Black Rot, A hard lesson....

[Cjcorner]

I've always heard, don't reuse potting materials...use physan 20 every three months....and I didn't listen. Now I know why and it's been a rough lesson to learn. I have several weak plants that have died, and several of my really big pretty specie plants has fallen with rotten roots. I had a new plant come in with questionable looking roots and instead of sending it right back I potted it up....below is a picture history of the process....as you'll see you should never ever keep a questionable plant you receive and if you receive something that rots and infects your other plants you should always follow s.o.p. get rid of old potting materials, use physan, disinfect your cutting instruments or you too will go through the agonies I've encountered on my front porch for the last week. Nothing is worse than black root rot.

Here it is, fresh out of the box....



Here it is in it's pot with charcoal



And here it is now, three weeks after I received it....




Live and learn....I am spraying everything outside, even the non orchids, with the physan 20 and crossing my fingers. I will never do things halfway again.
Connie

[clintdawley]

Connie,

It looks to me that the roots on Onc. Josephine may have been a little dried and crispy (i. e. dead) when you got it.

Just keep her humid and wait for the new roots! It may hurt your heart but you may want to cut the flower spike so that the plant can force more energy into roots.

[Cjcorner]

Yeah, you probably got the seller right. I spoke with a local nursery owner that I trust and she was telling me that they usually send the worst plant they have because the nice looking ones they save for the counter at the local florist shops. Makes sense after seein this mess. What makes me steam is that this junk gave my other plants some kind of rot too. I am killing myself repotting everything I can.

[Kerry]

Connie, that's such a shame.

[Phyrex]

So sorry Connie. I just threw out some of the medium I was planning on recycling (since I've only used it for a couple of weeks).

[clintdawley]

Guys...

The only medium I recycle is Hydroton or Alifor. You have to boil it in small batches for about 10 minutes to kill all of the nasties...

Regular bark medium shouldn't be re-used. It's too cheap and can devastate a collection.

[Gin]

I am sorry Connie ,
If the plant came from who I think it did , Rot is his middle name they treat all the plants with a fungicide before shipping then dry the #@$$ out of them out .. cooked and rotted roots is the name of their game . Gin

[pavel]

If you really wish to reuse potting media, I recall reading somewhere (wish I could remember where) that if the media is soaked then sealed in a pot or foil and baked for an hour at a high temp that will also annihilate just about anything.

For those of you with yards, you have another option -- use the old media as mulch or as part of the potting media for outdoor plants (non-orchids)

[sadie]

Oh, Connie. I am so sorry. Oh, that just makes me sick. It's terrible to loose one new plant, but to have it spread the nasties . . . well you have my sympathies.

I don't ever reuse my potting material for the orchids, but it has worked great as compost material in the garden. You'd be surprised at the quantity of sphag, bark and charcoal in my hubby's veggie garden. Although your post makes me wonder if that is advisable . . . ?

[Phyrex]

if the media is soaked then sealed in a pot or foil and baked for an hour at a high temp that will also annihilate just about anything.

For some reason I think that my 'chids will disapear the next time I leave the house after I use the oven to bake me some medium.