My cattleya's are dying
 

I have been growing orchids for years here in South Florida and have a collection of nearly 60 orchids. Recently I have noticed that the new growth on some of my cattleya's are turning brown and mushy. The stems are just turning to mush and I have no idea why. I also noticed this has happened on one of my oncidiums as well. We have had a lot of rain this summer down here... could this have anything to do with the mushy brown stems? Please help!

Hard to say without the pics, but from my personal experience and what you have written, yes, it sounds like over water. I did kill my brand new cattleya here in Miami in not even 3 weeks in July, when I left it on our "every day rain". This summer is truly horrible for me regarding the rain, I can't stand it anymore. But when I lost that cattleya and also one Dendro, I took the situation into my hands, and I have actually plastic covers that I do use to cover all the orchids close to the balcony railing to protect them from unwanted watering, and so far in 2 months of doing this, all are just fine.

It sounds like you are losing your orchids to brown rot. High temp and high humidity will do it.
Just cut away the bad part and hope for the best.

If they are in pots and you can bring inside, I would bring them in and keep dry from rain until plants recover.

With you the best!

SEND THE RAIN 2 US @ TOMMYMIAMI

I lost a new growth P-bulb on a small oncidium due to the rain this summer. Thankfully it didn't spread too far, and now the plant is growing again.

I have lost some No ID rescue phals to rot recently because of all the rain though. Some people left them out in the rain too long before I got to them.

I recently learned that Catt new growth can brown and die in what appears to be rot, but can be a calcium deficiency. I use MSU fertilizer which contains calcium, but still have the this problem and just learned that it could be the pH of my water. Orchids need a slightly acidic pH for the water in order to absorb the calcium. My next purchase is a pH meter so that I can adjust the acidity of my water!

God Kindrag, PLEASE TAKE IT TAKE IT TAKE IT ALL!!!, I can't stand it, it is freaking raining non stop now for 3 days, I am only keeping everything I can covered or it would kill again half of my orchids, this year is really bad! No sun, no drying out between, just soggy high humid rain and rain and rain, it is so depressing!

---------- Post added at 04:22 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:19 PM ----------

cbuchman, I was advise here on the OB to get MagiCal, and feed this to my cat's (and all orchids that like extra calcium) once a month! It seems working just fine, and I have many new growths on the cats that I have never seen in the prior years. It is good investment and the bottle is no so expensive and will last you for a years!

Thanks for the advice @ TommyMiami just ordered me some for all my schomburgkia/cattleya crosses and the like. lol

Technaflora-MagiCal. now how do I use this? other than just once a month during soaking lol.

---------- Post added at 03:59 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:58 PM ----------

also which plants should I use this on?

I follow bottle instructions. It is I think 1tsp per gallon, and I do it once a month, for my cats. I also read that Paphiopedilum likes lot of calcium, so that one also. NOt sure what other orchids need extra calcium than the one they get from fertilizers.

I've been a cattleya grower for many years in South Florida and I always lost some pseudo-bulbs to black and brown rot every summer. Two things happen in the summer in Florida, first; It's humid and rainy so all types of fungus can flourish. Second; our water has lots of calcium in it, but during the summer most of the water our orchids get is rain water so they don't get enough calcium. Calcium is what builds strong cell walls in new growths and weak cell walls mean the plant is susceptible to fungus and insects. I have two suggestions for growing cattleyas in South Florida, First; grow in a very chunky, open mix that won't rot, like LECA, lava rock, cork or chunks of tree fern fiber. No bark or coconut husk for cattleyas down here. I actually grow all mine in open wood baskets with big chunks of cork, lava rock and tree fern. Second; provide lots of calcium during the spring and summer. Use a fertilizer that contains calcium and magnesium and also use a calcium supplement once or twice a month by itself. It will make a huge difference. I use MagiCal by Technaflora at teaspoon per gallon twice a month during the growing season. Here's a link to an article about the need for calcium in orchids. Good luck.

http://www.staugorchidsociety.org/PD...ps-Calcium.pdf