Help, my Zygo is rotting - Orchid Board

camille1585 · #1 03-03-2011, 05:03 AM

The Zygo I got only a few weeks ago is already having issues... The leaves are rotting off one by one. One of the older growths has lost all of it's leaves (all turned yellow and brown) and I noticed that the new growth(which has the 2 spikes is also showing signs of it. The new growth isn't fully developped but the newest leaf which was starting to appear went completely brown and shriveled up.

I know that Zygos are extremely prone to rot, which is why I've been watering only by soaking to avoid any water on the leaves or base of growths. I think that the damage was done in the garden center before I got it, when they water the entire plant gets soaked.

Is there any way to stop the progression of the rot or is my plant zoomed to die?

Discus · #2 03-03-2011, 05:35 AM

I imagine a general purpose treatment for rots might help - one that covers both fungi and pythium/phytophthora.

I read that Zygos quite like being damp (i.e. keep them like Cymbidiums) - I stopped misting/watering foliage on all my plants a while back after I decided it wasn't a good idea, but whilst I was, my Zygo didn't seem to mind too much.

I guess if it's damp increasing air movement might help? I have a fan on 24/7, waving back and forth across the plants on low.

camille1585 · #3 03-03-2011, 05:50 AM

Humidity isn't the issue, it's only about 50% where I have the Zygo. And I never get any water on it, so there's nothing that needs to be dried out.

I'm not sure what to use to treat it, in the Netherlands there are very very few insect/disease products available.

RosieC · #4 03-03-2011, 06:08 AM

I had the same thing. I let mine get a lot further before I realised what was happening so can't advise much. Sorry to hear yours is going the same way

What I did in the end was cut away all rotten growth which left me with just two old p-bulbs and nothing else. Luckily one of those was quite large and after shrivling a long way (roots rotted as well) it started growing. The new growth is developing a p-bulb now but it's only going to be a tiny bulb I think.

I hope you manage to save this one.

I'm not sure what we have in Europe that could treat it I'm afriad

RosieC · #5 03-03-2011, 06:10 AM

I meant to say I think you are right that it's likely to have been the treatment while in the shop. Mine was the same as I was very careful to water from below and I'm certain I didn't get water in the growths.

Gin · #6 03-03-2011, 11:02 AM

I had the same problem ended up un- potting it , removing any bad roots and growth sometimes rot starts in the pot ..I kept it to wet ,it recovered , bloomed and later did it again that time I did not catch it fast enough .. They say grow with Cymbids. I will not follow that advice if I ever get another one ,it did not use the amount of water they advise .I wonder if the skinnier roots need more time to become drier ? I don't know what you can get where you are as a last resort peroxide might help ...

alsorchids · #7 03-03-2011, 12:10 PM

Camille, may I ask if you can import some disease/rot solutions?, or is this prohibited one way or another? I know there are curatives here in the states which might help. Internet search maybe? AL

Angurek · #8 03-03-2011, 12:32 PM

Hey, Camille. I think I can offer some insight to your problem, since I've been growing plants of this group.

I've actually been having a similar problem (not just with Zygos, but also with related genera). My orchid collection was decimated by a combination of fungal and bacterial infections that didn't seem to get better no matter what I did. I had a discussion with Andy from Andy's Orchids about this (because most of the plants that did this were from him), and the feedback that I got was interesting, to say the least.

As it turns out, what you are seeing is probably a secondary infection due to stress on the plant. More likely than not, you're probably underwatering the plant, or you may be growing it in conditions that are completely dissimilar to those it was in at its origin. Both the bulbless and bulbed Zygopetaliinae like consant, even conditions year-round. Though they can tolerate some oscillation in conditions, they tend to get stressed out when the changes are either prolonged or too great. In turn, the stress renders them susceptible to diseases (it's similar to what we see with people. When you're stressed out, your defenses are lowered). If the conditions they were in remained the same during the treatment, they would probably not get better because the stress remained constant.

Before I can offer more advice, I have a couple of questions for you:

- How often are you watering this plant?
- What are the temperatures in your growing area?
- How bright are you keeping it?

Until I can get an idea of these, the best advice I can give you is to remove the infected parts, use cinnamon or a fungicide to disinfect the cuts, and pot the plant in a new container with fresh medium. Try to keep it fairly moist after you do so the stress on the plant is minimal.

The good news is that, as long as there are some healthy pseudobulbs remaining, and as long as the rhizome still has some "eyes," the plant may just grow back. Since Zygos tend to send out multiple leads per growing season, and the growths mature quickly under favorable conditions, your plant should recover within 1-2 years.

LOL...I had an epiphany when I first heard this. I guess I'll be breaking my hiatus sooner than I thought.

King_of_orchid_growing:) · #9 03-03-2011, 01:46 PM

Zygos are extremely resilient.

I'd remove all dead and dying material and repot into a smaller pot.

I've never heard of the problem of under watering it to cause rot. This has not been my experience.

Under watering causes leaves to produce black spots and buckle (aka accordion leaves - much like Oncs), or have the edges of older or bigger leaves curl in on the bottom portion of the leaf. It will also cause wrinkling of the pseudobulbs. The worst case scenario is that the leaves yellow and prematurely drop.

Rotting is a whole different ball game. It's usually from too much water.

The Zygo was probably damaged before you even got it.

I think the other thing is they have a seasonal "drier" period during the winter. That drier period is not completely dry, but it isn't wet either.

I currently grow all my Zygopetalinae this way. Even the most notoriously difficult Zygopetalinae in my collection, Stenia vasquezii, has responded positively to this.

Ever since I changed the watering regimen to reflect the "drier" period, there has been no more unsightly leaf blemishes, and no damping out of new growths, and no more untimely deaths from healthy stock.

So, my suggestion is, after repotting, put it in a corner where you can keep an eye on it, but won't be tempted to water it. Zero water for 2 weeks.

camille1585 · #10 03-03-2011, 02:21 PM

Today after work I had an another (closer) look at the plant, and I'm absolutely shocked by how bad it is.

As to how I'm growing it, since there's no room under the lights on the windowsill (and I also keep new plants from direct contact with others for a few weeks) it's sitting on a table near the window. Temp is usually 18-21°C (65°F ish??) Humidity is around 50%. As for light, my window faces north east, and the sun is only just starting to hit the window again so basically the plant gets no direct sunlight. As for watering, I let it get nearly dry (like for phals). Zygos are new to me, so I'd rather err slightly on the side of underwatering until I have them figured out. Think it needs a bit more the newest bulb is starting to wrinkle a bit. (the other has always been wrinkled).

I repotted it as soon as I got it. Philip, there's no way to pot it into a smaller pot, there's a freakish amount of roots. If anything it needs a bigger pot, I could barely stuff it back into the current one.

To get back to my first comment, it's very very bad. The non blooming growth (pic 1) was so mushy with rot that I cut it off completely. Out of curiousity I cut it open, and the inside was totally liquified.

The flowering growth looks very bad (pic 2), but once I peeled away the outer leaves (and dead leaves on the p-bulb it grew from) there was nice healthy tissue beneath it.(pic 3). But I'm afraid that it's still hopeless, the central leaves of that growth pulled right out, and the base is wet mushy rot (pic 4).

I really wish I had some H2O2 on hand, but I can't get any until tomorrow now. It's 7pm, and the shops closed an hour ago... I put cinnamon everywhere that I removed stuff, and tomorrow I'll pour some H202 down into the growth, then pack with cinnamon.