I use Ivory dish soap and have even washed whole potted plants upsidedown in a sink of warm soapy water to clean them and de-bug. No ill effects.

I've heard of people using Listerine... Does anyone have any good/bad effects to report using this? Also, do you spray it on the leaves or on the roots? I have a sickly rescue that I have no idea what to do with because I can't find where to buy Physan 20 in Ottawa... although I probably haven't looked hard enough yet! :biggrin:

:D Your welcome D, and don't forget the Ivory too .
Everything in my area has been taken off the store shelves :(
Good luck, I hope you find some :)

dish soap & peroxide prior to soaking
 

Hi Gloria, how much dish soap and peroxide do you mix in together with water when soaking the roots? How do you apply sulpher? Doesn't sulpher have a smell?
Regards, mary

I second that question. Please answer because I'm sure many of us want to know that same thing.

Mary and Grand, I use a 3% straight peroxide and soak for about 5 mins. Then , the 'chids get placed inside damp sphag. moss - I do not water for a few days, this gives the roots time to heal and close up.

Some sulpher prducts smell more then others, I suppose it has some to do with the strength. I use the safers sulpher, sure it does have some smell, but you might be surprised it's really not bad at all. Neem has much more of a smell and seems to last longer aswell. I dislike the scent of neem alot - but it does work very well.

Safers does have an already to use spray bottle, just shake and spray on. There is a consentrated bottle aswell, more money too - just add water. You may wanna try out the the ready mixed first.

The dish soap is used for spray down the leaves - 1/2 or 1 teaspoon per liter. Try to keep the soap off the roots as they can burn if the roots are not covered up well. Pretty much fried out my B.nodosa :roll:

Just wanted to clairfy the sulpher & alcohol - I do not mix these 2 as a solution together, they are used seperately. I don't want anyone building bombs, LOL!

Something new -- I've been recently be trying out something new with my 'chids - I'm excited about this one. Using fall planting bulb dusts - a mix of captain 5% (fungicide) and carbaryl 5% (pesticide) Great for leaf spots that have mealy or scale. It goes on like milky chalk stays put, smothers, dries up the insects. Cruel yet fun :banana:

Fanstastic for those deep quick spreading black marks you see on phals and for the use of crown rot ... it's so easy to use, mix with alittle water & just apply were it's needed I'm now using this paste mix on oncid bulbs that had soft rot - it's working great and the bulbs are slowly healing up. So far I haven't noticed any damage to the orchids - no burning on the leaves, bulbs or outside crown areas'.

:D

:cheer: Thank you, Gloria. It's very useful to have something concise like this.

Shirley

new_orchid_rescuer

It's my understanding that Physan is not available in Canada. :_( If you do find some I'd be very interested to know where.

Shirley

I really had to hunt to find some and guess what? Ray has it!

Ross,

Thanks very much for your trouble but Ray is in Pennsylvania! Are you implying that he could ship it to Canada? I thought that, if it wasn't allowed here, that would not be possible. :scratchhead: