How to treat orchid wilt disease?

Many people like to grow orchids at home. During the orchid planting process, wilt disease is a disease that everyone will encounter. It is especially easy to be infected with this disease in an environment with high humidity, poor ventilation, and high temperature at night. So how to treat orchid wilt disease? Let’s take a look below.

1. Acclimatization period

After planting, orchids need to go through two stages before they can truly survive. The first is the seedling acclimatization period, which is when the orchid is adapting to the new environment. Do not apply fertilizer or water too much at this time, and it is best to avoid direct sunlight. Then comes the acclimatization period. Whether the orchid can survive depends mainly on this period.

In the early stage of acclimatization, the orchid's absorption capacity has not yet fully recovered. Although the root system has adapted to the new environment, the nutrients consumed by the orchid are all provided by the old seedlings. If the acclimatization speed cannot keep up at this time, the old seedlings will wither due to excessive consumption. This kind of withering is commonly known as weed withdrawal. As long as the orchid root's absorption ability is restored, its harmfulness is not very great and can be stopped.

Characteristics: Wilting starts from the tip of the leaf and extends downward, with no obvious black spots.

Treatment: Improve the ventilation and humidity of the environment. You can also spray foliar fertilizer once. It is recommended to use 600 times urea + 800 times potassium dihydrogen phosphate. Spray both sides of the orchid leaves in the evening.

2. Two rot diseases

Orchid two-rot disease is the collective name for soft rot and stem rot. Although both contain the word "rot", the mechanisms of these two diseases are different. Soft rot is bacterial and stem rot is fungal. The difference lies in the withered part of the leaves. Stem rot usually causes the entire leaf to wither, and the withered leaves appear "dry" as a whole; while soft rot starts to rot from the base of the orchid and the center of the leaf. The withered part is wet and often feels sticky.

Characteristics: The places where orchid leaves wither have obvious pathological characteristics, which are not as natural as the withering of grass.

Treatment: If the rotten area is dry, use fungicides (such as methyl thiophanate); if the lesion is sticky and wet, use bacterial drugs (carbendazim is actually broad-spectrum and can also be used).

3. Water shortage type

This phenomenon is common among orchid lovers who travel frequently. Sometimes they forget to water the plants thoroughly before going on a trip, or the moisturizing properties of the planting material itself are not good. If the orchid is not watered for a long time, it may cause water shortage. The principle of withering leaves is similar to that of weeding, but the treatment is somewhat different.

Characteristics: Like withering grass, the withering starts from the tip of the leaf downwards. The withered leaves are like weeds in autumn, tasteless, odorless and not sticky.

Treatment: When this phenomenon occurs, part of the orchid roots will be basically empty, and you need to turn the pot over, trim the damaged orchid roots, and then replant them.

4. Fertilizer deficiency

The most indispensable fertilizers (nutrient sources) for orchid growth are the three elements of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. Orchid leaves that lack nitrogen fertilizer will not wither, but will turn yellow and appear dry. When potassium is lacking, orchid leaves will generally turn yellow and have dead spots, and the leaves will feel weak. When orchids lack phosphorus, red dead spots will appear on the leaves, mostly starting from the edges of the leaves.

Treatment: If the above situation occurs, you can try to supplement phosphorus and potassium elements. The most convenient way is to spray potassium dihydrogen phosphate leaves, which is both fast and safe.

5. Fertilizer damage type

When caring for orchids, some orchid lovers wish to make the new buds of the orchids grow into strong grasses in one day, and they pursue high efficiency and speed in fertilizing. Therefore, fertilizer damage often occurs. This situation is an obvious fertilizer harm that causes damage to the orchid's root cells. Even if the seedling management is in place during the seedling stage, the leaves will still wilt and eventually die.

Fertilizer (chemical fertilizer) is actually a kind of salt. When the concentration is too high, it will cause plant cells to reverse osmosis (some information says it is electrolyte disorder, which is about the same meaning), resulting in rapid water loss from the roots, which is faster than the normal water loss due to excessive transpiration. In this way, the leaves will naturally wither slowly.

Treatment: Quickly change the pot and replace the planting material, and rinse the orchid roots with clean water.

That’s it