I am having a problem with my Susan Harry

[rbarata]

Being a newbie about catts, I wonder if that is the only mounted on a cedar board.
I really don't know if it's ok or not but, considering the charachteristics of cedar wood, if I had no way to ask for advise, I wouldn't use it.

[gngrhill]

I tested all the orchids I had last year and got rid of any that tested positive. The Susan Harry tested negative. I may try the cal-mag supplement. Where do you get it ?

[fishmom]

Any hydroponics store (aka pot shop) should have it. There are different brands of course, any of them should do. DynaGrow calls theirs "Cal-Mag"--imaginative, yes?

[silken]

Our large gardening/pet/feed store has it too. It's usually not too hard to find. It took a while, but my Catts definitely improved.

[katrina]

Some things...just throwing them out there.

1) what part did you test? If you didn't take your sample from the oldest section then it might have given you a false negative. Also, the home tests only test for the most common but there are other viruses that they won't pick up.

2) I know some people have poo-poo'd this but a few years back I was having a problem with a plant I got from andy's...it wasn't growing well and the leaves were funky. Mind you, I had had this plant for about 2 years and it didn't have the problems when I got it...they developed over the time I had it. I sent Andy some pics and he diagnosed it as a Ca deficiency. I have a lot of Ca in my water but he told me that many orchids do not readily absorbed the Ca that is in our water supply. I added a Ca/Mg supp and have since been using one on a fairly regular basis. Adding it also helped to resolve some leaf color issues I was having with a couple of catts.

Like I said...just throwing those out there.

[Leafmite]

I buy the Calimagic on Amazon as there are no hydro stores near where I live.

The fertilizer companies are leaving out the Calcium for those who actually do have enough Calcium in their water so I thought that OP must be one of those lucky few.

I find that all of my plants are happier with the extra Calcium (though I need to adjust the pH for some of the ones that like lower pH). I would definitely give it a try.

I tend to be obsessed with adding Calcium as I lost quite a few beautiful Cattleyas and a few other nice orchids due to Calcium deficiency many years ago and, at the time, there was no information about what was happening to my orchids. Thankfully, I have a few books about herbs and a few on houseplants that pointed to the diagnosis. Now I add both the eggshells to the medium (common for herb growers) and extra Calcium to my water. I also use a MSU formula for distilled/rain water. Probably overklll but, with the lava rock, it all gets flushed out often, anyway.

[fishmom]

I am also a big believer in the need for calcium. Many years ago I lost a whole season's tomatoes to blossom end rot, a deficiency disease that is cured by adding calcium. Now eggshells go into every planting hole and are cultivated into my raised beds, as well as being added to my orchids.

[Leafmite]

Some gardeners recommend putting a whole egg in and crushing it slightly, then planting the tomato above it. I have not tried that. I do use the powdered milk throughout the summer and have not had any issues with the tomatoes. Well, hopefully the extra Calcium will fix the OP's issues and she will have healthy new growths. I remember how frustrating the entire thing was. A few Cattleyas were not at all affected and my favorite Cattleyas and a few other treasured orchids were. Naturally.

[isurus79]

Yep, I was getting Ca deficiency with orchids while using tap water even though Austin draws most of its water from a limestone aquifer. Adding cal-mag has gotten rid of all weak, rotten new growths on my plants.

[gngrhill]

Thank's all. I will try the cal-mag supplement as soon as I can find it.