Diseases

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Hello:

A good book to get for diagnosing what could commonly go wrong with paphios is The Paphiopedilum Grower's Manual by Lance Birk.

On pages 108 and 109 are color photos of bacterial, virus and insect damage on paphios. It looks like your paph is infected with Glomerella cincta. This is commonly called "leaf die back" and is described as not a serious disease, just an unsightly one.

Treatment: Cut off the diseased area, well into the clean flesh. Dip or spray the plant with natriphene or benlate, then paint the exposed flesh with a paste of Benlate or Banrot. Keep the plant dry for several days by watering into the pot when needed. (This is advised because this bacteria is spread by spores being splashed from one paph to another from overhead watering.)

I would use a clean razor blade to cut off the diseased portion of the leaf and discard the razor blade. I buy these blades at the big box hardware stores in the paint department. I have treated this successfully in the past on my own paphios by just cutting off the diseased tissue and did not use any of the chemicals mentioned above. I do water my plants individually since they are grown in my home, under lights and on windowsills, avoiding getting the foliage wet.

The Paphiopedilum Grower's Manual has been out of print for a long time, but can be found at used book vendors. I love orchid books almost as much as the orchid themselves.
 
I don't mean to hijack this thread, but I have a similar problem.

On one of my Phrags I get brown/rusty leaf tips that spreads downward slowly. I cut the tips off into clean leaf tissue (and treat the scissors before and after) but it comes back. Should I just discard the plant?
 
Carol, is there a yellow line between the brown and the green? Or does the brown end abruptly?

Dot,

Out of the three leaves that I had to cut, 1 leaf has the yellow line, 1 is just brown , and the third has like a brown stripe before a green strip at the cut line.

????
 
thanks for posting that link. it reminded me to watch for the black leaf tip die-back now that it is getting to november. i found some that i cut out and sprayed some Phyton 27 on my plants.
 
I don't mean to hijack this thread, but I have a similar problem.

On one of my Phrags I get brown/rusty leaf tips that spreads downward slowly. I cut the tips off into clean leaf tissue (and treat the scissors before and after) but it comes back. Should I just discard the plant?

Some of my plants have the same "problems" in hot weather. I am not sure if it is physiological or fungal. They always recover well if I reduce fert, water more often and put them in a cooler spot.
 
This affects my multifloral paphs (roths) in the spring and in the fall.

The leaf will start with a black tip, with a yellow line in between the black tip and the healthy green leaf. The black part will then very slowly extend down towards the crown of the plant. This can take several weeks or a month. Eventually the leaf is dead and the problem usually stops there, but sometimes the process will then begin on another leaf of the same plant.

Now that i was reminded of the problem by this thread, i am using a sterilized tool to cut into the healthy green part and then spraying Phyton 27 on all my plants.
 
Dot,

Out of the three leaves that I had to cut, 1 leaf has the yellow line, 1 is just brown , and the third has like a brown stripe before a green strip at the cut line.

????
I think, though not sure, that the yellow line is a sign of disease. The other may just be that the plants need more water.
 
I hate to see that on my paph.
Fortunately, not too common only affecting one or two plants.

The key is to cut off the affected leaf as soon as you find this.
Often they return. Chemical would help, but I rarely use strong toxic chemical for my sake.

I hope removing that leaf would help and you do not see it again.
 
I see this problem occasionally in the winter and I cut the leaf behind the
brown and drench with Cleary's 3336. Cleary's stops whatever it is and
it doesn't spread to other Paphs. or Phrags.
 

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