Sticky liquid on phal orchid leaves.

[arwan]

What could this sticky liquid on my phal orchid leaves be? Is it harmful for the plants? I have 5 phals, and only one is showing this problem.
Any advice / help please.


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[ksriramkumar]

Hi Arwan,

I would suggest that you isolate the plant from other orchids till we see what it is. I see the liquid on the back side of the leaf. how the appearance on the front of the leaf?. Is it there in every leaf or only in one leaf?. does it smell bad?. if it smells bad could be some bacterial infection.

[arwan]

Hi Arwan,

I would suggest that you isolate the plant from other orchids till we see what it is. I see the liquid on the back side of the leaf. how the appearance on the front of the leaf?. Is it there in every leaf or only in one leaf?. does it smell bad?. if it smells bad could be some bacterial infection.

Hi Sriram,
the liquid is only on the lower side of the leave near the edges, it doesn't smell bad but sticky. The liquid is on two or three leaves only and not all leaves are affected. However the plant looks healthy though.
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[ksriramkumar]

Hi,

I have not faced this situation. I would suggest you wipe the liquid with a clean tissue and observe the plant leaves for next 2-3 days. would await inputs from other members.

[kspalding]

Its going to sound funny when I say this but trust me. Taste it. If its sweet it is not harmful just a failed pollination attempt by insects.

If not sweet. It could be sap from mites.

[arwan]

Its going to sound funny when I say this but trust me. Taste it. If its sweet it is not harmful just a failed pollination attempt by insects.

If not sweet. It could be sap from mites.

Thanks Kim for the advice, but it's going to be hard for me to taste it, maybe just a tiny bit.
By the way the liquid doesn't appear on a daily basis, it appears sometimes only.
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[kspalding]

[arwan]

Kim, fortunately for me the liquid hasn't apper since i last made this post, so i haven't got a chance to taste it yet ��
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[kspalding]

Its a good chance it was honeydew. An infestation wouldv'e presented itself by now.

[Chris1140]

It's probably 'honeydew' aka 'happy sap'--resulting from an excess of sugars produced during photosynthesis which are then excreted by the plant. It means the plant is happy and getting plenty of light and will have enough energy to bloom well. You can wipe it off with a damp cloth if you don't like the look of it. Sometimes it is reabsorbed by the plant.