Wilting Flowers
I quickly put my C. Sapphire in quarantine away from all my other orchids. I then preceded to take the necessary steps to try and save my precious orchid. I removed about 1/2" of diseased tissue. I then dusted the exposed cut surface with the fine charcoal to prevent infection. There is no need to buy expensive medicines. Simply grind a plain barbecue charcoal briquette into a fine powder or you can even use some ground cinnamon to treat wounds. I then replaced my orchid on the quarantine rack.
I stopped regular watering giving my orchid only enough water as necessary to keep it alive over the next few weeks. You want to keep the moisture limited around the plant to prevent giving the fungus what it needs to survive but not so dry as to kill your plant.
Always try to save the pseudobulbs even if you have to cut it back. At the base there are quiescent buds from which new growth will emerge. In some cases cutting back the top of the bulb will activate the buds and promptly resulting in new growth.
In the meantime one of my Dendrobiums, Burana Jade became infected with the same disease. This was caused from water dripping into the center of the plant, from condensation on the roof of my greenhouse. I preformed the same procedure on the Dendrobium as I had on the Cattleya. The damage was much greater since it was in the main crown of the pseudobulb. I treated the Dendrobium by cutting away all the growth that was infected and treating the infected area with ground charcoal in hopes that I would be able to save this pseudobulb and stop the disease from spreading to the other pseudobulbs that were growing in the pot.
After working with infected plants you need to take steps not to contaminate your healthy plants. BE SURE to wash your hands, sterilize all equipment used around the infected plants, and to remove any infected cuttings from the greenhouse. Remember this disease is contagious and can spread!
After discovering this infection I
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