Sharing experience on preventing soft rot and stem rot

Recently I saw on the forum that many orchid growers are troubled bysoft rot and stem rot. soft rot and stem rot develop quickly. Once an orchid plant catches this disease, even if it is discovered quickly and treated promptly, at least one large mature growth and the shoots it has produced will be lost; in severe cases the whole plant dies. This makes orchid growers turn pale at the mere mention of "rot." soft rot and stem rot should belong to the same type of bacterial disease: The pathogenic bacteria are all non-obligate parasites: Pseudomonas, Xanthomonas, Erwinia, Agrobacterium and Corynebacterium, with a negative staining reaction; among them, Erwinia is the number one enemy causing stem rot! Let us first look at the genus Erwinia: there are 3 pathogenic bacteria: Erwiniacarotovorasubsp.carotovora (Jones) Bergey et al., called Erwinia carotovora subsp. carotovora, E.carotorora subsp. atroseptica (Van Hall) Dye., called Erwinia carotovora subsp. atroseptica, and Pseudomonas caryophylli (Burkholder) Star and Burkholder, called Pseudomonas caryophylli, all belonging to bacteria. They often occur mixed together. Among the 3 bacteria, Erwinia carotovora subsp. carotovora and Pseudomonas caryophylli mainly cause brown rot-type stem rot, while Erwinia carotovora subsp. atroseptica mainly produces black rot-type symptoms. Erwinia carotovora subsp. carotovora cells are rod-shaped, with bluntly rounded ends, size 1.0-2.0×0.5-0.7(μm), with 2-5 peritrichous flagella, Gram-stain negative, facultatively anaerobic. E.carotovora subsp.atroseptica cells are rod-shaped, size 1.5-2×0.5-0.6(μm), capable of forming chains, without capsule, without spores, with 2-8 peritrichous flagella. Gram-stain negative, facultatively anaerobic. Pseudomonas caryophylli cells are rod-shaped, size 1.6-1.7×0.6-0.75(μm), with multiple polar flagella, without capsule, without spores, Gram-stain negative, with accumulation of poly-β-hydroxybutyrate in the cells, aerobic. Once the properties of the pathogenic bacteria are understood, the right remedy can be applied. Current prevention: mostly streptomycin, leaf blight powder, etc.; I am not very satisfied with their preventive effect; (because I keep fish under my orchid rack) I wanted to use a more convenient method. Since the pathogenic bacteria are Gram-negative bacilli and are a mixture of aerobic and anaerobic bacteria, I thought of "chloramphenicol" (I am a doctor:)) Chloramphenicol: a broad-spectrum antibacterial drug; its antibacterial effect against Gram-negative bacteria is stronger than against Gram-positive bacteria, and it not only has strong killing power against various bacilli, but is also effective against anaerobic bacteria. Source of the medicine: ￥4.00 a box of chloramphenicol eye drops at the pharmacy. 8 ml 20 mg, 2 bottles per pack; add an equal amount of water to each bottle (preferably distilled water, cool boiled water can also be used), at which point the concentration is 1.25/1000, put it in the refrigerator for later use. Usage: during the plum rain season, with continuous drizzle, very high air humidity, and hot and stuffy weather and other high-incidence periods, apply the medicine every 7-10 days by dripping 2-3 drops along each pseudobulb base; the effect is very satisfactory. A month ago there was continuous rain in my area; after several pots were exposed to the rain, rot appeared at the basal sheaths and at the cut flower stalks, and among them one pot of Longyan Su had blackened new shoots; I dripped it for 2 consecutive days, and it did not continue to develop. Disadvantage: because chloramphenicol injection is not easy for ordinary orchid growers to obtain, it is not convenient for large-scale prevention. Ihave been growing orchidsfor less than 2 years and only have about 20 pots. This is just one person's view for reference only! Jin Xin