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My phal has crown rot!

15 years ago

My newly purchased Sogo Grape 'Fireball' has crown rot! I can't believe it! I have MANY phals, and water them all the same way...this is a first for me.

I took it out of the pot--the roots look really good. I sprayed the whole plant down with Ortho 3 in 1 for roses and repotted it. That was about a week ago, and while the base of the uppermost two leaves looks dry and scortched, it seems not be getting any worse...am I kidding myself, or can this plant be saved???

Nicole

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Comments (6)

counselor4444
15 years ago
do you have any pics?
wiscnick
Original Author
15 years ago
So, shame on me I don't know how to post a photo--my 12 yo will help, though...
In the mean time, the two uppermost leaves dried up centrally and are now off the plant. The two smaller lower leaves seem okay...but I wonder if this orchid will be able to produce a new leaf?
nicole
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My Phal has MANY dead/rotted roots; will it survive?
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Comments (9)
Hi. You need to think what caused the rot. One of the commonest causes in cultivation is too low temperature , not enough light. What I would do is cut away ALL the dead tissue with a sterile knife, wash the whole plant in a mild chlorine solution - don't forget to rinse off the chlorine with sterile or boiled water - then leave the wounds to dry for 24 hours. I wouldn't treat them with anything. Get a large jamjar or similar, quarter fill it with fine gravel and add a couple of tablespoons of water, not enough to reach the top of the gravel. Sterilize the whole by microwaving for about 3 minutes. Don't let the water boil away. When it has cooled, pop your plant into the jar (its ICU)and seal the lid.It should fog up. Make sure it is not in contact with any base water. Some people use sphagnum moss, but unless there are live roots, there's not a lot of point. Keep it very warm but out of direct sunlight. In a couple of months ( if you are lucky - your plant is critically ill) you will see new roots forming.
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My phal's spike is dying, but already has budded!
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Actually this fertilizer is made for orchids, and was told this once, but I did some extra digging and found that my fertilizer is quite high in nitrogen. But, what would you suggest instead of my 19-31-17 fertilizer? Also, I know the advice I've received here is to just leave alone. But is this because repotting my phal from its current sphag to sphag/fir bark mix NOW would harm the blooming process? Is it possible that by being extra careful, my Orchids buds will still bloom?? Also just an update on my orchid's state, it looks a lot better (I didn't repot it yet, just didn't water it), the spike is healthy again and the drying of it was reversed (???)! Unfortunately, the dormant spike above did not survive... Does anyone know why the drying/reversing issue happened to the spike??? Could it be the weather? We were steadily in the negatives (about -3 to -5 Celsius, or 26 to 23 Farenheit) for a long time, but suddenly, 3 days ago we started getting abnormally high temps of 9C or 48F, and today we reached 14C/57F! It normally only gets to 2C/35F in early March, and it was a sudden change. Could that have been the reason? thanks!
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EMERGENCY! Crown Rot help needed!
Q
Comments (8)
You have some healthy looking phals that just need repotting now that you have removed all old media. Peroxide won't harm the remaining roots, but do not use cinnamon--it will just dessicate those healthy roots. You don't seem to understand that the crown is the top of the plant where new leaves emerge, not the top of the roots, where the black is just the dried remains of older leaves that have been shead naturally. Crown rot is wet and mushy and spreads rapidly. You have a multitude of lovely viable roots. Pack media gently but firmly between and around them. Good luck.
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keikis
Q
Comments (2)
Right now the original leaves are feeding the keikis. You might consider leaving everything as it is. When the plant is ready, the mother plant will die.
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jane__ny
15 years ago
If you really want to spend a year or more waiting for blooms, might be best to buy a new plant. If you want to experiment, you can keep the light up and wait for the plant to either make a basal keiki or send up a spike with a keiki. Either way it is a sure bet if you can hold on to those remaining leaves.

I have a lot of experience with crown rot because of my cold house over winter. The newer, fancy hybrids do not do well over winter. My older plants do fine. I have two now which developed crown rot last winter. One (one leaf left) has made a nice big basal keiki, the other lost all leaves and is sending up two spikes. I'm sure the spikes will produce keiki's. The trick is to keep them warm and sunny and treat as normal. Both of mine had great roots which provided the energy. Both are in translucent pots and the roots are bright green and healthy. I believe the plant which lost all leaves was provided energy through photosynthesis of the roots.

Jane
wiscnick
Original Author
15 years ago
Thanks Jane for the advice! I don't mind waiting for blooms, it will be a challenge! I might repot to a translucent pot--I actually have one lying around. I have never had a keiki before, so ...here's hoping!
carolinn_on
15 years ago
Hydrogen peroxide (3%) can help. Also, if any of my phals get water in their crowns, I get a tissue and leave it there for an hour or 3 to wick up moisture.

Carol
sunita
15 years ago
Carol's tip is excellent first-aid for susceptible orchids.I dont usually leave tissue in the crown though. Its just a quick dab and blot with a ear-bud because I dont want to leave anything moist in contact with the crown at this point.
If you really love a challenge, try using turmeric powder. You'll get it at any store selling Indian food products. Dust the top of the crown with a slight sprinkling of turmeric powder. It has very powerful anti-bacterial (and antiseptic too) qualities. I've used this last year on one of my phals which developped crown rot and it actually survived. Its grown on to develop healthy leaves now but so far no blooms.
I remember Lisa (anonygoose) used to swear by cinnamon powder to treat crown rot.

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