Where did YOU hear bad advice to spray orchid roots with hydrogen peroxide?
 

Orchid board gets so many posts from new growers that include a familiar piece of bad advice that was followed. It goes something like 'I saw. (__symptom here__) so I took my plant out of the pot and sprayed the roots with hydrogen peroxide'. Usually followed by an observation that the orchid is sick or dying, or at least has lost more roots. I have even seen posts where hydrogen peroxide (HP) had been used for insect control.

It seems like the people that make these posts are reasonable people, trying to give proper care to their plants, but they have received the same piece of bad advice, and followed it, leading to orchid damage or loss.

To anyone that might have heard this advice before, whether you followed it or not, where did YOU hear advice to spray orchid roots with HP? One source or from multiple sources?

I thought it was obvious that MOG does promote this practice.

She has like 400,000 views on one of her care tutorials where I am sure she mentions using it and it being good at killing snails. Just what she says, but watching her videos it is also clear it isn't very effective dealing with said snails but yeah I'd say if 400,000 people have watched her video then that is the most likely source. Even though I use it occasionally not many places do recommend using it as much as MOG does. Just to answer the curiosity part.

I read and occasionally contribute to the orchid subreddit, where I hear that misinformation and directions to view MOG videos at least 10 times everyday.

I agree. Miss Orchid Girl has a very good presentation and offers a lot of good advice, but mixed in with the good are some very bad ideas(tm). I would recommend that new orchid collectors avoid her videos.

-Keith

I think one of the main purveyors of this misinfo has been identified but I will add that Facebook seems to be it's megaphone. Orchid advice threads there make my head explode; It seems to be human nature to seek out tricks, quick fixes, and shortcuts as opposed to patiently developing a holistic understanding from experience. Dunning Kruger runs rampant and people clearly have no skills at determining how reliable a source of information is.

I've seen it on reddit, Houzz, FaceBook orchid groups, orchid Youtubers, some folks here on Orchid Board, some older orchid society care sheets. An old pdf by Sue Bottom on St Augustine's website is still there touting its uses. It also used to be a go-to for cleansing minor cuts on people; not in present times. Times change, but some old remedies that have been found to be unhelpful still remain and get passed around regularly. Heard of putting butter on a burn?

I'm not a YouTube follower, but most current Youtubers don't mention using hydrogen peroxide anymore. As Sade once mentioned, one needs to not only look at the source, but also the date the information was provided and comparing against more current, modern practice.

Interesting, JustAddIce orchids speaks against using it.:biggrin:

It would be interesting to see actual effects in a controlled test.
I know people often advocate for H2O2 in hydroponic systems, and it seems to have more benefits than drawbacks when used at low concentrations.

Doctors would tightly bind the chest to reduce pain from broken ribs. Then they found that the restricted airflow greatly increased the likelihood of developing pneumonia. If you've ever had broken ribs, you know that the pain from coughing can make you wish the pneumonia would kill you.

-Keith
************************************************** ***************
I like doing experiments like this. What do you think a controlled test should look like?

Perhaps start out with two identical orchid seedlings with well-established roots growing in clear plastic pots. Treat one and not the other. I don't use H2O2, so should the concentration be?

-Keith

I'm old enough that this was done to me in eighth grade. Then I had a dance recital that weekend. Passed out on stage from lack of airflow. A most humiliating and awkward moment in my young teenage angst years.

I gave up dance lessons shortly thereafter. :blushing:

I broke all the ribs down one side of my back jumping off a horse. They kept me in the hospital overnight for observation. During my overnight stay I contracted a nasty strain of hospital-acquired pneumonia. I ended up back in the hospital in a coma for two weeks and almost died. Moral to the story - avoid hospitals.

-Keith