Gah! Mold! Getitoff!

[kmccormic]

Okay, My collection (~10 plants) has a problem. Breathe. See, admitting that wasn't so hard. No, nononono, BREATHE.

Last week, I found aphids on 3 plants. I wasn't sure how far they'd spread, so Saturday I sprayed down the whole collection, leaves, flowers, and mix, heavily with the same mix; Dr. Bronner's peppermint oil soap (3 tbsp), Neem oil (1 teasp), 3/4 cup of isopropyl alcohol, and filled the rest of a 32 ou spray bottle with water. The recipe was one I found online, I added the Neem oil to it because I wanted to stop the population and I'd read Neem could help with that. Nice all natural remedy. I then pulled all the plants away from windows for 24 hours, to keep them from burning due to the oil until they'd dried.

Today I go to water them, and I find the flowers (a phal. and a zygopetelum) wilted. Ok, not so bad, I knew that might happen. Then I look at the mix, and roots that had been white or green were gray, damaged looking, and some cases black. And there was mold! Growing on the roots, making them look like fuzzy caterpillars. Usually a gray color. I thought the Neem oil was also a mold preventative. One of the ones which definitely had bugs, a psychopsis, had an iffy leaf which is now turning yellow and black.

Any ideas what my next step should be? I seem to have gone from 1 problem to another! And I'm not sure what I did wrong.







Help! Kara

[turtleamy]

I'm new to orchids so you may want to wait for a more experienced person to come along.

I see two problems, bad roots and poor air circulation. You've got to change out that media, and get rid of the black roots. The repoting forum has some good tips.

For air ciculation, get a fan near the orchid, don't blow it directly on the it, just in the general area. That'll keep any mold spores from repoducing.

[Wjs2nd]

Hmmm, I'm guessing they didn't dry-out last night and stayed to moist/wet.

I don't know a lot about getting rid of mold. I know you may need to repot as the medium could have mold spores in it now. Good luck!

[james mickelso]

Get them out of the pots and out of that media. Right now. Cut off all of the damaged roots. Now. Take them to the bathroom and wash, gently wash, what is left of your plants. You need to get off whatever concoction you made. Oil and alcohol don't mix. That is probably what has killed your orchids. Why people do this is beyond me. The store shelves are full of chemical sprays that have been tested and retested and rereretested to make sure they won't kill us right off the bat even if we make a mistake in using them. Or just a simple hose spray will wash off the mightiest of creatures. But I just use Bayers or the like and it takes care of most pests. Anyway, wash off the remaining plant material. Warm water. Then lay them out on paper towels. Let them dry out for a day or two. If it's hot, spritz them with a fine mist every so often. Or better yet, place them without media in a gallon ziplock bag after they dry. You need to let the plants alone. Cool shaded place will be the best. If you have any large cuts or places where you have cut off a leaf or large root, put cinnamon on the cut. I use a Qtip. Now leave them alone for a week. Then get some course potting mix. Put them in that. And no more home remedies. I have seen litterally hundreds of plants killed that way. I saw a 150 year old bonsaied spruce killed because of a home remedy because the owner wanted to be "organic".

[kmccormic]

I had to go buy media, repotting tonight. I suck at repotting, so wish me luck.

As for why I chose that route? My cat has been getting a severe allergic reaction, and I didn't want to worsen it. I'd already taken him to the emergency overnight vet once. I also didn't want to lose my orchids, this seemed like a solution.

The American Orchid Society mentioned the benefits of neem oil and said you can go as high as 50% alcohols. Neem Oil

Mix 1 teaspoon (5 ml) of neem oil and ½ teaspoon (2.5 ml) of a gentle, plant-safe liquid dish soap (as a spreader and sticker for the oil) to 1 quart (.9 l) of warm water, or 4 teaspoons (20 ml) of neem oil and 2 teaspoons (10 ml) of liquid dish soap to 1 gallon (3.8 l) of water. A 50:50 solution of isopropyl alcohol and warm water can be substituted for plain water.

And I heard this recipe at an orchid show as am effective option. So I took it and added 1 teaspoon Neem oil to it.
Dr. Bronner's Peppermint Liquid Soap (Insect Control) : Kelley's Korner Orchid Supplies, We offer everything to grow great Orchids!

We mix three tablespoons of soap and 3/4 cup of Isopropyl Alcohol into a one quart spray bottle. Fill the remainder of the bottle with water and shake well before using. Spray on sight whenever insects are found. Best used on cloudy days.

As for what went wrong - I think it's user error, I oversprayed the hell out of them. Still, I'd rather replace plants than my cat. Hopefully this will help some other poor person before they make the same mistake.

Regards,
Kara

[ACK2]

Kara, I am so sorry, this is quite the learning experience. Hope your cat is OK. I have a cat as well.

[turtleamy]

How did the repot go? Is it just the top roots that died? I hope that you trimmed off the decayed roots. If you've got a fan let it blow in the general area of the orchid, not directly hitting the plant. That should keep any mold spores from growing.

[Phal Gal]

Hi Kara,

I'm a newbie, but thanks for this thread... I didn't even know that one of my orchids came with complimentary mould. And I'm famous for home remedies. Very interesting.

When I repotted, I put them into clear plastic pots, and it seems just the light took care of it.

[james mickelso]

Please understand, I was never trying to be critical. I understand people and animals have allergic reactions to some poisons but I have seen time and time again where people use home remedies that just don't work or make matters worse. Most insect sprays for home use are so benighn that it's a wonder they kill anything at all. I'm not talking physan, malathion (which nearly killed me once), diazanon or other highly toxic industrial killers, but Bayer makes a great one as does Safer. Just soap and water takes care of most pests even spider mites if you apply it every 7 days. But alcohol and oil.....if mixed correctly....never had any luck with that concoction being any better than soap and water. That's all I was trying to say. I hope your plants come out of this for the better. And putting them into plastic ziplock bags also works very well to help revive them after the shock. The plants use the stored energy in the backbulbs (not phals) to grow new pbulbs. Just keep warm and bright.

[kmccormic]

Hi James:
I am sorry if I came off strongly, it wasn't intentional. I was trying to explain I did some research first. I only took your comments as someone who was frustrated. And thank you for your comments! They are much appreciated. It took me most of a week to repot them all. They now have all new medium. They have all sat for at least a few days before I watered them. We'll see who survives. I rinsed them for a long time, trying to get every bit of medium, pebble, moss, etc from them. Then I trimmed roots/leaves, and sprayed the roots and base with hydrogen peroxide, then rinsed them again before repotting. I wanted to disinfect, but not hurt the roots any more than I had. Maybe I shouldn't have rinsed them?

I'm thinking I might need a systemic mold-i-cide I can use in their water, or as a drench. I don't have pics of it, but the phaelenopsis is still losing roots when I checked yesterday. It had a lot to start with, and remaining roots were blotchy but still very firm so I thought repotting would be enough, I guess not. And I'm still seeing mold growing on roots I'd left in place on other plants. Any recommendations?

Also, what would you suggest, should I water with extra strong solution of superthrive (rooting hormone) in a few days? How strong?

Some of the roots looked surprisingly good. The paphiopedelum, which seems to have only ever had 1-2 roots, looks horrible, and yet those roots are absolutely firm. That one went into a bag with some damp coconut husk since I don't have moss. Here are some before an after pics from the trimming.

Thank you for patience, advice, and commiseration!

The paph:

The dendrobium:

The cochleatea:

Aussie Chip:

The phrag: