Natural Disinfectant

[work2ski]

Help,

My phal. is suffering from a bad root rot and it's starting to enter the base of the plant. If I were to clean out the infected area, what are the natural household products can I used to mix an antibactiral solution, e.g. cinnamon ??

Or is this have to be store bought ?

Please help,
W2S

[LJA]

Root rot is usually a culture issue associated with keeping the plant too wet / watering too often.

Unpot the plant, clip off any dead or mushy roots with sterilized scissors, then pour hydrogen peroxide over and into the base of the plant. Repot in fresh orchid mix. If you change your watering habits a little and let the roots dry off to bare dampness before rewatering, you can get the root rot under control.

[work2ski]

Thanks Louis.

[Diane]

Hmm. Never did the Hydrogen Peroxide thing before. Have to try that next time I get squishy roots....

[bench72]

is hydrogen peroxide the same thing as using bleach?

cheers
tim

[Diane]

NOPE! bleach is sodium hypochlorite, hydrogen peroxide is, well, hydrogen peroxide.. (H2O2)

[starwhiz]

I stopped using cinnamon after Louis mentioned somewhere in the forum(I think) it may inhibit root growth (which I observed on my paphio). Now I have been using hydrogen peroxide and let it dry off before repotting (my orchids happy)...

[LJA]

Starwhiz, here's the thread you're talking about:

http://www.rv-orchidworks.com/orchid...ead.php?t=2694

[Diane]

BTW - for those who may not consider hydrogen peroxide because it's a chemical - - well, it is a naturally occuring chemical, and is, in fact, manufactured in the human body as an antioxidant and internal "bug" killer.

[ATester]

Now, if it works I am not oppsed to it, and where I am it is not that easy to find the correct thing to use on fungal and buggy stuff on orchids (or, avtually what it is is the fact that I am a wuss and don't want to cause more harm through ignorance than good). From what I understand though about hydrogen peroxide is that it can destroy any living tissue...I think I recall that from my biology classes in high school all those many years ago...however, it is rather "unstable" and breaks down to water and hydrogen fairly easily...especially in light hence the nifty light blocking brown bottle it comes in). So, if it is that unstable, it just may not have enough time to kill everything in sight...but since it works, I am sticking with you guys!