My nice paph Armeni White has some sort of bizarre fungal infection or something.

This nasty looking white fuzz is just sprouting out of the back of the flower, the stem, and inside the leaves. It looks like something out of a bad science fiction movie!

It's light but sticky to the touch.

Anyone know what it is?

Thanks!

P.

Paul,

Can you show a picture of it?

thanks

this may be a silly question, but do you know what mealybugs are?
(also, can you post a photo?)

I was thinking of mealy bugs too!

I'm also guessing mealy bugs.

I put the plant outside. It's not bugs. It actually reminds me of how salt build-up looks on a clay pot. I'll try to get a photo later.

As a preventative measure, to get more time, I would wash the infected area with soapy water, and alcohol just so it may help stop the spread.

I would have an extremely hard time not believing it's not mealie bugs!
YOU HAVE DESCRIBED THEM TO A TEE! TRUST US!

...It actually reminds me of how salt build-up looks on a clay pot....

kinda sounds like it might be a type of scale. hopefully(?) perhaps just a birdie flew by and, well, did what birds do.... it seems that it had been inside, though... do you keep birds?

I'm also guessing mealy bugs.

:iagree::iagree::iagree:. Spray some alcohol.

Ramon:D

Thanks. I looked up Mealy Bugs and that's exactly what it is. Nasty! I'm glad I moved it outside away from the other plants. Now I have to see if they are on the others.

Do they attack phrags?

P.

Thanks. I looked up Mealy Bugs and that's exactly what it is. Nasty! I'm glad I moved it outside away from the other plants. Now I have to see if they are on the others.

Do they attack phrags?

P.

Especially!

Ramon:D

Paul emailed the photo and here it is.

http://img175.imageshack.us/img175/8013/armeni20diseaseik5.jpg

Yes, they are mealy bugs and get rid of them as soon as you can and I would isolate the plant from the others.

Ugh! :Yuck: Gross...yes they do attack phrags.

It's too late. All my paphs are infected with effing mealy bugs. You practically have to rip off the leaves to get to them plus they even get into the root crown.

Unbelievable! I'll see if spraying with alcohol kills them. If not, there goes my entire topical orchid collection.

Great.

I really need to give up all this plant crap.

It will kill them but not the eggs. If your pots have rims, make sure you get them, they get in any nook & cranny unfortunately.

Presently I do have some problem with some of my plants has mealy bugs and scales. Since I grow them in my room, I took my plants out in the garden and sprayed all of them with Orthane (a systemic insecticide) it seems does not burn my plants. I just follows the mixing direction. I leave the plants for awhile (a couple of hours) until the smell of the insecticide dissipate. Then bring them in.

Ramon:D

I have all my maudiaes infected with them...... so hard to get rid of, I finally isolated them to a group of plants at least

I agree with Ramon, you should use a systemic insecticide otherwise they will continue to come back and ravage your plants. Luckily, they are not bad really in terms of damage or control as long as you catch them early. You can do the alcohol trick, but it will be an unending cycle trying to kill them as new eggs hatch.

or, you could get some predators such as lacewing larvae or, as they appear to be citrus mealybugs, you could get some citrus mealybug parasitoids (Leptomastix dactylopii).
(parasitoids are like parasites except parasites don't kill their hosts, parasitoids do...)

IMHO.... mealy bugs are the most common paph problem. Mealies LOVE paphs; I mean LOVE them. This is the number one insect to attach paphs. They love to crawl in the folds of leaves and hide.

The can be difficult to get rid of and you really have to pay attention to the bug's life cycle and treat accordingly. I don;t remember off hand how often they reproduce. When I had them in bigger numbers, I would treat and then have to treat a few times again for the left over eggs, and ones that escaped the first time around.

Side note... putting the plants outside really helps because other predators and bugs will eat them as hearty snaks and this helps a lot.

Christian

Side note... putting the plants outside really helps because other predators and bugs will eat them as hearty snaks and this helps a lot.

Christian

:thumbsup: That is a great tip and I also prefer to use that method to using harmful chemical inside my home.

Good luck Paul and keep us posted!

Whenever I get this sort of difficult-to-get-at pest I reach for the Confidor. I don't know if you guys in the US can get hold of this stuff, but it is brilliant for just this sort of thing. Don't use the aerosol sprays, the solvents used for the sprays are not going to agree with the plants (in many cases).

Try and find the granular form, I use the liquid commercially and that is a scary price. The instructions say to spray it on, but it is actually better if you water it on ( the Imidacloprid insecticide in it is not UV stable and lasts longer if in the medium). I use it on everything I get from other growers, just in case they are infested with scale or mealy that can't be spotted easily. I use at concentrations much much stronger than the label says and have had no problems with damage to the leaves or roots, even standing the plants in it for a couple of days. But if you stick to the label rate you should have no problems.