Brassia Maculata with Browning Pseudobulbs

[c.de]

Recently my boyfriend bought a Brassia Maculata from an orchid show, the plant had a little browning around the pseudobulbs to begin with but he really liked it so we got it anyway. I went away for a few days and noticed that the browning may have gotten worse after I came back. I don't really have any experience with Brassias' so I'm not sure if the browning is normal or if it's rot. I've attached photos so hopefully they work properly. Also I know the tag says Dendrobium but it had another that said Brassia.

The plant before:


The plant now:

Any advice would be appreciated

[Dollythehun]

I'm bumping: Are these areas soft?

[WaterWitchin]

Rot. Likely either broken down medium (brassia don't tolerate it well) or overwatering (brassia watering should be decreased a bit in winter) or a combination of both.

Were it mine, I'd unpot and examine media and roots, trim up and repot. How many "good" pseudobulbs (not rotted) does it have? I'd be removing the ones with rot. At least the ones that are as rotted as the main one you're focusing on in the pictures. Then err on the side of underwatering for a bit until you see it recovering, it gets warmer, etc. High humidity in the meanwhile.

[Dollythehun]

WW, I hesitated to give that advise because I have had oncidium tribe members that looked like that which never progressed further. I also recently purchased a Ink. with a brown spot in the pbulb, which just dried out. That said, I think your advise is prudent.

[c.de]

Originally Posted by Dollythehun

I'm bumping: Are these areas soft?

They are slightly softer than the green sections

---------- Post added at 06:11 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:59 PM ----------

Originally Posted by WaterWitchin

Rot. Likely either broken down medium (brassia don't tolerate it well) or overwatering (brassia watering should be decreased a bit in winter) or a combination of both.

Were it mine, I'd unpot and examine media and roots, trim up and repot. How many "good" pseudobulbs (not rotted) does it have? I'd be removing the ones with rot. At least the ones that are as rotted as the main one you're focusing on in the pictures. Then err on the side of underwatering for a bit until you see it recovering, it gets warmer, etc. High humidity in the meanwhile.

It has eight (possibly nine) good pseudobulbs left. I actually cut into the one that was the most effected and it was only brown for a few millimetres into the bulb. Is there a certain time of year that brassias like to be repotted? It's autumn where I live at the moment although relatively speaking it is still quite warm about 28 degrees Celsius

[Ray]

I was considering suggesting that you remove that old pseudobulb, just as an insurance policy, but now that you've cut into it and opened it up to potentially more serious infections, I think you have no choice.

[WaterWitchin]

Originally Posted by c.de

...

It has eight (possibly nine) good pseudobulbs left. I actually cut into the one that was the most effected and it was only brown for a few millimetres into the bulb. Is there a certain time of year that brassias like to be repotted? It's autumn where I live at the moment although relatively speaking it is still quite warm about 28 degrees Celsius

Well, that's plenty left. And as Ray says, since you cut into the one pseudobulb, go ahead and cut it off. Were it mine, I'd go ahead and repot it now. Use a well-draining coarser mixture. Brassia like to stay hydrated, but are real sensitive to root rot. Good drainage is key. After you repot, I'd like to know what the roots looked like. Or feel free to post a picture after you de-pot it.

Temp should never go lower than 16C or so. No idea what your weather is like there.

[c.de]

Originally Posted by Ray

I was considering suggesting that you remove that old pseudobulb, just as an insurance policy, but now that you've cut into it and opened it up to potentially more serious infections, I think you have no choice.

Okay, I'll be sure not to do that next time.

---------- Post added at 07:50 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:43 PM ----------

Originally Posted by WaterWitchin

Well, that's plenty left. And as Ray says, since you cut into the one pseudobulb, go ahead and cut it off. Were it mine, I'd go ahead and repot it now. Use a well-draining coarser mixture. Brassia like to stay hydrated, but are real sensitive to root rot. Good drainage is key. After you repot, I'd like to know what the roots looked like. Or feel free to post a picture after you de-pot it.

Temp should never go lower than 16C or so. No idea what your weather is like there.

I'll try to remember to take pictures as I'm repotting it

Also I live in the subtropics so it shouldn't get that cold, except for maybe night time in winter. I think it's probably quite similar to the climate in Florida and other humid southern states.

[c.de]

Sorry for taking so long with the photos, I had to go away for a bit for work, but I finally got around to repotting the brassia. The medium was fairly broken down and it had a fair amount of dead roots within the centre of the plant.







We managed to clean it up fairly well though but when we were removing the pseudobulbs we noticed a purple ring on the rhizome.




Hopefully you can see it well in the photos, we removed a bit of the outer layer to make sure. I know that this is pretty certainly Fusarium but I was wondering what would be best to go from here. I was thinking of maybe trying my best to keep it away from my other orchids and try not to cross contaminate when watering and repotting.

[camille1585]

I don't see a purple ring, just a purple spot. If that spot is on the same side as the brown patch, then it's probably just the rot which spread further down.