# One minute celebrating..next I'm in tears !



## Gilda (Jun 1, 2012)

Taking care of my slippers today, I saw a big ole fat spike on my Paph Frank Booth:clap: ,then looked across the bench and there was my Phrag Court Jester with brown rot crawling up it's leaves:sob::sob: 

It was fine 4 days ago, and thought I might see a bloom this year.

Out came the cutters and Dragon's Blood . It is sitting where a good breeze can hit it. Need lots of Hail Mary's now.


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## SlipperFan (Jun 1, 2012)

I'm so tired of fight that rot. Just when I think I've seen the last of it, it appears on another plant! I wish you luck!


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## John M (Jun 2, 2012)

Spray the whole plant with aspirin water. One 500 mg tablet disolved in 1 litre of water.


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## biothanasis (Jun 2, 2012)

Good luck Gilda...! I hope it recovers!

John, interesting treatment...!thanks!


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## Gilda (Jun 2, 2012)

John M said:


> Spray the whole plant with aspirin water. One 500 mg tablet disolved in 1 litre of water.



Thanks John. I will try that,too.


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## Shiva (Jun 2, 2012)

Isn't this infuriating?
You buy a nice size paph with price to match at an orchid show in the hope it will flower faster. Then, two weeks after you see brown rot has developped on the other side of the plant, the one you can't see unless you turn it around. I use hydrogen peroxyde at 3% plus a good dusting of sulfur to dry out the affected parts. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. So I noticed this morning my Paph. Lady Booth 'Ching Hua' x sanderiana had finally gone to its grave. The damage to the base of the stem was too extensive and the plant had only one root when I repotted it. You know, all those tapes on the pot preventing the media from falling out can easily hide a rootless plant. From now on, I will insist the tape be removed so I can check out the roots.:sob:


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## Gilda (Jun 2, 2012)

Shiva said:


> Isn't this infuriating?
> You buy a nice size paph with price to match at an orchid show in the hope it will flower faster. Then, two weeks after you see brown rot has developped on the other side of the plant, the one you can't see unless you turn it around. I use hydrogen peroxyde at 3% plus a good dusting of sulfur to dry out the affected parts. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. So I noticed this morning my Paph. Lady Booth 'Ching Hua' x sanderiana had finally gone to its grave. The damage to the base of the stem was too extensive and the plant had only one root when I repotted it. You know, all those tapes on the pot preventing the media from falling out can easily hide a rootless plant. From now on, I will insist the tape be removed so I can check out the roots.:sob:



My condolences, and yes that is infuriating !! Court Jester has great roots but only has the one growth(which was very healthy) If it loses the next 2 leaves, I am afraid recovery will not happen.:sob: I have used peroxide for crown rot in phals with great results.


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## John M (Jun 2, 2012)

Hydrogen Peroxide and Sulfer are great topical remedies. However, ASA is a natural compound made by plants in times of stress to help them "wake up" and fight disease or insect attack. Forests under threat by insect infestation or disease increase their ASA production and release into the local atmosphere as a means of helping to fight the problem. I have experienced so many times over the years where I lost a plant to rot just like you two....and in some cases, it's been devastating. However, since I discovered the ASA trick, I've not lost a single plant. I have a lot of plants and sometimes a plant becomes really severly damaged by the rot before I even know about it. Even so, I remove the affected tissue and generously spray the entire remaining foliage with the ASA water and the rot stops. For a really bad case, I'll respray a couple more times over the next week or two. I've been VERY impressed with the effectiveness of this remedy. I've had multigrowth plants lose growth after growth, until nothing is left but roots and no foliage at all, or just one leaf barely hanging on......then, just in the nick of time, I spray with the ASA water. The rot stops in it's tracks and in a few weeks, I've got new growths coming up....and they do not rot. Don't dismiss this. It really works! It works FAR better than H2O2 or sulfer or cinnamon. In fact, I don't even use them any more. I just use the ASA water and the problem is solved. However, as before, I still might move a plant to an area with a little more air movement or a little more light in an attempt to improve the environmental conditions that contributed to the appearance of the rot in the first place.


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## Shiva (Jun 2, 2012)

In my case, I didn't know the plant had so few roots left alive. So when the rot set in, the plant was already weak and could not survive without roots. But I will try your medicine on another paph who seems to be on the edge.


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## John M (Jun 3, 2012)

Good luck! Too bad about the rootless one. Obviously, it helps to have roots that are able to feed the plant for it to survive.


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## billc (Jun 3, 2012)

John, what does ASA stand for?

Bill


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## Gilda (Jun 3, 2012)

I can see why asprin would cause root growth...salicylic acid is a natural rooting agent. The way of getting it naturally is to soak weeping willow stems in water 

Source of Medicine – The use of willow bark dates back thousands of years, to the time of Hippocrates (400 BC) when patients were advised to chew on the bark to reduce fever and inflammation. Willow bark has been used throughout the centuries in China and Europe, and continues to be used today for the treatment of pain (particularly low back pain and osteoarthritis), headache, and inflammatory conditions such as bursitis and tendinitis. The bark of white willow contains salicin, which is a chemical similar to aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid). It is thought to be responsible for the pain-relieving and anti-inflammatory effects of the herb. In fact, in the 1800s, salicin was used to develop aspirin. White willow appears to be slower than aspirin to bring pain relief, but its effects may last longer. (Ref: University of Maryland Medical Centre, Medical Reference – Complementary Medicine – Willow Bark)Willow Water” is a homebrew plant rooting hormone that is easily made and can be used to increase the strike rate (growth of roots) of cuttings that you’re trying to propagate.

