Monday, July 21, 2014

silent killer

it is always a happy and joyous moment when we receive the parcel of orchids but even buying dormant bare catasetum bulbs may carry some risk. below is a pic of the bulbs when they arrived. externally they looked healthy but i always make it a habit to inspect the bulb with scrutiny.it is like searching for an escaped fugitive and no rocks shall be left unturn. and every inch of the bulb will be examine and the bases are cut slightly to check the internal condition.



often, it is rewarding to take such tedious and meticulous effort for any residual or source of infection in the bulb that is hiding inside is not only harmful to its own survival but also poses a major threat to other orchids in the existing collection. 
and here is what i meant........
this bulb is from the upper left corner of above picture, notice the discolored brown blotch? well, if my memory serves me correctly, it is a cercospora infection. 

well, sometimes the cutting process can be quite scary to a newbie due to the amount needed to be trim off 

after all the cutting and slicing, always make it a habit to treat them with appropriate anti-infective compound. for my case, ten percent sodium hopochlorite and followed by benomyl/mancozeb or both. 




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