bad to worse in my greenhouse - be nice

[vmax3000]

Originally Posted by Brenda Aarts

Vanessa I discovered over the past few days that I too am probably battling black rot and man does it spread quickly. Started with a couple of epis...I think I pulled 40 or so plants out of my sunroom today which are all sick. It is frustrating and gives you a sick feeling in your stomach and I also questioned whether I should slow down or give up. Then I came into my living room and looked at my blooming plants and decided I'm not ready to quit yet! Good luck with your "clean up".

Thanks, Brenda! with your cleaning, too. Yeah, the sick feeling in the stomach and that surrender moment came for me, too. But, they passed...thank goodness!

[WhiteRabbit]

I'm so glad to hear things are looking up! Sorry it all happened in the first place tho
Seeing your orchids in bloom does help you remember why we go through this

[UKCat]

It will be surprising how quickly you will put all this behind you. A couple more plants will flower and bring a smile to your face and ....

[Swamper]

Good to have you back smiling again.

[vmax3000]

This question might need another thread, but the rat chewed into two of my larger orchids: Maxallaria tenuifolia and Bulbophyllum peninsulare. There are half chewed pseudobulbs everywhere in both plants. Essentially, the rat subdivided these plants for me. I haven't returned these two the gh, yet. I am not sure what to do with either of them. It consumed another bulbo plant, entirely...I would say "great taste in orchids", but bulbos stink, literally.

What should I do with the two plants that have remnants of growth left?

Thanks for all of your help and support so far!

[MuscleGirl'sHobby]

Oh ugh... nasty rat! I'm not sure what to do with the chewed pseudobulbs... I guess it depends on how chewed they are. I dropped a 'chid once and it took a big chunk out of the PB, but I just coated the gashed area with some cinnamon and the poor thing seemed to not even notice it. So as long as the rat didn't get the roots, I'd expect that you'll get new bulbs.

I just have to offer my condolence & sympathy for all your greenhouse troubles. I think most of us have been there in some form or another at some point in our orchid growing lives. I know I sure have been more than once! The first heart wrenching sinking gut feeling was finding that a huge portion of my collection had a virus a little more than a year ago. I ended up tossing nearly half of my 'chids. I learned my overcrowding lesson and got a greenhouse... and then hubby had surgery. The mister ran constant for 3 days while we were gone and I came home to many plants with rot. Then we weren't fully prepared for the winter and the heater didn't work quite right... lost some more there...

At times it just makes you want to give up. But, live and learn and move on! Orchids are a wonderful thing!

[UKCat]

The rat chewed plants should be ok if you think of what these plants must put up with in the wild, being trampled eaten and goodness knows what.
Treat them to a dash of anti-fungal and continue as normal, I would leave them in the same pot to keep them settled and when they have started growing strongly agian you can re-think the divide and
re-pot issues.

[bullsie]

My 2 cents on this.

I have talked to quite a few who have been having the humidity/wet summer and causing havoc. An article of advice related how they used a diluted physan spraying - done once a month - as a preventative for their orchids - particularly phals - to minimize the losses they were having for the same reason. Well, a number of us tried it and it works wonderfully! So you may wish to start with a physan spraying of greenhouse and plants. And then do so once a month to continue to maintain the health of your plants.

Second, your rat is a momma rat - nest building. So, you have to get her. Try traps, but if that doesn't work, or you can't run out to get some immediately, then put a bucket or garbage can in your greenhouse. Put about 8" of water in it and sprinkle oatmeal or cereal in the bucket. Don't need much, maybe a cup or two. Put a board or branch up to the container and leave it alone (you could even leave it next to a bench). Check it everyday. Shouldn't take long before you get Mrs. Rat and any faithful followers of hers.

Sure hope the fall is better than your summer, but been there and done that so know how you feel.

[pedidiva]

I would get a cat if the traps don't work. I had a snake--big bull snake in the greenhouse for while. It lived in the bouganvilla. That was fun, getting him out. At least there were no mice in there while he was there.

Good luck with your 'chids. It will be OK, I'm sorry for your loss.

[vmax3000]

Thanks for the wishes, pedidiva! I had a corn snake in my greenhouse for a while (posted a picture as a joke on the identification forum...loads of fun responses). I have been using the physan 20, but only after treatment with Bordeaux solution. The rat was evicted and I haven't seen any evidence since. SInce the greenhouse has been pretty well sealed up for the winter, I would HOPE that I would see scat or smell the animal. I do understand that rats don't stink like mice, but I can imagine that I would smell something. I have a couple of anoles and a gecko or two that have fared well all these months (would assume they would have been a rat snack by now). The cats (my useless fur babies, that is) would just bite the plants and probably be scared off by a rat...