Summer orchid care: use one remedy to remove diseases in time

In summer, flower lovers who grow orchids certainly find it hard going, because in this hot and humid season, orchids not only grow poorly but also easily fall victim to diseases. What can be done about this? No worries, the editor tells you: use this "one remedy," and orchid diseases can be removed in time.

This "one remedy" is potassium permanganate solution. It is a strong oxidizer, commonly known as PP powder, a general surgical disinfectant for both humans and livestock, and also a commonly used pollution-free agent. Potassium permanganate solution has a strong bactericidal, disinfecting and preservative effect, and it is also fairly widely used on plants.

And in summer, potassium permanganate solution has a marked effect on preventing and controlling many orchid diseases such as damping-off, seedling blight, downy mildew, soft rot, wilt, root rot and viral disease. At the same time, potassium permanganate solution contains the manganese and potassium nutrients essential to plants, and can promote orchid growth, so it can be said to serve both as medicine and fertilizer.

In addition, if you normally care for orchids and need to supplement their nutrients, flower lovers are advised to use an organic nutrient solution specially made for orchids, diluted 500 times, once a week, poured directly at the roots, which can supply the nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium the orchids need for growth.

Below, let us look together at the main uses of potassium permanganate solution in preventing and controlling orchid pests and diseases:

1. Preventing and controlling damping-off and seedling blight

Potassium permanganate solution has a very marked preventive and curative effect on damping-off and root rot in young orchid seedlings. After the orchid's leaf buds emerge from the soil, spray or drench the roots once every 10 days with an 800-1000 times dilution (dilute first, then stronger).

2. Preventing and controlling soft rot

Potassium permanganate solution also has a very good curative effect on preventing and controlling orchid soft rot. In the hot, humid summer environment, young orchid seedlings easily contract soft rot. Flower lovers can spray the leaves with an 800-1000 times dilution before the disease occurs, as a preventive measure.

At the early stage of the disease, the diseased seedling can be taken out of the pot, washed clean, then soaked in a 600 times dilution for half an hour, then removed, and after the orchid roots have dried, repotted. The soaking liquid can be used to water the plant in after repotting, which gives a very good therapeutic effect.

3. Disinfecting pots and growing medium

Pots and growing medium, especially reused old pots and coarse growing medium (such as coarse pondstone, Kanuma soil, coarse Xiantu soil, etc.), after sieving out the fine soil and rinsing clean, should be immediately soaked in a potassium permanganate solution made at 800 times dilution for 1-2 hours; this can kill the pathogens in old pots and old growing medium, so that when the old pots and old growing medium are used again the pathogens are not spread once more.