Root tips gone

[joanaem]

Hello,
I have been growing orchids for the past year,
My plants are mostly phalaenopsis species and primary hybrids, altough I have some dendrobium and small vanda hybrids.
Something curious, rather tragic, happened today.
My vandopsis (hygrochylus) parishi had its root tips gone. It had green root tips, plants seems ok, and suddenly it was like this (pics below)
Looks like something ate it’s tips and left it hollow. BUT, it is highly unlikely. I live in an apartment, grow them suspended and under diffuse daylight. No direct sun. No signs of slugs. No signs of insects.. no other plant like this.
Fresh new media, daily watering and same fertilizer as usual, except I fertilized it the day before it happened.
Could it be fertilizer burn? Never dealt with this, so would I be missing any signs?
Thanks in advance
Best regards







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[joanaem]

Went hunting tonight for flying slugs *lol
Guess what? Found caterpillars.. huge damage from one day to another...
Maybe should get some chicken to address this issue...
Cats are not enough...
Thanks anyways...

So the roots were definitely eaten.
No fertyilizer burn whatsoever

[Chris in Hamilton]

This does look like snail/slug damage Joan. Possibly bush snails. Very tiny but do a lot of damage. I found them in my collection for the 1st time this past summer. Did this plant come with the medium we see here?

[ksriramkumar]

Concur with Chris. Could be slug or sometimes even roaches had a similar damage.

[joanaem]

Thanks for the reply, guys.
It was a fresh new media, hardwood chips along with little sphagnum.. no signs of snails.. not even those very little ones..
There were about 5 caterpillars, black, 1 to 2 cm each... that I could see.
Threw media away, cleaned the plant and repotted.
Started an insecticide schedule now.. wish I could avoid using insecticides but I am not fooling around with this kind of damage potential..
Best regards!