The way that it works can be attributed to two substances that can be found within the Salix (Willow) species, namely, indolebutyric acid (IBA) and Salicylic acid (SA).

Indolebutyric acid (IBA) is a plant hormone that stimulates root growth. It is present in high concentrations in the growing tips of willow branches. By using the actively growing parts of a willow branch, cutting them, and soaking them in water, you can get significant quantities of IBA to leach out into the water.

Salicylic acid (SA) (which is a chemical similar to the headache medicine Aspirin) is a plant hormone which is involved in signalling a plant’s defences, it is involved in the process of “systemic acquired resistance” (SAR) – where an attack on one part of the plant induces a resistance response to pathogens (triggers the plant’s internal defences) in other parts of the plant. It can also trigger a defence response in nearby plants by converting the salicylic acid into a volatile chemical form.

When you make willow water, both salicylic acid and IBA leach into the water, and both have a beneficial effect when used for the propagation of cuttings. One of the biggest threats to newly propagated cuttings is infection by bacteria and fungi. Salicylic acid helps plants to fight off infection, and can thus give cuttings a better chance of survival. Plants, when attacked by infectious agents, often do not produce salicylic acid quickly enough to defend themselves, so providing the acid in water can be particularly beneficial.


Willow water can be made from cuttings of any tree or shrub of the willow family, a group of plants with the scientific name of Salix. The more cuttings that are used and the longer they are soaked in water, the stronger will be the resulting willow water. Recommendations for the exact method of soaking vary. Cold water can be used, and soaking times of four or more weeks are often quoted. Other gardeners use boiling water to steep the willow twigs and soak the mixture for around 24 hours.





How to Make “Willow Water”
Here is the procedure for making willow water:

Collect young first-year twigs and stems of any of willow (Salix spp.) species, these have green or yellow bark. Don’t use the older growth that has brown or gray bark.
Remove all the leaves, these are not used. Don’t waste good green material though, compost the leaves or throw them in the garden as mulch.
Take the twigs and cut them up into short pieces around 1" (2.5cm) long.
The next step is to add the water. there are several techniques to extract the natural plant rooting hormones:
a) Place the chopped willow twigs in a container and cover with boiling water, just like making tea, and allow the “tea” to stand overnight.

b) Place the chopped willow twigs in a container and cover with tap water (unheated), and let it soak for several days.

When finished, separate the liquid from the twigs by carefully pouring out the liquid, or pouring it through a strainer or sieve. The liquid is now ready to use for rooting cuttings. You can keep the liquid for up to two months if you put it in a jar with a tight fitting lid and keep the liquid in the refrigerator. Remember to label the jar so you remember what it is, and write down the date you brewed it up, and to aid the memory, write down the date that it should be used by, which is two months from the date it was made! 
To use, just pour some willow water into a small jar, and place the cuttings in there like flowers in a vase, and leave them there to soak overnight for several hours so that they take up the plant rooting hormone. Then prepare them as you would when propagating any other cuttings.
The second way to use willow water is to use it to water the propagating medium in which you have placed cuttings. Watering your cuttings twice with willow water should be enough to help them root.


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## John M (Jun 3, 2012)

Wow, Gilda! Thanks for the detailed explanation. That's wonderful to have as reference material.



billc said:


> John, what does ASA stand for?
> 
> Bill



Although Gilda doesn't specifically answer your question, I'm sure that you have figured out that ASA is an acronym for "acetylsalicylic acid".


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## Ruth (Jun 3, 2012)

Thanks Gilda, I have a willow tree in my back yard. I will be making some this morning. I have a couple of orchids that I have used the asprin treatment on and they really should be dead, and they are not. I will be putting some of the willow tea on them. It sure couldn't hurt!!


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## Heather (Jun 3, 2012)

Interesting, I'd never thought about aspirin but it sure does make sense! 

Sorry for your loss Gilda, I lost one this year to it too. My fault for having it out in probably too cold weather (although it had issues with other things when it arrived as well so I had been worried for a while)


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## SlipperFan (Jun 3, 2012)

Very interesting, Gilda. Thanks!


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## John M (Jun 4, 2012)

CORRECTION. I thought the bottle of ASA that I had was extra strength (500mg), tablets. I happened to have a look and discovered that it's the regular strength (325mg), tablets that I'm using @ 1 pill per litre.


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## Ozpaph (Jun 6, 2012)

That's very interesting. Thanks Gilda.


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## Susie11 (Jun 6, 2012)

Good luck Gilda. Court jester is next on my Phrag wish list so I can imagine how annoyed you must feel.


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## Gilda (Jun 6, 2012)

Not totally dead yet but went ahead and took another leaf off that looked suspicious. Still treating ....


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