Hi all! A while ago, I bought a paph on yahoo auctions in Japan. It came and looked a bit devestated. The flower bud blasted and I ignored these spots. Today I noticed that my Paph. Tokyo Stone Tower has a terrible spot under the leaf in an area that is very sheltered from water.

Paph. Green Festival spots (second covered with some light webbing)

http://urbansprawl.googlepages.com/greenfestivalspots.JPG

http://urbansprawl.googlepages.com/greenfestivalspotswebs.JPG

Paph. Tokyo Stone Tower (later photos of long legged black flying bugs dead all over the leaves)

http://urbansprawl.googlepages.com/tstspot.JPG

http://urbansprawl.googlepages.com/tstdead1.JPG

http://urbansprawl.googlepages.com/tstdead2.JPG

I have the little black gnats that fly around my glass cases. Fungus gnats? They get out of my case and come to my laptop screen in the dark at night.

What do I do? Is this from the gnats? What about that webbing? I know there was at least one spider that came in on my plants for the winter. Once I looked at the bottom of a pot and saw a very small shiny dark spider like thing but it went into the pot before I could get it.

Looks like mites and gnats. Get a sundew or venus fly trap plant and that should take care of your gnat problem.

Whatever it is, my standby has been 50 % alcohol and water with a touch of dishwashing soap, spraying at 4-5 day intervals for 3 weeks. That works for me on virtually any pests that I get and is simple to use. However I make sure that the solution never lodges in the crown of a growth and never gets on a bud or spike. You may want to try it on just one plant or part of a plant to make sure that you like the results and that it does not adversely affect plants in your growing conditions.

If you are looking to use a sundew or Venus Fly Trap then perhaps a sundew is preferable as a Venus Fly Trap may not be triggered by lighter weight insects.

Ed

They look like thrips!

Paphman910

They look like thrips!

Paphman910

No visible bugs like thrips. Sorry the picture may be confusing. I'm almost positive those are dead gnats.

Are mites so easily killed with a wipe down? should I spray chemical insect killer?

I sundew would help but I dont think they'll remove the problem entirely (I grow many CPs alongside orchids =) ) so your probably best to use a safe bug spray to kill the mites, I've also found the alcohol/water 50/50 mix to be very effective against them.

From my experience fungus gnats seem to enjoy dampness, maybe a period of slightly dryer conditions for your plant could help get rid of them also?

To treat mites, I would use horticultural oil. I used Safers Endall and it works fine.

Paphman910

I agree with Paphman910. The silvery areas with black spots look like thrip damage. You may not see the thrips as they like to feed at night and hide during the day. You'll only see them when the infestation becomes so heavy that they can't hide as easily.

The fungus gnats generally don't harm plants. They are more an indicator that your mix is too wet and breaking down.

Well, I compromised with what I had in my house (I'm in Japan).

I didn't want the problem to get worse and please note that I think the owner before had been using a yellow medicine spray on the plant, so the problem may have been taken care of before.

I pulled out my Stollies Vodka and scrubbed the leaves with a Q-tip. The black spots came off. Then I rinsed it down and sprayed with some anti-bacterial/fungus stuff I have.

I will look into what should be done about thrips.

Thanks all.