Maudiæ type slowly turning brown

Hi everyone,

I have had this Paph Odette's Vision for about a year and a half, during which time it has flowered twice with no problems at all. A couple of months ago, I cut off a piece of a leaf to virus test. The blade was sterilized and not used on another plant.

Eventually, the remainder of the leaf turned brown and withered. Then the next leaf, and now the next. A new growth hasn't shown any browning yet, but this fan looks like it is done for.

I'm wondering what on earth could be going on, and if this could spread and eventually kill the whole plant?

Photos:

First leaf to go brown


Next leaf up going brown


Now it's spreading to the largest leaf, and I'm afraid I'm going to lose the whole fan and the emerging bud.


Any advice on what I should do?

Thank you

Looks like erwinia rot. If you have Dragon's Blood, apply it. If you don't, get some powdered lime and mix it with cinnamon, and dust everywhere on the brown rot. But I fear you will lose this fan, and if you don't remove it and treat the base, you may lose the whole plant. Sorry!

I would remove any leaf with this water soaked brown toward the base of the plant and definitely do not wet the fans from above! Only water the substrate

cut.out all.infected pieces down into.healthy tissue...with a sterile tool.

separate from your.other plants and adjust culture to.prevent futher occurrence (more airflow maybe)

FWIW, I had a phalaenopsis with erwinia, and daily spraying with 3 tablespoons per gallon of the Inocucor solution stopped it cold.

Thank you for your help! I don't have any of those products at home...can I buy them at big box stores? Will antibiotic creme like N**sporin do anything? Hydrogen peroxide poured over the plant?

Pulled these leaves off.

Yup. That's Erwinia. As you have done, all affected tissue MUST be removed. What I like to do next is spray the entire plant with an Aspirin solution (one 325 mg pill disolved in 1 litre water). Then, place the plant in a high airflow location to dry the wound and keep it dry.

Will keep you posted. This is my first encounter with it. The lower leaves of my Phrag Grande and Paph roth have been slowly browning, but I was attributing it to age as it has happened over the course of a few months. Now I'm not so sure.

Erwinia moves very fast, not over months. Erwinia rot also looks like the inside of the leaf is wet.....it looks like tea or coffee inside the leaf. It also has a very distinctive sour smell.

Also, erwinia seems to start at the base of the leaves. Aging tends to start at the tips and move slowly toward the base.

AWESOME advice, guys, thank you.

I followed advice I got here as well as some from a commercial grower.

I squirted hydrogen peroxide all over the infected areas. Leaves with spreading brown rot were removed, then I unpotted the plant and snapped off the first three growths (the middle had the infection....was sending up a bud ) I soaked both pieces (the older growths first) in a bleach water solution, about a quarter cup in a five gallon bucket. Soaked each piece separately for about ten minutes each and potted them both up. Sprayed daily with swimming pool algae killer (supposedly similar to Physan 20) for about a week. Let infected division dry out nearly completely over several days.

There are brown spots and speckles everywhere, but they don't seem to be spreading.

These are all shots of the old growths.

Any chance there is water dripping onto the leaf?

Five month update post treatment.

The infected growth was removed as detailed above, but instead of tossing it, I removed all infected parts and potted it up. It is now in bloom.

The back growths put up a new growth that is smaller, but doing fine.

There are brown stains and splotches here and there on both plants, but no sign of advancing rot.

Congrats on the save!

Good for you!

Brilliant! Reminded me to get a bottle of Hydrogen Peroxide. Was it a 3% or 5%??? I am scare to soak in bleach though.

good job

Well done!