Let's talk Botrytis! Who has experience with it??

[emmajs243]

Ok guys...I have recently recieved an order of Catts and I was givin the wonderful surprise of receiving them all in bloom or bud. Super exciting moment....that was extremely short lived....

Within a day or two one of the plants had small, pin point sized dots. Honestly, I didn't even notice them. They looked almost uniform so I didn't think twice but I did take photos of the blooms the night I recieved them so after the fact, I looked back and spotted what I believe to have been, the early signs of Botrytis.

The next day I was extremely busy so I didn't check on them until the followig evening (24+ hours later). By this point, multiple plant's blooms had either been completely wiped out or well on their way. Their stems and blooms had all turned nearly black with large pure black spots all over them. I knew it didn't look right, especially with how little time it took for such extreme damage to occur...

After some research, I've come to believe it is Botrytis. My problem?? What in the world can I do??! I really can't find too much about how to treat Botrytis and it is just wiping out one plants blooms at a time. The blooms themselves I'm not too concerned about. I wasn't expecting them to be in bloom so who am I to complain? BUT, I have read that Botrytis can move from blooms/buds/stems down to leaves and even pseudobulbs. Many of the plants have spots already on their leaves and yellowing...I can't be certain that these spots are due to Botrytis but of course, I am worried they might be due to how fast this is spreading through the plants

Let's just say.....Thank god that I isolated these guys! I guess just goes to show that you can never be entirely certain and that's why it's SO omportant to always isolate new plants no matter how recommended and respected the seller is.

From my research, I know Botrytis is a fungus with spores that can lie dormant for a very long time. Once colder and wet conditions occur, the spores can leave dormancy and start impacting a plant in less then a day....My guess is that the spores were present before being shipped and being in a cool box with little airflow moist conditions, that's when they became "active".

Lastly, I have read that once Botrytis occurs there is no "cure". Your only option is removing all infected tissue. Please correct me if any of this is wrong.

Does anyone have experience with Botrytis and treating Botrytis or how common it is for Botrytis to actually infect leaves and pseudobulbs? Also, does anyone have experience with disinfecting the remaining spores where the Botrytis I am partially trying to figure out how long of a road to recovery I am looking at for these guys...but also, what in the world to do....I hate to just start chopping off leaves and parts of a plant without being certain that's correct needless to say, certain that the spots on the leaves are actually due to Botrytis.

OH! AND! Thank you guys for helping! I am definitely out of my "comfort zone" or experience level on this one!


Ok photos added...ugh so many plants...so many photos to choose. I put photos of the first plant to be show signs because all the rest show some version of the same thing basically.

- Pic 1&2: are right after I unboxed my "patient 0". You can see the pinpoint spots on the lower petals? Sepals? You guys know what I mean! They are also on the actual petals but it's harder to spot with the red.

- Pic 3: same plant as pic 1&2....about 28 hours after unboxing and being in a room with slightly lower humidity and good air flow. (Everyone seemed a little too wet and some plants had white/grey mold so I figured I would try to speed up the "dry out" process...fans were on but not pointed at the plants. Only in the opposite direction.)

- Pic 4: Same plant as the first pics...72 hours after unboxing. By this point it had fully spread and infected every other plant.

- Pic 5: An example of the mold some of the plants came with.

- Pic 6-10: Different questionable spots all on different plant's leaves/greenery. Not positive yet what many of these spots are.

Sorry some photos are a tad blurry. I can take more tonight and replace them if needed. Also, the weird sizing/cropping is due to trying to crop the tag and sellers business info out....although I will not be ordering with them again, I don't want to offend anyone who has had good orders with them and don't want to harm their business if this is all just a strange, unforeseen, unordinary experience.

[camille1585]

Do you have photos of the affected flowers and plant parts?

Botrytis mainly affects flowers and fruit, and in orchids it tends to be mostly a problem on blooms of Phals and Catts. While it may have started as botrytis on the blooms (which can happen when the plants have been stuck in a box for a while), it could be that the symptoms on the plants themselves are due to something else entirely.

When Botrytis does affect leaves, it tends to be brown, dry necrotic patches that often start at the leaf margin. On plants with more succulent leaves/stems, then you also get the characteristic gray mold. I have no idea how the disease manifests itself on orchids, I'm only familiar with it on crop plants (tomato, potato...)

[SouthPark]

Originally Posted by emmajs243

Lastly, I have read that once Botrytis occurs there is no "cure". Your only option is removing all infected tissue. Please correct me if any of this is wrong.

I think that they just mean that once this has affected a flower, then the damage on that particular flower can't be reversed. But once this particular bloom has ended, it doesn't necessarily mean future blooms are going to be negatively impacted.

The 'cure' is just prevention - eg. spraying the plant or surfaces with sanitising solution eg. physan on the leaves, stems etc.

Good air-circulation, and keeping leaves, stem, sheaths, flower buds and flowers dry will likely make things nice next time.

