Common Orchid Plant Diseases – Bud Blast

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Care and Culture, Diseases

There are several types of rot diseases that you should look out for when caring for an orchid plant. Some of the more common diseases affect not only the leaves, but the buds and roots as well. If left untreated your plant could be facing death, or worse, it could spread to other plants in your home or office (resulting in the death of several plants, rather than just the plant that it originated from). The best care is always prevention, so make sure that you are tending to your orchid plant regularly, and giving it the optimal care it needs to grow and stay healthy. Read on and learn about this specific type of rot, and how to spot, and treat it.

Bud Blast

• Symptoms – Bud blast can occur either with the bud in the sheath, or when the orchids emerge as buds. I’ve found that bud blast in the sheath tends to occur when relocating an orchid (the sudden change in temperature and light usually does it). Condensation will also cause the buds in the sheath to develop a bacterial rot, sometimes resulting in the blackening of the buds in the sheath. When dealing with bud blast in the orchid’s emerged buds, the plant may either have been allowed to excessively dry out (causing it to withdraw moisture from the buds), or the humidity may have changed in the plant’s surrounding area, causing the interruption of the development of the buds, and eventually the buds drop.

• Control – Be aware of the optimal growing conditions for your orchid plant, and try your best to maintain them because prevention is the best method here. If your orchid plant is about to flower, be sure to leave the plant where ever the flowering begins (don’t move your orchid around, changing its growing environment). The change in conditions/environment (such as bringing your orchid indoors from a greenhouse or moving it around your home or office) will result in the death of the bloom. My advice would be to wait until the flowers are fully open before moving your orchid. Also, be aware that during colder seasons we hike up the heat, in turn losing humidity in the air; which orchids rely on.