Cryptopylos clausus question!

[biothanasis]

Hello all,

I got a healthy plant in early-mid summer (told the seller to cut the spike) and assuming it needs lots of humidity I put it in my orchidarium (approx 70-80%humidity, 28oC, a pc fan for air - many hours a day). It is mounted and i watered it onece per 4-5 days! It was ok and started growing a new leaf until today I saw that it got most of its leaves brown at their base and dropped at a small nudge! Could you tell me what the problem might be?? TY in advance!

 

[SlipperFan]

Maybe too much humidity for the quantity of air movement?

 

[biothanasis]

Hmmmm.... I do not really know Dot! Maybe the opposite is more possible! Although the plant was on the opossite side of the fan and supposedly it would receive less air than the others, it was one of the first to dry out when I watered the plants! I have reduced the air supply in the box to see what happens!

Usually the plants dry out the next day! So it must be a sign to reduce air supply???!! Or at least give small air movement for small amounts of time but many times a day??

 

[SlipperFan]

Is there a smell to the brown stuff at the base of the growth? If so, that's a kind of bacterial rot. That's the thing that came to my mind when I read your post.

Personally, I have my fans going all day and all night. Stagnant air is not a good environment.

 

[cnycharles]

could you take a closeup pic of the base of the leaves that are not looking good? all I could find on this species is that it grows where it is hot and humid and very shady. depending on how things look, it could be drying out too much, but often when I've had a plant start dropping leaves quickly that look green (except at the base) it's been a quick sort of rot because I left things too wet for too long. a picture is worth a thousand words in this case, I think!

 

[biothanasis]

Could this rot problem you mention cause roots to dry out at the base of the plant too?? The have become dry at their base and normal towards the end! Pics of remaining leaf and plant coming soon!

 

[biothanasis]

Photos:

 

[SlipperFan]

Hard to tell from the photos -- is the brown soft and moist or dry and hard?

Whatever it is, it does look like it's affecting the roots starting at the stem. Sorry to say this, but the plant looks dead.

 

[biothanasis]

It is hard and kind of dry!!! I know it is dying, but I would like to know what it is from and try to fix in next time! I've experienced it on some of my "dead" phals I have purchased from time to time! TY

 

[cnycharles]

well that says a little, as it takes quite a while usually to kill a phal by dehydrating it so that it looks like your pictures (though maybe a little plant might dry out a lot faster). often if this happened to a plant I had, it was a seedling that came in a flasking bag and I left it in there too long where there was tons of collected moisture condensed on the inside of the bag, which of course covered the seedlings. other times it may have been a plant that was damp and inside a box for too long. if the plant got very warm and then chilled (or something along those lines) and it was shipped quite damp, then it could get this sort of problem where the leaves all look green but drop off at a touch with brown around the stem. I don't know of a cure, but I guess if you just treated anything that you though might have stayed too damp and dark with fungicide that might help. just remembered that plants that had a misting humidifier blowing directly on them sometimes could end up like this
also if a plant had lots of roots sticking up out of media that was too salty, the roots above the media would sort of burn and die back to the plant, while the ones in the media where it was moist stayed healthy-looking. maybe too much direct breeze right on a plant that needs moisture and humidity could help create 'wind burn' and fertilizer damage from the excessive quick drying where salts may be found

 

[biothanasis]

I see!!! TY very much Charles...

 

[paphioboy]

Sorry, Thanasis, but that plant is a goner. The roots are too dehydrated to be able to revive the plant. That's what we call 'damping off', and occurs from being too wet..

 

[Rick]

What is the nature of the water you use? Is salt buildup (or fertilizer overdose) a possibility?

I have had some phals go down with similar symptoms, but in general the humidity levels you mentioned have helped rather than promoted rots.

I lost some growths on my mounted phal parishii this summer in a similar way, but this is another plant that really turned around with some additional Mg sprayings. It looks really good now, with some new fat roots.

 

[biothanasis]

Hello,

Paphioboy: I have figured that the pc fan was working too much and things where drying out too fast although the relative humidity was up to 70% inside the tank (95% and more when they did not)! So maybe these changes stressed the plant! Phals were / are ok with this, so did Rhynchostylis (put out new leaves), but I also lost a bulbo (it got dehydrated)! I have lessened the period the fan works and I it works 2-3 times a day.


Rick: I use distilled water (the one we use for ironing). I rarely use fertilizer and it is 1-2ml per 1litre of distilled water! Where can I find Mg??? How often did you pray and what dosage??? What does it do?? TYIA