascular system plugging the phloem. Infected leaves are yellow, thin, shriveled, wrinkled or wilted and eventually die.
The diagnostic symptom in the plant is a circle or band of purple or pinkish-purple discoloration on the outer layers of the rhizome evident when the rhizome is cut. If the disease is extensive, the entire rhizome may turn purple, and the discoloration may extend to the pseudobulbs. Severely infected plants may die in 3-9 weeks, while mildly infected plants gradually decline over a year or so."

[angel]

Cathy, I think I know why some of my orchids have died the way they did. Read my PM. Anyway, I hope my suspicion's correct. None of the dead orchids exhibited any of the usual signs of fusarium.