Scientific queries

[Ravi]

Are Rubbing Alcohol and Surgical Spirit one and the same?
An orchid leaf is partially excised because of leaf infection and the cut wound gets a small application of Cinnamon Bark powder, what is the scientific basis?
How does application of H2O2 (-Hydrogen Peroxide) help in the disinfection of cut diseased roots?
Is there a role of human nutritional supplements in nourishing an orchid
How does an orchid plant protect itself from crown rot in its natural habitat?
How do Vanda orchids survive with out any medium ?

[Bulbopedilum]

2. I believe the cinnamon powder acts as an antifungal/bacterial (which or both?).
4. Im not sure what you mean.
5. In their natural position (hanging on the side of trees) crown rot is very rare. This topic has been discussed before somewhere.
6. Im guessing it's something to do with their really thick roots

[Ray]

Originally Posted by Ravi

Are Rubbing Alcohol and Surgical Spirit one and the same?

Rubbing alsohol can be ispropanol or ethanol. I believe surgical spirits are the former only.

Originally Posted by Ravi

An orchid leaf is partially excised because of leaf infection and the cut wound gets a small application of Cinnamon Bark powder, what is the scientific basis?

It contains cinnamaldhyde.

Originally Posted by Ravi

How does application of H2O2 (-Hydrogen Peroxide) help in the disinfection of cut diseased roots?

In my opinion it really doesn't. It breaks down far too rapidly to do a lot of good.

Originally Posted by Ravi

Is there a role of human nutritional supplements in nourishing an orchid

I suppose that depends on what specific ones you mean. In reality, orchid nutritional demands are very low. The "biggies" are carbon, oxygen, hydrogen (from air and water) and nitrogen (from fertilizers). Phosphorus, potassium (from fertilizer), calcium and magnesium (usually from water) are next, in quantities about 1% of the previous ones. Everything else is in trace amounts.

Originally Posted by Ravi

How does an orchid plant protect itself from crown rot in its natural habitat?

Growing tilted and being protected by indigenous microorganisms.

Originally Posted by Ravi

How do Vanda orchids survive with out any medium ?

Very frequent irrigation with weakly nutritional solutions.

[TomThumb]

Originally Posted by Ravi

Are Rubbing Alcohol and Surgical Spirit one and the same?

According to wikipedia rubbing alcohol is a specific type of alcohol and Surgical spirits can be a mixture of multiple types of spirits depending on the manufacturer.

Originally Posted by Ravi

An orchid leaf is partially excised because of leaf infection and the cut wound gets a small application of Cinnamon Bark powder, what is the scientific basis?

From what i've read there's no proof that it does much except dry the area out and that prevents bacterial infections from spreading because bacteria need moisture to survive.

Originally Posted by Ravi

How does application of H2O2 (-Hydrogen Peroxide) help in the disinfection of cut diseased roots?

The O2 creates a hostile environment to bacteria.

Originally Posted by Ravi

Is there a role of human nutritional supplements in nourishing an orchid

Plants and animals have some overlapping nutritional needs but i don't see why you'd want to go through the trouble of figuring out the minute quantity of whatever human supplement you have on hand so you can correctly measure out the dosage for your orchid. I'm also not sure about the absorption capabilities or differences etc. There are already widely available and proven plant fertilizers and etc around so it just seems like a lot of trouble to go through think about this.

Originally Posted by Ravi

How does an orchid plant protect itself from crown rot in its natural habitat?

Monopodial orchids are the types of orchids that are most susceptible/affected by crown rot as they only have one crown and once that crown is gone it will stop growing unless it produces keikis. Monopodial orchids in nature often get enough air movement that even if they are completely soaked, they will dry quickly enough that crown rot is rare. Some monopodials also grown sideways or upside down so water does not collect in the crown. Phals naturally grown sideways. From what i've seen, many Vandas seem to grow straight up but as i've said they usually get enough air movement that stagnant water in the crown is not an issue.

Originally Posted by Ravi

How do Vanda orchids survive with out any medium ?

A vanda's natural habitat is very humid and they tend to get watered often by rainfall. They store water in their thick roots and in their leaves. They're also usually attached to bark or porous rocks that store a little bit of water.

---------- Post added at 12:21 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:18 PM ----------

And yeah, as Ray said, hydrogen peroxide doesnt really do a lot. it also just turns into water. If you do use it i suggest letting it fizzle. Once it stops, dry out the area completely to prevent more damage and apply a drying agent...ie. cinnamon.