My dying phal
This is one of my favorite flowers (NOID and never seen this before, I bought the only one in a store) that I bought just two weeks ago.
It looked so healthy and fine so far with unopened buds opening one by one.
Then two days ago, I noticed the last two buds were wilting. I thought I would checked the roots and lift the pot in the air. (I do this sometimes to see the back of the leaves as well)
Then I saw something very very very bad. The very bottom leaf was half mushy, which immediately translated into bacterial rot in my mind.
I gently pulled the leaf and it came right off.
It has already reached the main body of the plant and my heart sank.
I put disposable gloves on, then took the plant out of the pot. The moss was tightly packed in (haven't watered) at the core of root ball, quite moist.
I regret that I didn't take the moss out sooner, but I never had this happened to me even with the phals potted in tight moss. maybe it had already been infected and took a slow progress in the past two weeks. no clue.
Half the roots were all mushy but there were some live roots although not too many.
Now this gets much much worse. As I was laying the plant on its side on the newspaper to get the new mix ready for repotting, the whole top section with top two leaves fell out.
I was like, do I dump the plant now or what?
I poured in hydrogen peroxide into the hollow center where the top fell off. many bubbles formed. I was holding the plant for good 20 minutes at least.
Then I put some cinnamon powder to dry the wound and placed the whole plant in a zip loc with a bamboo stick as its support.
I am still thinking whether to keep or throw out.
It is not very close to other plants and the way I understand, erwinia spreads by splashing of water.
so I should be safe as far as spreading onto other plants is concerned, right?
If I do keep the plant, I think I will have to put the whole plant inside large clear plastic bag to keep the high humidity and encourage new root growth.
What woud you do? what do you all think?
Last edited by NYCorchidman; 10-22-2012 at 01:55 PM..
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