My Views on "Baylasi": Personal Understanding and Opinions

The toxin disease "Baylasi" is a systemic disease, that is, a systemic pathological change caused by a virus invadingorchidcells. After a orchid plant is infected, what appears on the leaves is characteristics such as sunken faded patches or streak spots, reducing the ornamental quality oforchid. In severe cases, it can cause leaf necrosis, affecting the growth and development oforchid, and even causing the plant to collapse and die out. According to survey reports on orchid diseases, the viruses that invade orchids are mainly two types: "Cymbidium mosaic virus (CyMV)" and "Odontoglossum ringspot virus (ORSV)". These two viruses often cause combined infection and harm orchid plants. Moreover, both CyMV and ORSV are extremely stable in nature and can both be transmitted and infected through contact. Evencultivationmedia, fertilizers, and irrigation water may all be vectors for transmitting these two viruses. However, up to now, no vector insects capable of transmitting these two viruses have been discovered. Many research reports on orchids point out that although the viruses causing orchid toxin disease mainly use Orchidaceae plants as their primary natural hosts, no infection by any virus has been found in wild orchid plants. From this we can infer that the occurrence of the orchid toxin disease "Baylasi" is closely related to artificialcultivation. With vigorous economic development, people's living standards have risen day by day. As the formerly aristocraticorchidgradually became a popular flower, in response to the effects of the "market economy," orchids also entered a stage of rapid mass production. In this process of rapid quantification, the heavy use of hormones, chemical fertilizers, and pesticides also made "Baylasi" infection spread more and more. At present, many orchid enthusiasts, especially beginners who have just entered the orchid world, have become terrified of "Baylasi." As soon as they find a trace of an unidentified patch on an orchid leaf, they become fearful and helpless, as if doomsday is approaching. In mild cases they isolate it, or even discard or destroy it, yet they never think deeply about management such as media, fertilization, and pesticide use. Last year (2002) at this time, under the pen name "Yinan," I posted a short article on Guolan.com titled "Baylasi, Don't Panic!!!" In the article, besides offering my superficial personal views on orchid toxin disease, I also revealed my personal worry about the future survival of orchid varieties. It is just that this humble work failed to resonate, and I deeply regret that it did not prompt orchid enthusiasts to reflect on and improve their understanding of the causes of "Baylasi." Regarding the recent spread and ravaging of "Baylasi," many orchid enthusiasts almost indiscriminately blame re-exported orchids, believing that re-exported orchids are virus orchids, and that they are cheap poisonous orchids deliberately introduced by unscrupulous orchid merchants and orchid dealers for huge profits. Here I want to say something fair: re-exported orchids are not equivalent to virus orchids, and native species are also not equivalent to being free of virus seedlings. In my personal process ofgrowing orchids, during the first ten years, due to the environmental conditions at the time, I almost always used traditionalorchid growingmethods. The media used were mountain soil dug and brought down the mountain by indigenous orchid collectors, tree fern, and crushed brick particles. The fertilizers used were all natural organic fertilizers. When pests or diseases occurred, I merely removed the insects by hand or cut off diseased leaves and diseased plants. At that time,orchid growershad never even heard of the occurrence of "Baylasi." The orchids grew verdant and lush, and when they bloomed, their fragrance was even clearer and more distant. In the following seventeen years, because of Taiwan's economic takeoff, technological development also advanced by the day, and inorganic chemical fertilizers, growth-regulating hormones, and pesticides gradually replaced organic fertilizers and were used in large quantities by people. Mountain soil also disappeared from media, replaced by inorganic chemical fiber cotton, foam materials, and so on. Then artificially mass-produced tissue-cultured seedlings were also born in response to the mechanisms of the market economy. From then on, the fragrance oforchidsdecreased, and cases of toxin disease increased, yet most orchid growers were still completely unaware. In the later period of this stage, I personally saw the orchids in my orchid house weaken generation by generation. Plant by plant and pot by pot, they gradually turned yellow and collapsed due to infection with "Baylasi." They were not as quick to grow large as in the early period when no hormones or chemical fertilizers were used, and the seedling production rate also declined year by year. For this painful experience I paid a very huge tuition, and because of this I finally made up my mind to learn from the beginning, and ultimately developed "active soil" as a natural organic medium for cultivating orchid fungus nutrient substrate. Starting three or four years ago, I returned to traditional orchid-growing management methods and made some improvements to the media. Regardless of which orchid type it was, the media were granular mountain soil, Taiwan Puli orchid stone (Tangshan stone), and active soil, only in different proportions. Although in these three years I purchased "fish essence fertilizer" and homemade soybean water fertilizer, I still have not used them to this day. At the same time, I have not sprayed any pesticide to sterilize or disinfect. However, in my orchid house, whether native species or re-exported orchids, all are lush and verdant, and when blooming they can also emit wave after wave of faint delicate fragrance. I have never seen "Baylasi" again. Postscript: Recently, posts about new seedlings of re-exported orchids infected with "Baylasi," with "May I ask" and "Help" posts appearing frequently on orchid websites, made my heart, which originally no longer wanted to discuss and post, hesitate again. In the end, the heart deep down that truly lovesorchidsstill overcame my own stubbornness, and I decided once again to publish my superficial views, which may not necessarily be accepted. If there is anything improper, I respectfully ask all experts to kindly correct and instruct me.