# 10% Bleach Dipping Orchids



## Polypodium (Jan 3, 2011)

Hi All,

I have recently purchased some nice Masdevallia & Pleurothallis orchids from one of the more reputable suppliers that many here purchase from. I received them about two weeks ago and kept them isolated and did a CO2 bomb using dry ice in a gasketed Sterilite container. 

I recently went to inspect them and found a fast moving little linear bug/ insect and a small garden snail on one of the five. I am planning a new little project over the holidays and do not want to introduce any non-invited micro fauna. I am considering a 10% bleach dip and was curious how these work out on orchids of the above mentioned species. I actually spoke to the owner of the company I purchased from and he recommended against a bleach dip however I was curious how others have handled their delicate orchids.

Any advise or tips would be greatly appreciated as to how you have treated your expensive little orchids and have been successful.

Thanks!

Gary


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## Dendrobait (May 29, 2005)

I've bleach dipped a few orchids with success.

If your goal is just to kill the snails and whatnot I would soak the plants in water alone for about 10 minutes...then add bleach to get it up to 5-10%. Let this soak for several minutes...then rinse plants in fresh water with aquarium dechlorinator. You can visually inspect to see that the snails have been killed. From what I've seen with snails so long as the bleach permeates all parts of the plant they die almost instantaneously.


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## Pubfiction (Feb 3, 2013)

I have bleach dipped a number of orchids, not Masdevallia yet but I see no reason it would be worse. The thing is you just don't know how any orchid will react until you do it. On some of them I have observed no leaf dropping. On other I have seen a nearly complete die out of the leaves. On the vast majority I have however eventually recovered the orchid. There is actually only one orchid I have not recovered it might still come back though. But honestly I don't think it was the bleach that did it since another half of the plant had a complete die out too. I likely just picked the worse time to transplant it. 

If you are scared of a bleach dip you have some options. 

First you can reduce the bleach dip concentration or time. I have done some with only 6% for 10 minutes. 

You can try adding up multiple methods. CO2 bomb, carefull inspection, soapy rinse. 

Another and my favorite option is to wait until I have grown enough of the orchid to divide it. That was if I lose it I only lose half the plant.

If you are very patient you can do time based curing. Basically take the orchid and put it in some container isolated. Grow it for a couple months hoping that any pests will grow and just keep transplanting it cleaning out all the media and replacing it several times. Eventually you should have a pretty high confidence there are not snails or other bugs in it.


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## Polypodium (Jan 3, 2011)

Hi Dendrobait and Pubfiction,

Thanks for taking the time to reply. I think I will be removing the orchids from their slabs and soaking and inspecting thoroughly after a rinse in warm tap water. My tap water does have some chlorine but at lower levers then a 10% bleach dip. I'll review further and see what happens and then maybe will I do a slight bleach solution dip. 

My pant list is as follows-

Pleurothallis allenii
Masdevallia wendlandiana
Masdevallia species (floribunda purple)
Masdevallia auropurpurea
Masdevallia hirtzii 

I'll follow up and update with how things have turned out. If anyone else has any advice on treating orchids please chime in.

Thanks,

Gary


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## Polypodium (Jan 3, 2011)

I thought that I would post an update as to what I wound up doing with my orchids purchased from one of the more popular suppliers for this hobby.

Initially I did x CO2 bombs inside a small gasketed Sterilite container. After sitting for a week I decided to remove the pants from their slaps and inspect. I did find a snail, springtails and a few other critters even after a 2 x CO2 bombing. All but the springtails I would consider undesirable.

With this being said I decided to remove all of the moss/ root substrate despite all of the beautiful moss growing. I'd rather be without moss then with a possible snail or even worse roach problem.

I soaked and swished until all sphagnum was removed from the root area and then rinsed the entire plant in luke warm tap water in the sink.

I let plants dry a bit and kept in a sealed container and after a day or two inspected again. I wrapped roots in fresh sphagnum and added to my new Cristibol tank. It has been almost a month now and I have not seen a single snail or undesirable insect.The drawback was no good starter moss however no bugs other then the micro fauna I added on my own. 

I learned a valuable lesson from not treating plants last year and will never ever add plants again without a proper treatment/ cleaning no matter how awesome that plant looks as is, with all that moss and established roots and substrate so well established. They'll bounce back if you choose your cleaning method per the type of plant.


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