# problem spot on a Paph philippinense



## Denver (Jun 2, 2015)

This morning when I went to water a few plants I discovered what looks like rot on one of my philippinense seedlings.
With flash:





Without flash:





I didn't really have time to deal with it before heading to work so I just put some Dragon's Blood on it and moved it into isolation.

Would it be best to go ahead and remove that whole leaf when I get home tonight? Or would it be ok to wait and see if the Dragon's Blood works its magic? It is a fairly recent acquisition that was just starting to take off with a bunch of new root tips and a rapidly growing new leaf so it would be a shame to loose it.


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## dodidoki (Jun 2, 2015)

I think it is erwinia rot. It goes rapidly inwards and kills the base of the crown. 95% of my infected plants died despite of all efforts.


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## eggshells (Jun 2, 2015)

Bacterial rot. 

I do the following protocol:

Unpot
Remove the infected part. (this case the whole leaf)
Soak with fungicide
Let the plant dry for a day
Repot the plant and give ample air movement


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## Secundino (Jun 2, 2015)

First of all: isolate!!!! 
And then go on as eggshells told!


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## orcoholic (Jun 2, 2015)

That looks like a bacterial problem - from water sitting where the leaf meets the stem. 

What eggshells said except use peroxide as soak, or something like Phyton.


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## Denver (Jun 2, 2015)

I have Physan 20 but have never used it directly on a plant and use it more so to sterilize my grow area. Anyone have advice on what concentration to use it for this issue on a seedling?

Or should I just use peroxide or go get another product?


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## gonewild (Jun 2, 2015)

Apply more Dragons Blood to flood in around the crown and base of leaves. 
Then wait. Dragon's Blood is very effective for this.
It's so close to the crown already, cutting it off won't really help at this point. But the leaf will probably die anyway so cutting it off won't be any extra loss. 
Handle it as little as possible to avoid physically spreading the infection, don't stress the plant by repotting at this time (my opinion). It's not a root infection it's on the leaf, changing the media won't stop it.


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## Paphman910 (Jun 2, 2015)

Denver said:


> I have Physan 20 but have never used it directly on a plant and use it more so to sterilize my grow area. Anyone have advice on what concentration to use it for this issue on a seedling?
> 
> Or should I just use peroxide or go get another product?



If the inflection got into the tissue, Physan 20 is not effective. Try a systemic bactericide or fungicide.

I used Phyton 27 on my plants and it worked.


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## ehanes7612 (Jun 2, 2015)

that leaf is a goner..remove it and the plant will probably be okay ..what conditions do you have at night?


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## NYEric (Jun 3, 2015)

I would not cut the leaf, but rather pull it off and apply whatever to the open tissue remaining, then something to dry and give it good airflow. ASAP.


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## SlipperFan (Jun 3, 2015)

I'm afraid the rot has gone to the leaf on the other side.


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## consettbay2003 (Jun 4, 2015)

This type of infection is very common with this species.


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## Bjorn (Jun 4, 2015)

I used to have this problem with my philies, it improved when I started growing in a compost with plenty of limestone grits, and improved further when I reduced the fertiliser rate. Now at very low fertiliser rate (however with my own mixture notably the micros) these problems seem rare.
If it smells (I think it smells a bit like Vanilla?) then its likely to be erwinia or some other bacteria. The best then is to treat with dragons blood.


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## NYEric (Jun 4, 2015)

SlipperFan said:


> I'm afraid the rot has gone to the leaf on the other side.



I think you're right!


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## Denver (Jun 4, 2015)

Thanks for all of the replies...I've been too busy to respond but I did address the problem Tuesday night.

It did seem that the rot had spread to the lowest leaf on both sides so I pulled them both off and made sure to really cover the crown and base with dragon's blood. I'm keeping it a little drier and still isolated from the rest of my plants for the time being. It is looking pretty good so fingers crossed that it will survive.


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## iwillard (Jun 4, 2015)

This is very interesting since I have had the same problem on my Phillipinense,I cut two large growths then threw everything on hand to the rest of the growths (Copper,Bordeaux,Sulfur,Dragon blood,Physan20 and lastly Phyton27). I have no idea which one worked but did stopped the spread,I also soaked fresh orchiata in Physan then repotted the rest of the plant.

This morning,I had to rush a huge (division) roth to our local extension office where the plant will be send off to Penn State to identify the correct erwinia,this time the plant was totally wasted after I caught a small area on the bottom leaf and treated with Phyton,by this morning it was well into the crown. Result should be back in about a week and I will post it since they will be looking for all pathogens in the pot,orchiata and the plant itself.

I'm thinking every possibilities here for reasons,I kicked everything outdoors,prior to setting my paphs and phrags,benches got cleaned with bleach. Temperatures were in the mid 70's during day and high 50's at night,rushed everything in when night temps were expected to be below 55. Then mother nature decided to hit us with mid July temps at around mid to high 80's during day,high 60's at nights,with these temperature fluctuation I noticed large red mites beginning to take up residence. Since their number weren't high,I've used Exclude.....and problems started almost overnight and mites multiplied in numbers. I hit them with Talstar and killed them all. They are now so pest free,they decided to commit suicide I suppose.


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## SFLguy (Jun 4, 2015)

Did the mites move quickly? If so, they were predatory mites so nothing to worry about


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## iwillard (Jun 4, 2015)

No,I wish they were. These guys were red mites,similar to mites living in wooden fence and casings were similar to spider mites but lot less in volume. We don't usually get the predatory mites well into June.


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## Stone (Jun 5, 2015)

SFLguy said:


> Did the mites move quickly? If so, they were predatory mites so nothing to worry about



If you have predatory mites you have their prey as well and because the predators will not get them all, I would be inclined to spray anyway as damage from mites is a good way of letting in pathogens.


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## Justin (Jun 5, 2015)

do those large red mites harm plants?


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