Cymbidium in distress!

[NewBloom]

The trouble began a week ago. Leaves turned yellow and brown, several fell off within days. One of the three p'bulbs deteriorated to the point where all its leaves fell off and in the photo below you can see where it's gone down to a black nub. The picture isn't crisp, I apologize, but if you look closely, you'll see the dark area below the two remaining bulbs.

Tonight, I threw out the media to examine the roots. They look and feel pretty good. I'm preplexed. Could this be a case of fertilizer burn?

I'm including photos of two other cyms that are divisions of the same plant that this distressed fella came from.

What can I do to help save this plant?

[starwhiz]

im not an expert on cyms but I can't tell by looking at the blurry pics. The other cyms looks nice and healthy. And,I wonder how you fertilize this one losing leaves differently.
As I said Im not an expert but, I lost some cyms due to insufficient watering specially when temp gets to high 80s.

[orchids4me]

Hi newbloom,
You are not alone lol
I have a cym doing the same thing and lost all but one pb with a new shoot on it. I'm thinking its bacterial or fungal and was going to try brooken's recipe to treat it and go from there. She has a post on here with it somewhere but I will come back to you with her recipe if you want to try it.
Mines doing the exact thing from pbulb up the leaf rather than tip down to pb.

[orchids4me]

Ok here it is Brookn's recipe:
10 drops dish soap (not detergent)
1.8ml cinnamon extract (about 1/2 tsp.)
2 cups tepid water
Adjust ingredients as needed

This is a great post under pests and diseases in forum 3rd sticky down thread is called Best stuff Ever!!! By articuno75 (she's a super moderator). There are also other recipes in the thread for other things as well.

Cinnamon extract I was only able to find at safeway in the spice isle up top by vanilla extract in the thread somone found it at wallmart but I couldn't find it there or they were out. And I plan to use dawn dish soap safe for animals and they used that to slide that curve section on the bay bridge to san Francisco so I figure it would be safe for cids if safe to get into the bay with all the fish and things in there.

If you try this let me know how it goes for you I going to try it on the small one I have left.

[berniep]

G'Day NewBloom

Here is the culture notes for cyms. AOS | Cymbidium
If after reading them if you have any questions come back on and will see what we can do. It is Winter here in Australia at the moment and my cyms are busy setting spikes and blooming. But some are dropping a few leaves, was that just a backbulb that you had in the pot? A clearer pic would help.

Cheers
Bernie

[solay]

Kinda hard to tell from the picture but fertilizer burn is on the tips of the leaves does not turn the whole leaf yellow or brown. Also does not cause leaves to fall off. My guess is some sort of bacterial rot. Usually the p'bulb will get mushy and leaves die. Are the p'bulbs soft? Also if water gets in the center of the leaves and don't get a chance to dry out by night you tend to invite rot.
Maybe take a clearer picture so we can figure it out.

[solay]

Oh, and if it is rot you need to act fast and remove the infection portion to save the rest of the plant. Brookn's recipe won't help with rot but is great for pests.

[starwhiz]

If its rot, someone in the forum mentioned using hydrogen peroxide. I think pouring directly or mix with water will not harm the plant but, please correct me if Im wrong. Could it be natural cycle to lose leaves and become a back bulb then, wait and, wait for a new plant to come out.

[NewBloom]

Hi,

Here are some clearer shots. The existing bulbs aren't mushy, I checked and they're firm. But they have some yellowing and the leaves are fanning out from the base of the bulb. In other words the bulbs aren't as 'tight' as the other cyms in the original post. I hope I explained that well.

If you look to the lower left of the plant you'll see where the bulb went down to a dark nub. The roots aren't soft. They look okay. There were no insects in the pot. The medium was in good condition. The division took place in March and this section had older bulbs, like its sisters. The original plant was huge. It was all 3 plants in one.

I'm perplexed why this happened. I read the culture notes and nothing jumped out at me.

[solay]

Looks like the black nub was the base of a new shoot that rotted off. That happens to my new shoots if water gets in the folds of the leaves and rots. Looks like with good culture you will get another shoot/new growth from the bulbs. Sometimes new divisions take time to get reestablished. Good Luck.

[NewBloom]

I visited a local nursery and got some advice from the owner. He said my pot looked too big in the picture, that cyms prefer to be pot bound like dendrobiums. According to him, cyms would keep putting out more roots in a bigger pot but like a smaller one where they have to push/force the growth upwards. I knew he was onto something because the original plant was underpotted and its growth was "up and over" the rim of the pot. Orchids4me, check to see if your pots are too big.

He did explain me that it could've been an issue of how it was potted and that led to uneven moisture and growth problems. It was so much information to process on my sleep & food deprived brain, that I'm not explaining it well. He also said it could be bacterial and to treat the plant.

Okay. So I bought Neem Oil to address potential baterial or fungal problems. Only the directions say not to use it on a stressed or newly potted plant that hasn't been established. Translation: now's a bad time for Neem Oil. Ugh. So what do I do to treat it in case it's a bacterial problem?

Is Brookn's recipe effective against bacterial problems?

In a phal repotting thread that's a "sticky", there was mention of using peroxide on the old roots but no details on if it should be diluted or the length of time the peroxide should stay on the roots.

Thank you all for the input you've offered so far.

[berniep]

G'Day NewBloom

If you want to try peroxide, there's a full summary of its use half way down the page here Canadian Orchid Congress Newsletter - VOL16.4 - September 2004
I use it straight from the bottle 3%.

Cheers
Bernie

[NewBloom]

Berniep,

Thank you so much for the link. I like how it explains the how & why of using peroxide.