Catt with rotten roots

[Ross]

Originally Posted by Leisurely

I have done this before on a very special plant or two and end up throwing it in the trash anyhow. Use your space for something that will produce for you and that you can enjoy.

That's what I'm talkin about!

[Becca]

Originally Posted by Leisurely

I see a white looking substance on the pseudobulbs. Looks like scale. Check closely to see if you have any green dormant eyes at the base of the bulbs. Often when scale attacks the dormant eyes are attacked and killed then there is no place left for the plant to "sprout" a new growth so it never will be productive again. Don't spend your time on a plant that is this far gone. I have done this before on a very special plant or two and end up throwing it in the trash anyhow. Use your space for something that will produce for you and that you can enjoy.

Good eye Jerry! I meant to mention that as well. I have only seen pictures of hard scale, and was wondering what softscale looked like and I suspected that is how it looked since unfortunately I have something similar looking on a few of my plants. I have cleaned it off with rubbing alcohol and haven't seen any return as of yet on those particular plants....I hope I got it all since I grow in the orchidarium....I don't really have room to separate the one's that were affected and still be able to give them proper growing conditions. If I see it come back, I am tossing the plants it does come back on! By the way, how does soft scale like this move around? I never see them move?

[Leisurely]

Becca, My biggest questions is not how they move around but how they get on a plant in the first place. It almost seems that they are inherent to some plants. I am a firm believer that ants are the big culprit for most insects. I have noticed that when I spray everything in the greenhouse for ants with that stinky Orthene, there are no insects for a couple of months.

[wjbrown]

Thanks, Becca for alerting me to the sphag and bag method. I'll be using it in the future, for sure. Unfortunately, like Leisurely said, the eyes were all attacked by the scale, and there's not much hope for this one. I've got plenty of room (I grow everything outside in a tree), so I'm going to give it a try, but don't have much hope. However, I've got a phal that is suffering, and I think the treatment will be just the thing to save it. Love this forum - it's unbelievable!