# Paph leaves browning and dying



## OOAJ (Jul 17, 2012)

Hi every one, I wish my first post here could be under better circumstances. I have 3 paphs, all have been growing fine in semi hydro for the last 6 - 8 months. Several weeks ago I noticed the tip of the larger maudiae plant was beginning to brown a little on the new growth it had put up. I thought that maybe sine it was summer and it's getting more light now that it was a little sunburn, I also considered fertilizer burn. 

I flushed the plants, cut off the browning tip, dabbed some cinnamon on the cutting, and moved it to a less sunny area, but the damaged continued to work down the leaf and the other big leaf on the new growth began to brown in a similar fashion. I watched as the leaf shrivled and died all the way down to the base of the new growth, over the course of about 2.5 - 3 weeks. 

During this time, I noticed that my smaller paph, a Lucky bells, was beginning to experience the same problem on it's new growth. Additionally, another leaf began to get silvery spots and collapsed spots on the leaf. Thinking it was some sort of fungus or rot, I sprayed all of the plants down and soaked the roots and media with Cleary's 363? (A fellow grower lent me some of hers, so I don't know if that name or formula is right, but it it supposed to be a very serious anti fungal/microbial). This had no effect, positive or negative as far as I can tell. The browning continues to spread. 

Currently, the old growths of the plants are now being affected. However, at the time of writing this, each new growth has a new leaf that appears to be coming up ok. 

The third paph, (Black rook x mem. Robert Wade), has browned similarly at the tips of 2 leaves, (only has one growth), but the browning hasn't spread like it has in the other 2, and seems to be contained. 

I pulled both of the first two plants out of their pots about a week ago and they appear to have healthy roots, they are firm and have no odor. 

In terms of what I was doing to care for the plants, I had been flushing them fully once a week or so, (filled pot with water until I could see it at the surface and then let it drain out and repeat 1-2 times). 

Through asking around someone suggested that they weren't getting enough water, and so I finally sprung for a 1 gallon pump sprayer. I've been avoiding the leaves as much as possible and try to spray down all of the media, adding water until I could see it freely flow from the holes in the pot. I do this almost every day. 

I have been watering with Boston municipal water, which I'm told is quite good as far as tap goes. I use the tap water on my other orchids without issue. 

In terms of fertilizer I'm using a MSU time release formula from Ray, which is balanced for well and tap water. The pots are about 5" wide. I used about 1.25 tsp of fertilizer in each pot initially. The packaging suggests replenishing every 4-7 months, based on temperature. My apartment stays a fairly consistent 70-75 degrees fall through spring and in the summer it's just hot at 80+ (no A/C). Based on those temps I figured I was due to replace the fertilizer about 1.5 months ago. I added another 1.25 tsp to each. Thinking that this may be fertilizer burn, I removed nearly all of the fertilizer when I pulled the plants from their media. This was less than a week ago, so it's hard to tell if it's had a positive impact yet or not, but from what I can tell the leaves still appear to be suffering more damage. 

I have checked for mites and as far as I can tell there are no mites or other crawlies present. I used an 8x loupe and still young sharp eyes, I also wiped the leaves with a white tissue and there was no discoloration. 

I'm running out of ideas, and I'm hoping you have some, please let me know so I can save these plants. 

Thanks in advance.


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## Roth (Jul 17, 2012)

That's a glomerella fungus, I am sure about that. 

You need to use Cleary's or eventually Heritage( azoxystrobin). Bayleton(triadimefon) was fine too if it is still available. Spray AND drench.


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## karategirl73 (Jul 17, 2012)

Would Physan work on this problem too? I have a paph that has the same exact thing.


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## SlipperKing (Jul 17, 2012)

Interesting observation Xavier. I must of seen this same issue come and go with my own plants over the years.

PS Welcome to the forum OOAJ!


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## Roth (Jul 17, 2012)

karategirl73 said:


> Would Physan work on this problem too? I have a paph that has the same exact thing.



No, because this fungus is systemic...



SlipperKing said:


> Interesting observation Xavier. I must of seen this same issue come and go with my own plants over the years.
> 
> PS Welcome to the forum OOAJ!



Most people see it come and go, in fact I did for a few years before I found out that it was glomerella, and it usually will appear on weakened plants more extensively, or during period of any kind of stress. When the conditions are not suitable, it goes dormant, usually as a very tiny brown or black area, or 'tiny dry tip'. 

It is extremely frequent on wild collected purpuratums and some other mottled leafed wild collected plants, some colonies seem to be affected entirely. Before the discovery of things like azoxystrobin, it was usually nearly impossible to cure on a large scale, but now it is very easy to control and eradicate from a collection.


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## SlipperFan (Jul 17, 2012)

I've had that problem occasionally, also. I've cut the leaf well before the yellow/brown area and spread cinnamon on the cut. Seems to take care of the problem.

Welcome to Slippertalk, OOAJ!


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## abax (Jul 17, 2012)

You water EVERY day? I use Cleary's 3336 at 1 tsp. per
gallon. What dosage did you use and did you soak the potting medium throughly? Cleary's is a systemic and must be used as a drench to work properly, although I don't suppose spraying the plant leaves actually hurts anything.


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## NYEric (Jul 18, 2012)

SlipperFan said:


> I've had that problem occasionally, also. I've cut the leaf well before the yellow/brown area and spread cinnamon on the cut. Seems to take care of the problem.
> 
> Welcome to Slippertalk, OOAJ!


Instead of cinnamon serious chemists use Captan powder! :evil: 


abax said:


> ...although I don't suppose spraying the plant leaves actually hurts anything.


Unless water sits in the axils and you get some serious fungal or rot problem! 

Welcome to paranoia-talk- er, I mean Slippertalk!


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## abax (Jul 19, 2012)

Dear paranoia-talk-er, I assume excellent air movement
at all times, but I get your drift. I drench every plant that
comes into my gh with Cleary's after inspecting roots and
repotting.


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## OOAJ (Jul 23, 2012)

Thanks for the great responses. I don't know what concentration in used, the person who gave it to me pre-mixed it, but I sprayed the leaves and then flushed the media with the Cleary's, and it didn't slow it down at all. 

Should I try again, plugging the holes in the pot and force it to soak? And if so, for how long? Would it be better to add to my sprayer and just douse every day for a certain amount of time?


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