Brassavola issues.

[jzm1248]

Good morning all,

I have two Brassavola hybrids that I purchased from Lowes two years ago that are going a bit wonky on me and am curious if anyone here might have some insight into what's going on. I noticed a week ago that some of the leaves were going grey/ soft on the one in the plastic pot and accounted it to possible cold damage. I'm ruling that out as other plants nearby showed no ill signs and it was only in the upper 50's where it was in the window. The other one (purple pot/ bare root) was also starting to show the same signs as well but was nowhere near the window. The one bare root went lame 3-4 days fast. The other one (in container) was going slowly but is now catching up.
From the informative sticky thread on the P&D page I'm pretty sure it's not fusarium due to the lack of ring. I'm not sure it's rot either as the the roots of both look pretty good. I know they're both goners but what I'm curious about is if this is just a possible virus that these guys had from the get-go or if this is something I should prepare for with my other plants, and if so, what should I use. Thank you all for your collective time and insights.

[Subrosa]

My B. 'Little Stars', also bought 2 years ago at Lowe's has seen mid 40s several times this season without incident, so I agree that temp alone wasn't the issue. I do keep mine on the drier side, and generally plants tolerate cold better when they're dry, assuming they can tolerate being dry. Perhaps a combination of cold and wet?

[jmmehler]

Have you wiped the leaves with a white tissue to see if it comes away with a rust-orange tinge? If it does, you have spider mites. Real pain in the butt to get rid of.

[katrina]

Upper 50's...even wet...wouldn't cause this problem. I keep my house at 58 in the winter and have never had a problem w/the brassavola/b hybrids.

And, it's not spider mite damage.

It looks to me like you are dealing with some sort of rot but I'm not good at identifying which is which so I wouldn't even try to give a name. The biggest problem w/many of these types of "rots" is that they can already be deep in the tissues of the plant before you see the problem and then even cutting to get behind it can sometimes be fruitless.

If you want to try...cut a good deal behind the soft areas/growths and since this is a brassavola I would leave what's left sitting in an empty pot and be very careful w/watering for a few days because many of these pathogens are spread via water. Watch the plant(s) closely and be prepared to do more cutting if it continues to spread. Leaving the plant(s) in the empty pot makes it easier to do more cutting if it's needed...vs unpotting and potting again. I would give it a couple of weeks and if you see no more problems them you're probably safe to pot up whatever is left of the plant(s) at that time.

Also, be sure to isolate the plant(s) from the others because many of these pathogens are highly contagious. (ask me how I know this!)

Side note - If I'm being honest...those roots really are not that great. At least not for a healthy plant. They aren't the worst I've ever seen but given the proper culture you will see a much heavier roots system. For most anyway. Some like Little Stars seems to lose older roots faster than some of the other species/hybrids but the newest roots are usually pretty extensive in a healthy plant.

[Leafmite]

It might be what I had, long ago. I lost quite a few good orchids, mostly in the Cattleya family. It started with my 'healthy' Brassavola nodosa that was covered in spikes, ready to put on a show. I attributed it to calcium deficiency and planting it too low in the pot. The roots were great, the leaves were great but, in between, the thin stem rotted and the leaves fell off. It spread from one growth to the next, quite rapidly. If this is what you have, cut everything infected, dip the healthy leaves and stems in Isopropyl alcohol (and if you can get ahold of a fungicide with copper, use that, too) and, when repotting, pot it so that just the roots go into the pot and add a source of calcium. It may continue to move through the growths and you may lose the plants.
In my case, it did seem to spread to other orchids so keep these ones isolated.
Since I have been adding Calcium to all of my orchids and potting them on top of the medium, I have not again had this problem.

[NYCorchidman]

What Katrina says.

It is some sort of rot for sure.

Overall, not too good.

Have you always grown it in S/H and did well up until now?
Maybe something went wrong with S/H conditions??

I have two Little Stars, from different batches.
I loved the first one so much, that I bought another one.
The first one has been with me for about three years now and I have divided them into a few pieces in the time I have had it. Yet, the piece I have is over 12 growths. These are like weeds that smell really good at night. hahaha love it!

I grow mine in straight bark, corser than medium grade. I have tried in sh but the roots stated to die like crazy so I repotted right back into bark.
I find these do well in chunky mix but with lots fo watering, pretty much like any epiphytes.

I hope you can save part of the plant if you liked the flowers.

I would remove all the parts with rot or funny colors. Get rid of the current pot and mix as they might hover (sp?) bad germs most likely.

Save the "clean" part of the whole plant (be very bold or there's no point in trying to save) and start fresh. Possibly drench in anti rot chemical if you have one around.

Keep it warmer and bright as weakend plants need warmth to recover better.

Good luck!

[Leafmite]

Looking at the pictures more closely, it looks as if it is mainly in the leaves. It can certainly be saved, then. Just remove all the leaves that have infection and use the Isopropyl alcohol to disinfect everything but the roots). Watch the plants closely and disinfect twice a day for two or three days. I would definitely isolate the plants until two weeks with no more infection has passed.

I have three Brassavolas and one is mounted, one grows in an empty clay pot, and the third is in a small basket pot with LECA. I think, though, that the mounted one (little stars) is going to be put in a basket pot with LECA, too, as I don't think I water it well enough.
The non-fragrant Brassavola nodosa that I just gave away loved being mounted.

[jzm1248]

!

---------- Post added at 07:50 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:29 PM ----------

Thank you all for your wonderful suggestions. I've let the bare root orchid go but will try to convalesce the one that was in S/H. I've taken it out of the media per Katrina and trimmed out the ill-looking leaves. I'm going to invest in a fungicide tomorrow for it as well as a preventative for everybody else.

I have all my other orchids (outside of a Bellaria and a Maxillaria) growing in S/H with positive results. If nothing else, being able to see what's happening as far as root growth and how much water is in the reservoir has boosted my confidence in keeping orchids.That said I'm inspired by the idea I've seen mentioned twice in this thread to growing them bare root. I have a small Tolumnia that is practically growing that way and is putting out several new growths. I've

It sorta breaks my heart to see it like this as it was going gang-busters this summer after I divided and repotted it. If nothing else I have another smaller division from it that isn't showing any symptoms. I really do enjoy the plant just as you all do. The flowers are beautiful and, oh, that fragrance!

Thank you all again for your effort and I'll post if anything changes.

[NYCorchidman]

Good luck and if it lives, then you know Brassavola Little Stars will rebounce like in no time!