I'm having one of those days...dang I would probably kill my chia pet even! At least that cute inner statue would still be left!

Today, the first day I have really had time to thoroughly inspect my plants due to an overbearing work schedule, what do I find? Two of the worst cases of erwinia rot I have seen. The words my husband said when the Spurs lost don't hold a candle to the ones I uttered moments ago...

The moral of the story folks, is inspect your plants thoroughly on a regular basis. I had looked at my Michael Koopowitz daily...from a TOP view. And I saw there were new leaves coming out of all 3 growths, and I thought soon I will have a sheath I just know it. However little did I know that erwinia was sneaking up from the depths of HELL to rot my plant. Today I noticed that two of the 3 growths were infected and I just had to do open plant surgery and remove an entire growth plus two leaves off another growth. I guess I should be happy that the roots are superb and the one growth is fine.

I don't even want to talk about the other plant. When I touched it, it fell apart! I thought *I truly suck at this!*

To further irritate me, I start venting to Hubby (what was I thinking) and he replies "Who's Michael?" I just stormed outside without a reply.

While I was outside removing the infected parts of Michael I thought hmmm I should take pictures of this as an educational tool for the forum. *Hmm that means I will have to retrieve the infected plant parts I flung into the yard in a fit of anger* Then to punctuate my anger further a skunk decides to spray VERY close to where I am standing outside. I had to vacate the area and now I smell faintly of Pepe Le Pew!

Somebody console me here! :help:

hmmm, i'd try to offer some words but would probably just start cursing erwinia as well. stupid fungus...or is it a bacteria?
some people kinda like the way skunks smell. plus, if you take a tomato juice/soup bath, as i've heard may or may not work for the smell, you could pretend you're one of those queens or the count himself bathing in the blood of innocents...
(that didn't help much, did it?)

Sorry to hear about your Michael! I hate bacterial rot and I have also learned my lesson a long time ago but every now and then no matter how careful I'm, it sneaks up on my plants without any warning. A few years ago, my roth Rex x MM, caudatum, warscewiczianum and wallisii were all badly infected with the damn rot and fortunately they all recovered.

ch- ch- ch- chia! You should get the statue of the guy's head where the stuff grows in like hair... :wink:

Sorry to hear about your erwinia problems. Here's my 3-step plan to help you feel better.

Step 1 - Go to pickup truck and remove shotgun from rack (you live in Texas, it's gotta be there by State law right?)

Step 2 - Shoot skunk.

Step 3 - Bury skunk with rotten plant parts.

ch- ch- ch- chia! You should get the statue of the guy's head where the stuff grows in like hair... :wink:

Sorry to hear about your erwinia problems. Here's my 3-step plan to help you feel better.

Step 1 - Go to pickup truck and remove shotgun from rack (you live in Texas, it's gotta be there by State law right?)

Step 2 - Shoot skunk.

Step 3 - Bury skunk with rotten plant parts.

You just inspired me, Marcus:

http://www.sheepskintrader.com/Images/Fur-hats-011.jpg

Geez, that sucks. I would be curious to see what erwinia looks like

You can see what erwinia looks like on one of my previous posts. Oh yeah, me and erwinia, we go way back. Good ol buddies. NOT! Anyway, this other paph (a paph Shireen) was a little less bad than the Michael Koop, and I was able to cut out the rot and now the plant is fine. Here is what erwinia looks like:

http://www.slipperorchidforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2561

Erwinia sucks

And can make a mess out of plants very fast. I've seen this critter under the microscope. It moves!

I just threw away most of a seedling today with it. The seedling (a Phrag lindlyanum) had just started its second growth. I Physaned what was left and put it out in the sun?

Sorry to hear about Michael!

As far as the smell; hopefully it leaves soon!

Try a bath in vinegar and tomato juice.

I lost my Micheal Kopowitz to erwinia, too. :( That was a couple of years ago.

Yuck-O Teresa! :therethere:
Sorry for your bad day. Some days are like that - so discouraging!

At least the skunk masks the bacterial rot smell - EWWWW do I hate that smell! :Yuck:

Not a good day.

Maybe the skunk was attracted by the rot smell -- good to get rid of them both.