Brassocattleya leaf turned brown from the bottom up before falling off

[Leafmite]

In my experience, this can actually happen very quickly, especially when an orchid is stressed, so I would not blame the vendor, not when it has been over two weeks since the plant was acquired. I have, in the past, watered plants carelessly, and gotten water trapped, then, a few days later, had this happen. What I have done is to carefully remove the infected pseudobulb as soon as possible, use cinnamon mixed with alcohol on the removal spot, then carefully wipe down each pseudobulb and leaf with a cotton ball soaked in isopropyl alcohol, using a different cotton ball for each growth (do not get the alcohol on the roots). Treat with the alcohol twice a day. Apply a source of easily absorbed Calcium immediately (oyster shell, Cali magic, etc.).
Keep the orchid warm and dry for a time (water from the bottom), maybe place near a heating vent so that the warm air blows over the orchid.

Once the orchid shows no further sign of issues after two or three weeks, it will likely be fine. Knowing that it is a little delicate, continue to water from the bottom and continue giving it a little extra Calcium.

Good luck! I know how frustrating this is!

[OrchideeNormus]

Originally Posted by estación seca

If you cut off the bad area into good tissue so nothing infected is left, the plant should survive. I doubt this happened while at your place. I agree it probably arrived this way.

I'm going to unpot it tomorrow and attempt to cut away anything that looks suspicious. The downside is I think I see black spots on several of the leaves so I'm not sure how much will be left. Luckily it was only $8 so it's not a big loss or anything if I dig in and find its all bad.
Should I leave it bare rooted if there's anything to try and save or do these guys not like that? If they're sensitive to black rot to begin with Im thinking it might not be a bad idea to keep it away from my usual setup.

---------- Post added at 07:50 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:47 PM ----------

Originally Posted by Leafmite

In my experience, this can actually happen very quickly, especially when an orchid is stressed, so I would not blame the vendor, not when it has been over two weeks since the plant was acquired. I have, in the past, watered plants carelessly, and gotten water trapped, then, a few days later, had this happen. What I have done is to carefully remove the infected pseudobulb as soon as possible, use cinnamon mixed with alcohol on the removal spot, then carefully wipe down each pseudobulb and leaf with a cotton ball soaked in isopropyl alcohol, using a different cotton ball for each growth (do not get the alcohol on the roots). Treat with the alcohol twice a day. Apply a source of easily absorbed Calcium immediately (oyster shell, Cali magic, etc.).
Keep the orchid warm and dry for a time (water from the bottom), maybe place near a heating vent so that the warm air blows over the orchid.

Once the orchid shows no further sign of issues after two or three weeks, it will likely be fine. Knowing that it is a little delicate, continue to water from the bottom and continue giving it a little extra Calcium.

Good luck! I know how frustrating this is!

Great advice, thank you very much. I am definitely not blaming the vendor, even if they did send it with issues. These things happen and I understand that.

[OrchideeNormus]

I went ahead and unpotted it and cut everything that looked like it could be infected away. The roots I think look good, they are all plump and firm. Some of them are kinda brownish but I'm pretty sure that's from the bark it was potted in when I got it. I have two canes left, the biggest one has a spot that's suspicious but I'm hesitant to cut into it right now. I'm gonna keep a close eye on it. I removed all the sheaths that came off easily to help prevent moisture getting trapped in the future. I'm keeping it bare rooted for the time being, not sure what is going to be the best way to keep it for the next couple weeks.

[Selmo]

As Ray said, if this is Pythium (probably not phytophthora) one of the stem rots, then you have to move fast in treating it. Isolate it from other plants, splashing water can move it and it is highly contagious. It does take specific conditions to occur and probably happen 48-72 hours before you noticed. Number of hours of certain temperatures and plant wetness, cause these rots and they happen fast. Usually happen during the night, and not very common as these kinds of conditions only happen during certain times of the year. To control Pythium you need to use specific fungicides, not general use ones. You need to use one that is labelled for pythium, Subdue Maxx, Aluette, Signature, Banrot, these control only pythium and usually powdery mildews. These fungicides will kill any active pythium instantly on contact, this is the only good thing about this.

