Pleione Disorders

[Maren]

Hi,
I have just received a dozen of Pleione yunnanensis from a Dutch supplier, guaranteed nursery cultivated, which have been stuck in the post for a month. They all have squirrel brown spots. I have never experienced anything like this and I wonder whether I should throw them away. Here are just two of them.

[luis]

Hi Maren, they seems to me very well  . The bud look's fine.

[Maggi Young]

Maren, I see the brown blotches you refer to.... I think that this could simply be the results os a sweaty period in their parcel, poor things, rather than a disease ( though goodness knows, I am no pleione expert) si I would be inclined to give the pseudobulbs a light dust with a fungicide powder  ( in preference to a dip) and keep them in isolation for a while and hope for the best.  As Luis says, the buds look pretty healthy so I think there's hope.

[Eric Locke]

Hi,
I have just received a dozen of Pleione yunnanensis from a Dutch supplier, guaranteed nursery cultivated, which have been stuck in the post for a month. They all have squirrel brown spots. I have never experienced anything like this and I wonder whether I should throw them away. Here are just two of them.

Maren, these look like typical Chinese imports to me.

Eric

[Maren]

Oh dear, you've had them too? Mind you, being Chinese does not automatically mean that they have been dug up.

What do you recommend I do with them?

I've also had some hybrids from the same source, they were all in terrific condition, just as if they had come from my own nursery

[Eric Locke]

Oh dear, you've had them too? Mind you, being Chinese does not automatically mean that they have been dug up.

What do you recommend I do with them?

I've also had some hybrids from the same source, they were all in terrific condition, just as if they had come from my own nursery

Maren, I have seen a few before and they could turn out to be fine and the replacement bulbs looking much healthier after a seasons growth. I would give them a couple of Fungal treatments prior to potting up. These imports ,from those I have seen are always badly marked and often worse than yours . Yunnanensis bulbs being light coloured look worse than most.

Eric

[Maren]

Hi, thank you all for your helpful comments. I have dipped the bulbs in cinnamon, my favourite fungal remedy. And I am keeping them apart from my other pleiones. Can't be too careful. Now it's just fingers crossed. Thanks again.

[Gail]

I have dipped the bulbs in cinnamon, my favourite fungal remedy.

Sounds delicious but does it work??

[Maggi Young]

I have dipped the bulbs in cinnamon, my favourite fungal remedy.

Sounds delicious but does it work??

I'm told it works very well for fungal infections, whether on your plants or on your toes 
For the former, I'm sure there was discussion of this in either Alpine -L or the PBS forum.........

[Paul Cumbleton]

Hi Maren,
I agree that if you dust them with fungicide and then grow them as normal they will probably be fine. Yunnanensis is rather prone to fungal problems (particularly the "black pit"). I have had bulbs like these in the past but they usually look a lot better after one season's growth. I also agree with Eric that they are highly likely to be Chinese imports whatever the nursery claims. Also, like for many other types of plants, they only have to have grown them on the nursery for a short period of time to be legally able to calim they are "nursery grown". So nurseries import stuff, grow it on for a few months and they then can claim it is nursery grown.

Paul

[Maren]

Hmmm, Paul, I'm sure you're right that some nurseries do that sort of thing. But I would not want to tar everyone with the same brush. I guess the proof of the pudding is in the eating, i.e. one can only tell after receiving plants from a continental nursery, whether they are likely to be from the place one ordered them from or from further afield. I shall ask my supplier where they got the Pln yunnanensis from. It'll be interesting to hear what they say.