What's happening to my Phals!!!!!

[camille1585]

Didn't notice this thread when you first posted. Just so sad to see your orchids dying like that. Erwinia is terrible, I've had it on my Phals too but luckily I caught it early and luckily the spots started on the leaves and not the crowns, so I could excise the spots.
Hope the copper sulfate will work, it usually works better to prevent rather than to cure.

[silken]

Originally Posted by Eyebabe

Copper based fungicides should be readily found at HD or Lowes. There are instructions on the container on how to mix etc.
Phyton 27 is a type of copper based fungicide which is very good at treating Erwinia but generally needs to be used up after mixing within 24 hours.

Physan is just a general anticeptic.
You can spray a diseased plant with physan solution but it will not stop Erwinia. However, because it takes a copper fungicide a few days or more to begin working, Physan may be all you have initially to try to slow things down.

Unfortunately we cannot get either product in Canada. We have Home Depot but they don't sell it and we don't have a Lowes. I checked some time ago with a seed and feed place and they told me it was pulled from the shelves a few years back. I guess I will try to order some from U.S. and see if it crosses the border. I thought maybe I could make my own with a recipe as that is what Paramount suggested but didn't offer the recipe and told me to be careful with the ones on the net.

[Eyebabe]

Originally Posted by silken

Unfortunately we cannot get either product in Canada. We have Home Depot but they don't sell it and we don't have a Lowes. I checked some time ago with a seed and feed place and they told me it was pulled from the shelves a few years back. I guess I will try to order some from U.S. and see if it crosses the border. I thought maybe I could make my own with a recipe as that is what Paramount suggested but didn't offer the recipe and told me to be careful with the ones on the net.

Many greenhouse supply places online will sell copper fungicide. Also, if they are orchid supply places, they sell Phyton 27. Hopefully you can locate an online source that may ship....

[Kimbubbley]

Erwinia... sounds like a hurricane in more ways than one!
Im glad the damage isnt as bad as i feared, I was wondering how you were getting along and hoping for the best.

I think taking the ones out with crown rot was a wise move... im glad it hasnt been many because i know you have such a beautiful collection, so ive had fingers crossed for you. How are your treated ones holding out, has it stopped spreading yet? I definately hear what you say about prevention being the best course of action... i gotta admit i havent sterilized scissors or dobbed with cinnamon or anything when ive doctored my Phals, but then i hadnt joined OB then and learnt about all the different techniques.... i think i need some weapons in my arsnal, i wouldnt know what Physan 27 looked like if it jumped up and bit me in the aseptic technique!

I hope your patients make a full and speedy recovery.

K

[DavidCampen]

Has anyone used Agrimycin against erwinia on orchids?
http://www.cdms.net/LDat/ld315002.pdf

[DavidCampen]

Originally Posted by DavidCampen

Has anyone used Agrimycin against erwinia on orchids?
http://www.cdms.net/LDat/ld315002.pdf

So no one here uses Agrimycin?

[Kimbubbley]

It's not something I've heard if, but then Im very new to this and haven't had the experience of needing to treat poorly plants.... Yet!! :s

I read a thread from Fishmommy yesterday saying Erwinia is devastating her collection too ....

I'll help u bump for an answer David.... BUMP!!!

[BikerDoc5968]

Originally Posted by silken

Doc, do you have a recipe you can share for your copper sulphate? Paramount suggested I treat my zygopetalum with spots with copper sulphate but they said to be careful what recipe I use as some are worse than the spots. I figured you would have a safe one.

Ok, CuSO4 is available as the pentahydrate salt, which is the most commonly available form of this chemical, at Home Depot. You will find it in the Plumbing Dept sold as ZEP 2 lb. Root Kill. Phyton 27 is a 21.36% solution of this salt and instructions are on the bottle of the concentrate for its preparation. What I did, rather than spend big $$$$ on Phyton 27, I purchased the ZEP 2 lb. Root Kill and mixed my own stock solution with the help of Ray. Having said that, I don't know for sure that my high school chemistry is absolutely correct. This is what I did:

I weighed out, using my postal scale which is supposed to be accurate to 0.2 oz/.5 gms, 52.5 gms and dissolved this in 197.5 ml of water giving me approximately a 21% solution (52.5 + 197.5= 250 ml). For this calculation we will assume water has a density of 1 at room temperature even though it isn't exactly 1. Anyway, the instructions for diluting Phyton 27 is 1.5 ~ 4.0 oz/10 gal of water for Erwinia (Phyton 27 Labels & MSDS). So if you do some mental gymnastics, you use about 0.8872 teasp ~ 2.36 teasp/ gal of water (1 oz = 5.9147 teasp, so, 0.15oz x 5.9147 t = 0.88716) .... Woooof that was hard on my old brain!!!! So you get the idea. I did spray everybody and nobody kicked off. Not sure it made a difference but I may not have used a strong enough solution and my stock solution may not really be 21%.

[BikerDoc5968]

Originally Posted by silken

Doc, do you have a recipe you can share for your copper sulphate? Paramount suggested I treat my zygopetalum with spots with copper sulphate but they said to be careful what recipe I use as some are worse than the spots. I figured you would have a safe one.

Originally Posted by DavidCampen

Has anyone used Agrimycin against erwinia on orchids?
http://www.cdms.net/LDat/ld315002.pdf

As you noted from your link, this is Streptomycin Sulfate. It is an old antibiotic I used to use for people as a capsule and as an injection and is very cheap, as I recall. The powder is water soluble and is effective against numerous gram negative bacillary bacteria. Of course for humans we didn't treat Erwinia infections but since this drug is effective against gram negative bacillary (rod shaped) bacteria, it should be effective against Erwinia which is a gram negative rod bacteria.

[Eyebabe]

Originally Posted by BikerDoc5968

Ok, CuSO4 is available as the pentahydrate salt, which is the most commonly available form of this chemical, at Home Depot. You will find it in the Plumbing Dept sold as ZEP 2 lb. Root Kill. Phyton 27 is a 21.36% solution of this salt and instructions are on the bottle of the concentrate for its preparation. What I did, rather than spend big $$$$ on Phyton 27, I purchased the ZEP 2 lb. Root Kill and mixed my own stock solution with the help of Ray. Having said that, I don't know for sure that my high school chemistry is absolutely correct. This is what I did:

I weighed out, using my postal scale which is supposed to be accurate to 0.2 oz/.5 gms, 52.5 gms and dissolved this in 197.5 ml of water giving me approximately a 21% solution (52.5 + 197.5= 250 ml). For this calculation we will assume water has a density of 1 at room temperature even though it isn't exactly 1. Anyway, the instructions for diluting Phyton 27 is 1.5 ~ 4.0 oz/10 gal of water for Erwinia (Phyton 27 Labels & MSDS). So if you do some mental gymnastics, you use about 0.8872 teasp ~ 2.36 teasp/ gal of water (1 oz = 5.9147 teasp, so, 0.15oz x 5.9147 t = 0.88716) .... Woooof that was hard on my old brain!!!! So you get the idea. I did spray everybody and nobody kicked off. Not sure it made a difference but I may not have used a strong enough solution and my stock solution may not really be 21%.

Bob,

Are you going to perform a reapplication after two weeks?
I think it is recommended to do that...