Isolate the plant from others, trim off infected tissues, treat it with a pythium labelled fungicide, increase air movement and light intensity, and no overhead watering. You may need to start a preventive maintenance routine if this happens again. Best if luck with this

[OrchideeNormus]

I've done everything but a fungicide. I looked at the price of Banrot and decided it wasn't worth it for an $8 orchid lol. I couldn't find anything less than $80! For now I'll do what I can and hope for the best. I've got it bare rooted and it will probably stay that way for a while. I might end up mounting it if it survives , we shall see 🙂
Thank you everyone for the awesome advice!

[SouthPark]

Originally Posted by OrchideeNormus

I've done everything but a fungicide. I looked at the price of Banrot and decided it wasn't worth it for an $8 orchid lol. I couldn't find anything less than $80! For now I'll do what I can and hope for the best. I've got it bare rooted and it will probably stay that way for a while. I might end up mounting it if it survives , we shall see 🙂
Thank you everyone for the awesome advice!

In Australia, there is a product called yates anti-rot phosacid ... with phosphorous acid as the ingredient. I think it costs less than a quarter of the price of what you mentioned for the banrot.

[OrchideeNormus]

Originally Posted by SouthPark

In Australia, there is a product called yates anti-rot phosacid ... with phosphorous acid as the ingredient. I think it costs less than a quarter of the price of what you mentioned for the banrot.

Thanks for the suggestion. I did a quick search for it and can find the product but can't seem to find a price for it.

My main problem is I don't know where to look for these things or even what to look for in similar products. Locally I know my options are very limited and the chances of finding anything other than something meant for a large agricultural field is slim to none. I rely on Amazon for most of my shopping, outside of that Im not great at navigating the internet when it comes to shopping lol. I'll keep looking and thanks to all the helpful information I'm getting here I at least have a better idea of what to look for.
Also, if anyone has any natural solutions I can try other than the cinnamon and isopropyl alcohol I would truly appreciate it. I do love to keep things as natural as possible 🙂 If I absolutely need a chemical type treatment I will. Honestly, it probably won't be for this particular plant because it's cheap to replace. I am going to keep looking for a treatment like Banrot to have in the future just in case this happens with a plant that means more to me.

[SouthPark]

Originally Posted by OrchideeNormus

Thanks for the suggestion. I did a quick search for it and can find the product but can't seem to find a price for it.

Most welcome. Head over to ebay.com and type in the search box for 'yates anti-rot' ..... I think you'll find there is even free international shipping for around 20 US dollars.

The cheapest we can get this product for in Australia is around 18 Australian dollars (eg. at 'bunnings'), which is about 13 US dollars.

[OrchideeNormus]

Originally Posted by SouthPark

Most welcome. Head over to ebay.com and type in the search box for 'yates anti-rot' ..... I think you'll find there is even free international shipping for around 20 US dollars.

Oh my Ebay lol. Have they gotten any better in the last 12 years? I had a few terrible experiences with them and haven't used the site since. I used to love it though, I even used it to sell things myself.

[SouthPark]

Originally Posted by OrchideeNormus

Oh my Ebay lol. Have they gotten any better in the last 12 years?

It should be fine. A sellers rating will at least more or less indicate that they can be trusted or not. Eg. if you see somebody with 100% positive rating for four-thousand items sold, then pretty much bound to be ok. And ebay usually covers your back too. I've purchased 1078 items (over one-thousand items) from ebay over the years. I had 1 unsatisfactory transaction out of all this, when a item arrived minus some crucial components. What I bought didn't cost a lot, and ebay covered my back for it. I have 100% buyer rating.

I bought a physan 20 equivalent - which they call "SA-20" from ebay, as well as "Thiomyl Systemic Fungicide" - cleary's 3336 and other chemicals --- since we don't have that kind of thing in Australia. Absolutely no problem with those items turning up.

I always think that collecting orchids comes hand-in-hand with collecting chemicals -----pesticides/fungicides/fertilier/hormones etc. So it's a orchid collection and chemical collection.