The return of the living dead... - Orchid Board

The Mutant · #1 02-23-2012, 07:14 AM

With the patient coaxing (okay, there wasn't any coaxing involved from her side, instead it was more from my bad conscience's side) of one of OB's super moderators, Camille, I've now resurrected my P. equestris aurea in an attempt to try to save its basal keiki.

I panicked yesterday and tossed the entire plant away (because of this I've not had a good night's sleep) but luckily I didn't throw the garbage bag. So I dug up the abused Phal, noticed that the alleged stem rot had happily spread during the stay in the moist and warm environment, chopped off everything I could, used two different types of disinfectant (one of them is rather strong so if I'm really unlucky it'll be the death of the Phal, keiki and all) since I didn't have any peroxide, sprinkled all the cut surfaces with cinnamon, re-potted the Phal in a much smaller pot, and put it in quarantine.

All I can do now is wait and see if the basal keiki will die, develop roots or if the entire Phal will get whisked away by passing aliens.

One thing is for certain though, I'll never be nominated for best Phal caretaker...

grasshopper · #2 02-23-2012, 12:58 PM

Fingers crossed for a speedy recovery. And I have yet to be nominated for that award. I think I've killed too many phals and have most likely been black-listed for life.

Phal grower · #3 02-23-2012, 01:58 PM

My guess is it will "get whisked away by passing aliens". Seriously though, sometimes you have to threaten them with the trash can treatment so they know you mean business. Hope it grows for you.

The Mutant · #4 02-23-2012, 02:21 PM

Thank you grasshopper! I'll also keep my fingers crossed and, as we say here in Sweden, I'll be "holding my thumbs" (word-by-word translation... *shudders* ). This means I'll be having some difficulties with writing posts here on OB, though.

I think I'll be black-listed too if I keep this up! "Sell your orchids to me, guarantied to survive for at least one week!"

Not only was it threatened, it even spent the entire night in the bin!

I used it as an example for the other Phals to see what will happen if they dare to contract the same affliction.

Seriously, I really hope the keiki will make it.

Tsuchibuta · #5 02-23-2012, 02:25 PM

It really doesn't look to horrible to me from the photos, if indeed that is the same plant that you threw out.

The Mutant · #6 02-23-2012, 02:34 PM

Except there's a big chunk of stem missing you mean?

It was a large P. equestris to begin with so the fact that it has lost five leaves (four within the last 24 hours) doesn't affect its appearance that much. It looks rather healthy in the pictures, but the leaves are all floppy and soft, except for those on the keiki.

I'll update with some photos in a couple of days when it has realized what has happened to it. I don't think it'll look as "good" anymore by then...

Discus · #7 02-24-2012, 03:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Mutant

I'll be "holding my thumbs"

That's quite a common expression in South Africa, but in most of the English-speaking world, crossing my fingers is more common.

camille1585 · #8 02-24-2012, 04:10 AM

It doesn't look bad at all! I think it has a very good chance of recovering.
And if you want to keep your fingers free for typing, you can always cross your toes!

Merlyn · #9 02-24-2012, 04:24 AM

I'm glad that you retrieved it !!! I had a Phal develop crown rot and had a basal keiki take over and become the plant as the original one faded away forever. It turned out to be a healthy plant that grew and bloomed. It's not an uncommon thing to happen !!

The Mutant · #10 02-24-2012, 05:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Discus

That's quite a common expression in South Africa, but in most of the English-speaking world, crossing my fingers is more common.

It is? I had no idea. As a matter of fact, I wonder if my English teachers at the university know about this? I should inform them.

Camille: It looks deceivingly well, doesn't it? Well, we'll see how it looks in a week but I really hope it'll recover or that the keiki will flourish.

Merlyn: So am I.

If Camille hadn't spurred my already bad conscience (without her being aware of it), I probably wouldn't have tried. This forum is great!
I hope this will be a success story rather than a [insert bad word here] story.
Even if it doesn't, I've learned from this ordeal; if in doubt - check the roots; and, seriously, people aren't as thorough with sterilizing tools and such because they think it's funny - there's an important reason as to why you should do it too!

Now I have to check on another one of my Phals that's also starting to have floppy leaves... I don't like this one bit.