Mocchaccino
August 9th, 2011, 05:34 AM
It has been quite a coincidence. When I became a new member here, I got my first loss of my Paph as well. But It was my fault of not taking good care of it.:(:(:(
The loss of my paph is Paph. purpuratum. I found something strange at night yesterday. The centre of the plant appeared brownish black and was not there before. The leaves became soft and lost its rigidity. This was unusual to me because I never encountered such disease before. I suspect this was what we call "Soft rot" and immediately looked up for reference. I ultimately found myself right about that.
Soft Rot
"Soft rot" is a disease usually caused by bacteria, commonly present in any kind of medium. The causing bacteria is mostly Erwinia spp.. Species such as Erwinia carotovora subsp. carotovora、E. chrysanthemi & Erwinia cypripedii were reported. Plants which are relatively not healthy, with wounds, are easily susceptible to this infection. The infection takes place more easily under wet and hot environment.
The first symptom, to me as an inexperienced grower, is hardly recognized. Rot spots would appear on the leaves upon infection. Pectolytic enzymes, secreted by the infecting bacteria, will lyze the middle lamella of plant cells, causing the loss of rigidity. Looking up the leaves into bright light, you will find them looking slightly transparent as the bacteria are melting the leaves.
This disease spreads quickly into the base of the plant under hot and humid environment. It usually causes complete death of the plant within 3 -5 days.
There is no cure at this moment but can be prevented in regular care. If only the young growth is affected and has not yet spread to the main growth , the area under infection can be cut and the whole plant be treated with tetracycline. If the whole plant is affected, anything which touches the infected plant must be discarded and cannot be reused, the pot and the medium for example.
This disease may not be so common in cooler areas but usually appears in tropical and subtropical area. A reminder is that any infected individuals must be isolated and discarded at once before spreading to the neighbouring plants.
The loss of my paph is Paph. purpuratum. I found something strange at night yesterday. The centre of the plant appeared brownish black and was not there before. The leaves became soft and lost its rigidity. This was unusual to me because I never encountered such disease before. I suspect this was what we call "Soft rot" and immediately looked up for reference. I ultimately found myself right about that.
Soft Rot
"Soft rot" is a disease usually caused by bacteria, commonly present in any kind of medium. The causing bacteria is mostly Erwinia spp.. Species such as Erwinia carotovora subsp. carotovora、E. chrysanthemi & Erwinia cypripedii were reported. Plants which are relatively not healthy, with wounds, are easily susceptible to this infection. The infection takes place more easily under wet and hot environment.
The first symptom, to me as an inexperienced grower, is hardly recognized. Rot spots would appear on the leaves upon infection. Pectolytic enzymes, secreted by the infecting bacteria, will lyze the middle lamella of plant cells, causing the loss of rigidity. Looking up the leaves into bright light, you will find them looking slightly transparent as the bacteria are melting the leaves.
This disease spreads quickly into the base of the plant under hot and humid environment. It usually causes complete death of the plant within 3 -5 days.
There is no cure at this moment but can be prevented in regular care. If only the young growth is affected and has not yet spread to the main growth , the area under infection can be cut and the whole plant be treated with tetracycline. If the whole plant is affected, anything which touches the infected plant must be discarded and cannot be reused, the pot and the medium for example.
This disease may not be so common in cooler areas but usually appears in tropical and subtropical area. A reminder is that any infected individuals must be isolated and discarded at once before spreading to the neighbouring plants.