I am getting fed up with leaves yellowing/browning turning into a smelly mush. You know it for sure - is it erwinia or? Nevertheless some of my paphs suffer severely and the stuff appears -suddenly- on places you would not expect it to. I have seen remedies against it, cinnamon, dragons blood etc. - it helps but not always, so it continues to be a nuisance.
Ok prevention might be better than fixing I thought; so what can be used? The stuff probably spreads by water so if the water can somehow be treated/medicated to kill the germs, the problem could be under control.
I have read on this forum that someone uses Physan 20 (was it Ray?) with good results, but as that stuff both kills moss and is unavailable here in Norway, better choices should be sought. As I like my moss and believe it is important for the well-being of my orchids and a good indicator of things, physan lookalikes cannot be used. As an alternative, I have started adding
H2O2 into the water and it seems to work somehow. Level is something like
5ml(35%H2O2) per 10liter, quite diluted in otehr words. I have a feeling that things have improved, and have yet to see any negative side-effects. Furter to the rot-prevention the H2O2 is said to add oxygen to the root-zone which is all good probably. The only negative things I come about is any negative impact on the mycorrhiza. That is however difficult to check.
Are there anyone out there that have experiences similar to mine or are there any contraindications to using H2O2 as germ-killer?
Bjorn
Ok prevention might be better than fixing I thought; so what can be used? The stuff probably spreads by water so if the water can somehow be treated/medicated to kill the germs, the problem could be under control.
I have read on this forum that someone uses Physan 20 (was it Ray?) with good results, but as that stuff both kills moss and is unavailable here in Norway, better choices should be sought. As I like my moss and believe it is important for the well-being of my orchids and a good indicator of things, physan lookalikes cannot be used. As an alternative, I have started adding
H2O2 into the water and it seems to work somehow. Level is something like
5ml(35%H2O2) per 10liter, quite diluted in otehr words. I have a feeling that things have improved, and have yet to see any negative side-effects. Furter to the rot-prevention the H2O2 is said to add oxygen to the root-zone which is all good probably. The only negative things I come about is any negative impact on the mycorrhiza. That is however difficult to check.
Are there anyone out there that have experiences similar to mine or are there any contraindications to using H2O2 as germ-killer?
Bjorn