The thing that concerned me most was that those particular plants have death issues. Meaning...for no reason at all (that I could figure out) new growth would start and by the time it got the 2nd or 3 little leaf popping...they turn brown from the inside out and shrivel up. Especially the Brassia...that one was a huge plant last year when I bought it (sometime in the summer) and then this spring there was more dead pbulbs in it than there were live. I opted to split it down, get rid of the browned areas and get it into smaller pots in hopes of saving it. It's continued to decline.
At first I thought OK..it's just an environmental issue because I do keep my house cool. But after reading what I saw...and matching the leaf marks...well...there's something wrong w/those particular plants. I have others that are not showing the same issues. Yeah, they weren't super happy over the winter but they are bouncing back. Even have one blooming. So...those others probably had something wrong w/them and then the environment issues over the winter prob pushed them over the edge. ? I don't know.
OK...so I probably freaked out a bit but I do have a lot of orchids (& they ain't cheap-LOL)...so I'd hate to lose all the others because of 5 that were sick.
So moving on....Cynthia...I had NO idea boiling water wasn't good enough. You know...I've probably created this problem because last year I was using alcohol until I read it was a poor disinfectant...the article recommended plunging the scissors into boiling water so that's what I've been doing. I can't use bleach (HUGELY allergic)...however, I do have a product I can use that's green and has all the properties of bleach...w/out the toxic fumes. :-) I'm not familiar w/TSP -- I'll check it out but because of allergies, it might be another I can't use. I'm allergic to everything!
kmarch, I thought you'd have to go through some lab or something. I can check into it w/the local OS. Thanks for the tip.
Well...maybe I was too hasty...maybe not. I'll never know now. I guess though...because those plants were so sickly looking...and I know this is not scientific...but I just feel there was something wrong w/them. It didn't matter how much I babied them over the winter...they got worse and worse. And yet, I have a couple others that while they weren't completely happy campers...they just didn't have the same death issues. They shrivelled up a bit and that's about it.
At least if I have any others w/virus...they are healthy enough to deal with it. I did read that a lot of plants have viruses and yet they go on to have a happy, healthy, blooming life.
Improve the hygiene! Use better disinfecting. And, go shopping!!
Thanks again guys for all your help.
