Phal lost top leaf due to rot

[Hadazul]

Hi there,
My Phal lost its top leaf due to rot. It was in moss and I repotted it in bark. I would like to know if the losing of the middle leaf means death or if it could survive.
Any extra advice?
I cutted all the bad roots and used cinnamon.
Thank you!
Hadazul

[DweamGoiL]

About 2 months ago, my mini Phal lost one of its leaves due to rot. She still has 3 others and is doing well. The key is to catch it early, cut away all the rotting tissue and seal it with cinnamon. After that, it is imperative you don't rewet the area when you are watering. If your Phal has other leaves and the rot is addressed immediately, it should be fine.

[Silje]

Might be a problem for further growth if the growth point was destroyed with the rot in addition to the leaf, but if so it might still produce a basal keiki and a new crown.

Rot can be often be stopped, doing what DweamGoil suggested.

Good luck!

[Hadazul]

Originally Posted by DweamGoiL

About 2 months ago, my mini Phal lost one of its leaves due to rot. She still has 3 others and is doing well. The key is to catch it early, cut away all the rotting tissue and seal it with cinnamon. After that, it is imperative you don't rewet the area when you are watering. If your Phal has other leaves and the rot is addressed immediately, it should be fine.

Hi DweamGoiL,
Thank you for your reply. I did the cinnamon but I did not cut any tissue as I don't want to damage further the stem... The cinnamon dried it pretty well, but I can see from outside that there is still blackness inside and I don't know if I should make an incision there so to apply better cinnamon. I read somewhere about hydrogen peroxide and I also did one application so far.
Thank you.

---------- Post added at 04:54 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:50 PM ----------

Originally Posted by Silje

Might be a problem for further growth if the growth point was destroyed with the rot in addition to the leaf, but if so it might still produce a basal keiki and a new crown.

Rot can be often be stopped, doing what DweamGoil suggested.

Good luck!

Hi Silje,
Thank you for your reply. I did get a basal keiki. Should I cut everything else to prevent the rot reaching further down? I read that plants can isolate cells so I am inclined in leaving it as it to allow the keiki to suck up as much nutrients as possible. Also, if the plant produced a keiki, does this means that the plant knows already that she will die regardless of what I do?
Thank you.

[DweamGoiL]

you need to remove all black tissue with a sterilized sharp instrument. After you cut out the rot, you can treat with a bit of peroxide, let it dry, and then seal it with cinnamon. If you don't get all the rot off the plant, it will most likely continue to spread.

[Island Girl]

^yes, you need to (asap) cut out the rotted, black tissue, otherwise it will spread... I'm sorry to say, that your orchid will not "isolate" the infected cells. If you have a basal kieke, then it will live on thru that. It is ok to cut out the infected tissue. Just do so with a clean blade (like a disposable razor blade) and either throw it out when you're done w/ the "surgery" or sterilize it before you use to cut (or touch) any of your other plants/orchids... Bacterial rot (or fungal rot) can, & do spread VERY easily... So you should be careful not to contaminate your other plants. Good Luck!

[WhiteRabbit]

If it's crown rotted, it can't grow from the crown anymore, even if you have caught the rot before the whole plant rotted. New basal growth is it's only way for it to grow - tho if the rot has been stopped, it's possible the original growth could still bloom for a bit, which could also produce keikis on spikes.