Worries for a bacterial infection on 3 orchids
 

On the 30th of December I received three orchids that came from a seller in the same package. Now, I have noticed yellow leaves and brown spots on these three orchids and I am worrying that they might be a bacterial infection. A week ago the leaves of both Bulbophyllums were green with no spots and now they are like you see in the photos.

As about the Bifrenaria aureo-fulva, there were some small brown spots when I received it on 30th of December as you can see at the photo below:
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4020/...5d51fbaf_o.jpg


You can see all the photos of the orchids at this link. By pressing the tab "all sizes" you can view larger images.
You can view them also at the Slideshow if you find it difficult to browse to the other images.

I worry that it maybe could spread to all the other orchids that I have. I keep them all together and very close to each other, yet the Burrageara Nelly Isler doesn't seemed affected (not at all brown spots and/or yellow leaves). And she is next to the Bulbophyllum dearei.
:roll:

I am most suspicious of the first one on Flickr. That big leaf does not look good. The second one could be a different problem but the yellow leaves are lost. They could be just normal loss on that plant. The third is less of concern if the tip is dry. If moist, that is not good. The picture inserted into your message looks OK to me but I may be missing the spots of which you speak. I do see the yellow discoloration at the base of the leftmost leaf but doesn't look too bad.
I have had miserable luck taking care of bacterial infections so take what I say accordingly. What I do is cut off the offending leaf. If only a distant part of the leaf is involved, I cut that off (sterilized tools of course.) The I treat the area with hydrogen peroxide and drench the medium with the same. If these are in original medium, this would be a good time to repot. After that I watch closely. I may drench the crown and the medium with hydrogen peroxide daily for several days. Of course, isolate the plants and in your instance from each other as well.
good luck.
hopefully someone else will answer who has better luck with this.
Nick
PS I would notify the vendor of the problem enclosing photos.

I'll answer the easy question first...

1. Bulbophyllum...

First off what are the identities to your two Bulbophyllums?

I think your problem with these is that it is grown much too wet!

I mount all of my Bulbophyllums.

I really don't recommend growing your Bulbos in a piece of plastic tuperware with a bunch of moss like that.

There are pics of Bulbophyllums growing in the wild. You should check those out.

Generally speaking (since I don't know the identity of your plants), Bulbos grow wet during the spring and summer months. Then they receive much less water during the fall and winter months.

Don't dry out your Bulbophyllums during the cooler months though! They should sporadically receive some water. By sporadic I mean once a week or once every two weeks.

2. Bifrenaria aureo-fulva.

If they were grown wet all year round, the problem you're having with the new shoots damping off occurs.

They're from an area that has a distinct dry season. Don't worry your plant isn't dead yet. If it's as tough as I think it is, it should pull through.

Just don't water it anymore.

Wait until spring. Then go nuts with the watering.

Well...

Water often, but allow a dry out period.

I'm not so sure about your Bulbos pulling through though. I think they're done.

Oops!

Correction, only one of them appears to be finished.

The other is still alright.

Sorry.

Due to this reason, I am replying late.

The IDs of the plants are written on each photo. There is a frame on the right with a left and right arrow, to browse through images (previous and next photos).

I was watering the Bifrenaria aureo-fulva every 4-5 days and very-very slightly, only droplets of water and it was in a non-heated room.

Continuing on Bifrenaria aureo-fulva, I worry for the brown spot on her leaf and the sudden change of color of the new (small) leaf.
I have cut them both to stop the infection from spreading on the rest of the plant.

Do you mean that the Bulbophyllum blumei:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2773/...5c04ae579c.jpg
has no future? (note, these yellow leaves on the left are no longer there, they felt off)
*worries*

Bulb blumei may be hard pressed to bounce back.

Mount it and see if you luck out. But I highly doubt it'll make it.

Bifrenaria aureo-fulva can stand to go without water for longer and not have any ill effects.

Yeah, that server being down frustrated me a lot. What can you do.

You know what...

I was looking at your Bulb dearei, and I was wondering...

How much are you fertilizing?

Fertilization for the Bifrenaria aureo-fulva should be eliminated during the cooler months.

Fertilization for the Bulbophyllums should be drastically reduced during the cooler months. This means the concentration and the frequency.

The Bulb. dearei looks like it's suffering from leaf tip burn. This is caused by excess dissolved minerals and nutrients in the water.

What kind of water are you using?

Thanks, I will mount it to see how it will do.

As for the Bifrenaria aureo-fulva, do you think that it will be a big shock for her having her bigger leaf cut-off?:roll:
Here is an older photo from a different angle:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2791/...3774df6c98.jpg
That bigger leaf hanging on the left, is no longer exists.

I fertilized on Monday and the previous fertilization was 35 days ago.

I use tap water both in watering and misting.

No more water and no more fertilizer for the Bifrenaria.

Not even misting.

Keep it dry.

When spring starts in a few weeks, slowly water again. After the third week of spring keep the media moist. It only gets a brief dry out between waterings.

Do you know what the concentration of dissolved minerals are in your tap water?

If you don't, I recommend either testing for it, or using RO/DI, distilled, or rainwater instead.

What kind of nitrogen does the fertilizer use? Urea? Ammonia? Nitrate?

What is the concentration of the fertilizer you're using when you fertilize the plants?

What is the N-P-K?

Thanks for the replies.
Here it's raining often, I will collect rainwater. Btw, what is "RO/DI"?

The fertilizer is the appropriate for orchids with NPK: 5+6+7.

Here you can see product.

RO/DI = reverse osmosis/distilled

I guess, the N-P-K can work. I think it's a bit low. But if it works it works.

But that doesn't answer the question about the kind of nitrogen it uses. Does it say in the back of the bottle? The website doesn't say much. It does give the N-P-K, but it doesn't say urea free or not.

There should be a chart with the percentage breakdowns of all the elements it contains.

Here's what it looks like:

Nitrogen: 5%
- urea: ? (this should not be on there)
- ammonia: ?
- nitrate: ?

Phosphorous: 6%
Potassium: 7%

Reverse Osmosis? I had all kinds of animals from childhood but never liked fishes that's why I don't have any idea about this one. How one can have this kind of water?
I am thinking... "At the start, I just wanted to have a couple of orchids, now as things are going I will soon gonna study Biology" :lol:
:shock:


You are right about the N-P-K, here is what's written at the back of the bottle:

That small of a percentage of urea seems very negligible to me. So I'm not sure if that is a cause for problems.

Normally, for epiphytes, it's better not to use fertilizers that use urea.

You can get RO/DI by buying a reverse osmosis filtration system for the home. They shouldn't be very expensive.

I see. I have heard in a Greek forum where I am member, about the Miller fertilizer.

As for the R/O water I guess it would also be great (purified) as drinking water for me.

Edit: I have found these notes:
source

If Natural minerals are filtered-out in this process, which are of benefit for us, I guess then they would also benefit plants.
:-S

The article isn't entirely wrong.

However, tap water is no good either. There are all sorts of things in there that can cause problems for you and your plants and animals.

You don't have to use a reverse osmosis system.

You don't have to use distilled water.

There is rainwater and there is also the multimedia filtration thing that the article talks about.

I recommend against using tap water. Tap water causes too many problems for a lot of sensitive orchids.

I believe the best method for purifying water is through magnetizing it.
link to the article

I was searching about water after seeing documentaries and reading about Dr. Emoto approach. I was searching to use it for me as drinking water, but until I obtain a system like that, rainwater is the best solution.

Hey, thanks for your contribution.

You're welcome.