[emmajs243]

Yes I will add some photos! I will try to just add them to the original post and otherwise I'll put some in a comment. Thanks Camille!! Some of the plants were unpackaged with a grayish/white mold as well on a few blooms and roots/base of the plant.

And SouthPark...that's kinda what I thought at first too I am really bad at bringing up issues....I prefer to bite the bullet and just not order from they seller again....So I had basically decided that IF Botrytis only infects blooms and buds but doesn't harm the actual plant, then that's totally ok and I wouldn't bring this issue along with others up. BUT, IF it could and possible had infected green plant tissue, well then I had reached my limit and nicely going to bring it up....mind you there were many other issues already. Grey mold being one of them...

So for that reason I REALLY researched whether or not Botrytis could cause permanent/long-term damage to the plant or not and found them to say basically..."if left untreated, Botrytis can spread to the stem, leaves etc. and eventually kill the entire plant." And THAT really surprised me because I was under the same impression as you!

[SouthPark]

Thanks emma! Societies like AOS would likely talk about alarm bell and paramedics/lockdown if this was super deadly on orchids. It appears that growers can get this under control. The general procedure is using sanitiser like a suitable concentration physan spray .... and maybe a fungicide eg. Daconil. Use different higher concentrations for benches and pots and around the room etc. And try to have good air circulation. Allow the plant to dry out if possible between watering.... if possible..... including roots.

[emmajs243]

Thanks SouthPark!! And that is a very good point...it is briefly covered in some fungus/disease/bacteria posts and then the AOS has an article on it but other then that....there isn't much. Even the AOS doesn't really cover ways to treat and handle it or too many specifics besides that you must remove the infected areas and it isn't best to remove all dead tissue because I guess that is the main feeding ground for Botrytis and how it gets started usually. But I mean....IDK! Compared to other fungal issues where they basically give you a map of how to treat it and you can read a bunch of experiences and what to do with it, there isn't much! I am really wondering if it just isn't very common.

I have at least been keeping them dry and good airflow anyways because some plants had mold already! I'll keep it up and yes! Really didn't think too much on physan 20 but I will have to get it out! Also, good to know on Daconil!

[SouthPark]

Originally Posted by emmajs243

I have at least been keeping them dry and good airflow anyways because some plants had mold already! I'll keep it up and yes! Really didn't think too much on physan 20 but I will have to get it out! Also, good to know on Daconil!

Anytime emma! If the moisture content around the plant isn't too high during the time of bloom, then we definitely expect the fungus not to grow on the flower and leave the spotting thing. I think it's kind of like having not enough air circulation in bath-rooms, where mould can start to grow because the walls etc can't dry out fast enough.

Even sport shoes kept in moist conditions can get unsightly mould spots. Airing and drying will definitely help to avoid it.

[SaraJean]

I’ll always get Botrytis on somebody this time of the year. Its cool and damp, very humid, I’ll forget to turn on a fan or the heater is too low, and, boom!! spots on some flowers. I don’t even bother treating, I’ll just pluck the flowers off. As long as I fix the cultural issues it doesn’t harm anything else, let alone the overall health of the orchid. I’m wondering if your flowers might have gotten damaged while in the mail. The weather in the US has been horribly cold lately. That’s a big reason why I’m very hesitant to buy orchids online this time of year and I always watch the weather and talk to the vendors before they send something out. Still, I don’t think the issues you are having with your new flowers are a big deal in the long run.

In pictures 6, 7, and 8 it looks more like some old bacterial spots. 6 looks perfectly fine. 7 and 8 looks like could be anything from cold, sun, or heat damage, but if it isn’t spreading I would leave it alone. Pics 9 and 10 look more like anthocyanins. That’s a normal coloration that orchids can develop when exposed to high light, kind of like freckles

[emmajs243]

Thank you SO much SaraJean! REALLY appreciate your opinion and help! So don't go chopping off any greenery? I wasn't planning on doing so until I was positive that's what was necessary BUT I swear....when you read about orchid diseases/funguses/bacterias, they should have to list how likely the scenarios they are saying really are!

"Botrytis, if left untreated can infect down the stems, leaves and even pseudobulbs, eventually killing the plant. (However, This has only been reported in 2% of Botrytis cases!)"

Instead of just the first half and terrifying people! I will keep watch on if anything spreads however but you have comforted my soul at least!!! Up here in Idaho it is DRY! And the weather wasn't nearly as cold for them because we weren't on the west coast. Luckily, we had some really nice weather all along their route BUT, still cold enough for Botrytis.

AND Southpark! Totally the perfect example! The boxes packaging was damp which I am sure just was the perfect mix but when opening it up it was JUST like a cold, humid bathroom! You know what I mean? As soon as I unwrapped it I knew they needed some good airflow. It just was TOO damp and cold! Thank you BOTH SO much!