Phal leaf damage

[T4tlrman]

I'm thinking this problem isn't uncommon, and probably not serious because the leaves/plant don't seem to be affected other than missing the eaten portion of the leaves.

Seems to be happening to my 2 most mature and biggest phal's.

Anyone else seen this and if yes, should I be concerned?



---------- Post Merged at 12:29 PM ----------

Please forgive me if I've inadvertently posted this to the wrong category... (DOH!)

[Chris in Hamilton]

I have what looks like the same thing on a Den. Only on a few leaves and doesn't seem to be spreading. I believe mine is some type of leaf miner.

[ksriramkumar]

Looks like a mechanical damage to me. line looks too straight for leaf miner.

[Carolla]

Has it been changing? It does look like mechanical damage in that picture, like the leaf got creased or something? Perhaps the picture doesn't really tell the story?

[zainal abidin]

Not to worry to me as long as no further damage to distal part of the leave its ok.

[T4tlrman]

I don't believe it's mechanical because it's too similar each time it's happened. It's shallow (about .005" deep and a shy .010" wide). And now I see it in a few other places on the same leaves. One is a crescent shape, and a few are shorter and parallel to the center. I think it's a miner of some sort.
Thrips are present but not at an alarming number. Yet.
Thanks for the feedback.
Roy had a poll going about splitting leaves and that's what got me looking in the first place.
Chris In Hamilton - would you take a picture of it on your Den please?

---------- Post Merged at 11:21 AM ----------

Have just researched thrips (a.k.a. Thysanoptera) and I'm convinced they're the problem. Wade had told me at one time that they can be treated with Pyrethrin.

They used to be a problem when I was in the habit of misting house plants. Very annoying! Moved all the plants outside hoping it would help, but it nearly killed the plants and it didn't bother the thrips at all.

They are very destructive to any plant and should be dealt with early. I didn't search for info on them because I didn't think they were harmful.

[chemist]

How those tunnels look like if you see at them through bright light?
As from your picture it looks more like mechanical damage.

May I hijack your poll ?!
I have discovered this on my phal few days ago and treated it with isopropanol (known to not chemist as rubbing alcohol) for last two days. And it's disappearing.
first day as found
1 day after first application
on second day after 2 applications
and this one is todays photo

Does anyone have an idea what it is?!!

P.S.: sorry again for hijacking

[Chris in Hamilton]

I've cut off one of the leaves of my plant and had a better look with a 10 power loupe. Definitely a leaf miner. Normally the mining action is not in a straight line but if the little bugger hits a vein in the leaf it will usually take the easy route and travel along it. To me it looks like yours started near the outside of the leaf and when they hit the hard vein stayed on that course. I have not been able to find any info pertaining to orchid miners. Most miners are specific to certain plant families. I think what happened with mine is the moth or beetle mom laid her eggs on the wrong plant and the larvae lasted a little while but died. When my wife gets home I'll see if I can get her to take a couple of pictures.

Hope this works and is understandable. The first pic is of the leaf with the tunnel. I know its hard to see but all that is really left is the leaf surface membrane. I did a quick (very) and dug out the remains of what looks like a beetle larvae. The little brown thing between the mine and the knife scratch. Don't know if you want to do this Terry but you could take a pin and see what is at the end of one of those lines.

[T4tlrman]

Hi Svetlana, good luck with hijacking the poll - out of 168 views only 3 votes have been cast!

As far as mechanical damage - I really don't think so. Please see post #6.

Glad to see your alcohol treatment has been effective and I'm glad mine didn't look like yours. You might want to read up on thrips. From what I read the damage could be the same problem. Have you noticed any very small winged bugs around your plants?

[chemist]

HiTerry!
At least you got 3 votes and few posts! I posted question and got 0 reply . Than posted in another section and got few but looks like no one experienced problem with leaves as I do. I'm glad your orchid is in better shape than mine!
I treated them with alcohol cause someone suggested it could be aphids. By the way, answer to your question, I do t see any bugs/insects there except maybe 1-2 gnuts which came from amaryllis pots.
I did looked up thrips... Damage on surface that i noticed today ( did not look so closely before, and its not seen on pictures ) might look as thrip damage but those dots I have do not have blackish center, and mine produces sticky liquid,which thrips do not do. Anyway, I plan apply neem oil tonight ( luckily we got sample of pure neem oil - of coarse its questionable if its 100% since a lot of producers adulterate a lot of products). Any idea if I should delute it? Or I can applcorresp

About you thinking your plant might have leaf miner, probably not. I talk to our entomologist today about my problem, I also thought I might have it. He looked at pics and said no its not that. He said he studied leaf miner. So according to him the pattern on leaves do not correspond to miner. It should be more defined and kind of pretty ( you can Google pictures), also tunnels should have black/gray middle (miner's fecasis). And damage would be permanent and would not disappear from alcohol.
I probably will take my plant to work tomorrow and let him look at it under microscope.

I might participate in Roy's poll.... Plant in question shows sign on of the leaf will split

---------- Post Merged at 07:08 PM ----------

Chris, could you please post a close up picture of second photo? If you first crop photo and than resize we can see better what you found in the tunnel. Thank you!!!!