Help saving my Ocidium Sharry Baby - Things in the roots!

[jenmonkey]

Okay, I'm back needing more help with strange things in my orchids.

I repotted my Oncidium Sharry Baby today because the p-bulbs have started to become brown and mushy, which I assume is a soft rot problem. I lost a few leaves to yellowing and browning, but there are three spikes that are just pumping out buds and a few flowers, and one of the spikes is coming out of one of the brown mushy bulbs.

So, I decided to just repot and work on the roots, since I have little confidence in the soggy bark mix I put it in right before it started having problems, and deal with the bulbs after it finished blooming or if it started spreading rapidly.

BUT. I'm cleaning out the very compacted root ball of the charcoal/bark it was shipped and grown in, and I start pulling out these small (around 1-2mm) smooth pebbles. In fact, there are tons of them in pockets in the roots.

At one point I squeezed one of them - I don't know why. And it exploded gooey stuff all over me. I gagged a little, then looked closer at them - they sank in water, had no orifices, and the outer pebble-looking surface was actually like a rubbery substance. I tried to cut into one with a razor blade, and the surface wouldn't cut, but grey goo oozed out.

I'm seriously sketched out by this, so please help me figure out what they are!! Are they eggs of some kind of pest? Gah. I don't do well with creepy-crawlies, so I'm just shuddering to think what's been going on down there...

I've attached some pics of the plant, the bulbs, and the creepy pebble things. Help!

Thanks as always for your help!

[WhiteRabbit]

could be a time or slow release fertilizer - tho I'm not sure if that would be liquid inside, or rubbery on the outside ...
Hope someone can help

[jenmonkey]

God, I hope that's what it is... I'm not ruling out anything at this point, but I have had a very serious conversation with my husband about the possibility of alien eggs gestating in my Oncidium.

We're a little weird, yeah.

[WhiteRabbit]

I don't blame you!
I hope that's what it is too! Hopefully someone can positively say one way or another ...

[salmonmanAK]

Yes, that is what they are. Like osmocote or something. Some growers use them and some do not. I always repot anything I get that has them in it so I can control what and when it gets fertilized.

cheers,
Jason

[RJSquirrel]

I just lost about 5 plants to the same thing you got..Its either fungus rot or bacterial rot. I had 1 plant with it then next thing I know I have a plant pandemic. I cant tell what kind of rot Im a freeking Noob that got bombed with it. Get it away from any other plants #1 so it doesnt spread is the most I can tell you. Repotting didnt seem to help bec whatever it is is in the plant and you just repot it too.
I feel bad for you too now...no more of these rotten p bulb plants for me....

Daconil or Physan 20..I hosed the rest of my stuff down with Daconil and they look better already.

[Junebug]

Pretty sure that's time released fertilizer. I personally don't use the stuff but some growers do and heavy handed doses can destroy a plant. It's common for people to mistake the pellets for eggs if they're not familiar with the product.

Removing them and repotting was the right thing to do. The newer growth looks good so your plant should survive but I'd hold back any fertilizer for a while.

[Eyebabe]

Soft brown rot is usually fungal.
Best to get rid of the bulbs as "cleanly" as possible.
Hopefully the gooey explosions occurred far from the healthy part of the plant

[jenmonkey]

Thanks everyone. Fertilizer pellets and fungal rot I can handle. I wasn't so sure about creepy crawlies or alien offspring.

I'm waiting for my S/H pots and Physan to come in from Ray. Should be here tomorrow or Wed., so I was waiting to do the surgery until it was in its final home. The browning is not progressing very fast right now, probably due to the fact that summer has apparently bypassed most of California this year, so I think I'm safe doing a transitional repotting into LECA for a few days. It's such a shame to have to take off a healthy, flowering spike because of fungus, but I guess it's better than losing the plant. Sigh.

Never say die!!

[dounoharm]

i had those pellets in my orchids, and one morning i came into the greenhouse to find it overrun with small green creatures with TWO HEADS, four eyes and 5 legs!!! they were munching on all the orchids and looked at me with hungry eyes, i slammed the door and tossed in a bug bomb....it worked on the creatures, i found em all dead....after i buried the corpses, NASA scientists arrived and demanded that i relinquish all my uneaten orchids! well let me tell you, i chased them boogers off!!! aint no govt men going to raid my greenhouse, little green men i can deal with just fine all by myself! last govt men to raid the shooting smiths crept up thru the garden and was pure shot to death......the moral of the story is dont mess with my orchids.....lmao....