Root Rot on Lysudamuloa Yi-Ying Sakua

[SouthPark]

Originally Posted by deerfern

Well now I've done it. I took it out of the pot as you can see in the pictures, it had some small green roots on the new growth. The next day they turned black. It almost looks like I have mold on the roots now. They are NOT mushy, but black. Now what? Just pot it up and water and hope for the best?

The green roots that were originally was extremely (ultra) promising. Next day turning black is really unfortunate.

I would have washed and trimmed away (or pulled off) any mushy portions of root, then sprayed the whole plant (roots, leaves and all) with some of my yates anti-rot (or agri-fos equivalent), and allow the roots to dry out. Then would have potted into some scoria and very free draining pot. And then would have put the plant in a place with good growing temperatures, medium light, and some air-movement.

And then - if I watered, I would initially focus the bulk of the water around outskirts of the media (toward the rim/side of the pot), and allow the orchid to hopefully grow roots and recover.



---------- Post added at 05:11 AM ---------- Previous post was at 04:41 AM ----------

Originally Posted by deerfern

Now what? Just pot it up and water and hope for the best?

Allow for a dry-out of the plant (roots and bulbs etc). And pot it up, and keep the media lightly moist only. And if possible, put the plant in a spot where there is some gentle air-movement.

[deerfern]

OK. I bought and used Southern Ag Dithane M-45 Fungus and Disease Control on earlier recommendation, I dunked it for 10 minutes and rinsed it quickly. Not sure if I should have rinsed it. Active Ingredient Thiophanate-methyl - 50 %

Will that work the same as agri fos? They have different ingredients. Agri fos has Active Ingredient Mono- and di-potassium salts of Phosphorous Acid* 45.8%

I am letting it dry out now.

I also have some KelpMax I got from Ray, I will use that once I get it settled in a pot.

Do I need to buy agri fos equivalent?

[SouthPark]

Hi deerfern ... I had a typo. I meant to write agri-fos is an equivalent of my yates anti-rot phoasacid treatment.

What you've done should be enough now. Just allow to dry up as you mentioned you had done. And then repot.

Once settled in the pot, just allow the plant to go on its way - hopefully to recovery. From here on, just sit back and see if the orchid recovers. Hopefully it does!

[deerfern]

Aggh. Where do I get scoria? I can get lava rock from my local hardware store, but the rocks are huge, they are for landscaping. Where do I get the small ones? Is it the same as the Bonsai Jack I see on Amazon? That's 1/4 inch. There's also someone selling on AZ that says theirs is 1/16" to 1/2" Horticultural Black Lava for Cactus. Sorry to be so dumb here, I hope I can save this one.

[SouthPark]

Originally Posted by deerfern

Aggh. Where do I get scoria? I can get lava rock from my local hardware store, but the rocks are huge, they are for landscaping. Where do I get the small ones? Is it the same as the Bonsai Jack I see on Amazon? That's 1/4 inch. There's also someone selling on AZ that says theirs is 1/16" to 1/2" Horticultural Black Lava for Cactus. Sorry to be so dumb here, I hope I can save this one.

Lava rock is scoria. Definitely there will be various sizes to choose from. For your orchid ... half-inch will be workable.

Landscaping stores - at least some of them - will send lava rock in sizes that are suitable for orchids ... eg 10 mm average diameter, 15 mm average diameter etc.

10 to 15 mm diameter will be workable for you.

[deerfern]

So I have some new info, and again, I need some help, please?

On April 1, as already mentioned, I dunked it with Southern Ag Dithane M-45 for 10 minutes. I let it dry out until today, 4/5.

I received my red lava rock yesterday and rinsed it clear. I let it sit overnight to dry out a bit. Today it was slightly damp, and my orchid was basically dried out, so I potted the little guy in it.

The good news is there is still a SMALL root that looks good on the new leaf. I did not cover that root. I think, perhaps, I may have caused the roots that were good to rot? When I originally removed the plant from the pot and saw all the rot, I rinsed it off and set it in a pot to dry. But I covered the good roots with wet sphagnum, thinking I was doing good. Next day, they were black. I hate sphagnum. Maybe it was me, maybe not…

But fast forward to today… Did I do OK? I am going crazy here... I am awaiting my purchase from easternleaf.com of Akadama Bonsai Soil Mix, which consists of Akadama (made in Japan) and Lava Rock. I also bought some perlite AND some pumice stone. And I bought some Agri-fos.

