Are you sure its not spider mite Christos? There are also some scale species that leave similar damage.
Welcome to OrchidTalk Orchid Forums
The Friendliest Orchid Community on the Internet!
OrchidTalk - "Bringing People Together to Grow Orchids Better!"
Let us help you grow your Orchids better; Join our community today.
YES! I want to register an account for free right now!
Register or Login now to remove this advertisement.
All my phalaenopsis except one have developed a disease. In the beginning the developed those spots on the base of the top leaf. Then those plants that had a new leaf growing, the new leaf started top die. Although they started growing flowers they are developing very slowly. Also the are producing sticky substance.
Anybody knows what is wrong? Is there any treatment?
Are you sure its not spider mite Christos? There are also some scale species that leave similar damage.
Chris, I am quite sure that I have not see any bugs, although I have check them carefully.
Mites are tiny. When I was younger I could see them with the naked eye but now use a 10 x loupe. Better to use some kind of magnification. Your looking for small reddish crawling things or if things are really bad webs. One reason they are called spider mites. Check carefully. Once you see them they will be forever etched in your memory. Disgusting little critters. In any case, this thread gets bumped up so others can take a look. Welcome to the forum by the way!
Thanks again Chris, I will check again with a loupe. What is the treatment for spider mites?
Establish that it is mites causing the problem 1st. They thrive in dry environments so if you do have them the 1st step is to spray your plants with water. Best way to do that depends on your climate. Put them in the bathtub and hit them with a cool shower if you live where its cold. Otherwise, you can do it outside. You want to know where the little buggers are going so if you just do it where the plants live it won't help much. Others would be able to give more help with sprays and such in a home situation.
The reports I have heard about the red and false spider mites on phals indicate that they are hard to get rid of even with strong miticides and easily infect nearby orchids If you only have a few and they are all infected I would suggest that you get rid of them and start over. Make sure that any pots or media, decorative containers - everything is cleaned with something strong - bleach or alchohol. There are some orchid growers on youtube who have gone through a nightmare of spider mite infestations so you could check out some of those videos and see what they have done. It will not be easy to help the bad ones. Mostly you do not want to infect any others. The mites can spread viruses as well.
The small white specks we can see. Are they in small dents or pits?
Make sure you check the underside of the leaves as well. Spider mites loves to live there. You need to confirm that it is spider mites before proceed with the treatment.
---------- Post Merged at 08:14 AM ----------
It is infectious and very hard to get rid of, but I have manage to free one of my Angraecum from it. I wipe ALL of the leaves surfaces with soap and rubbing alcohol mixture. Let it dry. And spray all leaves surfaces with water every morning. And the Angraecum is still in isolation. I do get relapse when I did not spray it with water after long time. So, you need to be persistent with it. Personally, the spider mites are more difficult to be removed from Phalaenopsis and I am not sure why. I realized that Vanda (Ascocentrum) is quite resistant to spider mites or maybe their leaves are not palatable to them.
I think its mite infestation...