# How do I treat this ?



## myxodex (Dec 6, 2006)

Hi All,

I have a young Paph. bullenianum "tortipetalum" which has some slow growing
brown lesions on the leaves. Other than these the plant seams happy enough for the moment ... growing a new leaf quite quickly. 





Could this be the dreaded Erwinia rot ?
I'm tempted, despite the season, to uproot the plant, cut away infected areas and immerse the entire plant in Physan 20 and repot. 
Any suggestions will be gratefully recieved.
Cheers,
Tim.


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## Bob Wellenstein (Dec 6, 2006)

Probably not Erwinia, not only not the same look but if it was Erwinia the whole plant would be gone already.

We view this as is an opportunistic infection, it can spread, and so it should be treated with careful surgery, making the cuts in healthy tissue, and then dust the cut edges with cinnamon. Carefully look further down in that left side leaf axil for any further lesions that may be hidden down there, this is especially indicated by the downward streaking of some of the visible lesion. We would probably unpot the plant and repot in fresh medium as this plant is in a section of the Genus that tends to respond well to this.

We refer to this as opportunistic because it often seems to be related to a nutritional deficiency, either due to poor roots or a lack of some nutrient, especially magnesium and calcium. The lack does not cause the infection, but leaves the plant more susceptable.


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