So,

Was it ok to rinse the lava rock?

Was it ok to pot in damp lava rock after rinsing, or should I have waited until it completely dried out?

Should I have doused the lava rock in the fungicide I have?

Should I repot again? Should I throw out the lava rock I used and replace it with... what? Maybe the Akadama mix, or add some pumice or perlite?

Should I wait some time (what time?) to use Agri-fos and maybe repot again?

When should I use the fungicide again? Which one, the Southern Ag Dithane M-45 which I have, or the Agri-fos, which I am waiting for?

Oh, decisions, decisions.... !!

And last but not least... how do I post new pictures on this thread??

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by deerfern

And last but not least... how do I post new pictures on this thread??

I'll let others advise on lava rock... I don't have any experience with it. For posting pictures... from the Quick Reply dialog box, click on Go Advanced. Then scroll down and you will see a button Manage Attachments. Click on that, and you'll get a pop-up that lets you browse to the photo you want. (You can select several). Then click Upload, and when you post they'll be there. The sideways display seems to happen when photos come straight from a phone or camera. If you can open the files first with any photo editor, get the orientation you want, and then save the file the orientation will be correct.

[deerfern]

Ok, got the pics! Thanks. Just still can't get that orientation right.

[SouthPark]

Originally Posted by deerfern

Ok, got the pics! Thanks. Just still can't get that orientation right.

That looks great to me deerfern. Great. Your orchid pot has good size drainage hole at the bottom too, right? Hopefully it has drainage holes down the bottom too.

But looks good. Well done with the potting.

I attached your same image, and have highlighted in blue colour ----- a region of the lava rock for which you could water ----- focus most of the water in the region around the rim/edge of the pot. It doesn't need to be strictly very close to the edge ..... no need to be precise. That is, it doesn't have to be a thin band. A thick band of wet media around the outskirts of the pot is just fine.

The idea is that the lava rock in the outer regions of the pot will become quite wet, and will create moisture/humidity within the pot. For regular orchids with regular roots in the pot ----- this may help prevent the bulk of the root mass from gathering or collecting too much water, leading to a very long-term soggy root mass and possibly harmful state.

If you have a basic water spraying nozzle (just a hand-sprayer or something), then you could use that to water the media. With water spray nozzles, just make sure to water for long enough time ----- otherwise just spraying for a few seconds over the surface can be just like wetting our mouth slightly (ie. not good) ------ as in not enough water to penetrate down into the depths of the pot.

Otherwise, if no spray nozzle, then it doesn't matter. A cup or anything --- small watering can etc could be used.

For your orchid that doesn't have much roots right now, you can put a fair bit of water closer-in toward the orchid too. But not as heavy in watering when very close in nearer to the orchid ----- ie. spray much much less water around the central regions of the pot - some water .... but not heaps of it.

Just allow the media closer to the orchid to become lightly moist ..... not sopping or dripping wet. This doesn't necessarily mean that your orchid or other orchids can't handle having very wet lava rock close very close to it (or under it) ------ but just do it this way for now (only very light spray watering for media regions very close-up to the orchid) ----- to be on the safe side.

Also - if you do water the media toward the rim of the pot ------ you can water that region pretty much ANY time you like. No need to wait for that region to dry out - although, for regular orchids with lots of roots ---- the occasional dry out can help cut down on unwanted activity in the media etc.

Preferably ---- some natural breeze or air-movement in the growing area will be highly beneficial. Air-flow allows the bulb etc to dry, and can prevent unwanted activity like bacterial/fungal activity - that could cause bulb rot, and/or leaf rot etc.

Other than that....... just maintain a good growing temperature range --- avoid super cold - especially super cold and super wet roots. And provide medium light level (not direct sunlight for now) for your orchid, and it should recover.

Definitely avoid the sphagnum media from now on, at least until you learn to master the usage of sphagnum.

Assuming your orchid recovers nicely with the lava rock, you may even get hooked on lava rock heheh.

[deerfern]

Thank you so much! That was so clear.

But, Sheww! This is hard!!

So my Agri-fos came in today. Should I wait 1 or 2 weeks and use it as a spray/mist to the lava rock on the outer rim of the potted plant? Or other instruction if any?