Something ate part of my Cyp. pletrochilum.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

I'm a bit puzzled by this. It has been raining for the past day or two so I decided to let the Cyp. get some rain.

Not long after placing the Cyp. out in the rain, something ate part of one of the growths. It just got into the growing tip of it.

Fortunately the plant had two growths and the other is intact and growing well.

The damaged one is still alive.

So then, it bears the question, what happens next. This obviously happens all the time in the wild. So now what?

How does the plant adjust to this? Does it just keep growing and still flower? Does it just stop growing and focus on putting out side shoots? Does it eventually just die back and focus on the one that is intact?

What's the plan?

I don't know what ate it, but I doubt it's a slug. I'm not focused on what ate it, as I nor anybody else would know just based off of what little information is available anyways.

Pics:

[stefpix]

leafhopper/grasshopper? maybe you could use a systemic with imdacloprid?

but after the rain could be a slug/snail.

coffee works to kill snails and prevent them from coming back.

have 2 Onc Twinkles chewed here and there by a snail. apparently coffee and water worked.

anyway I am sure in nature it happens all the time

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

The reason I doubt it's a snail or slug is because I put it up on a brick wall that's about 5' tall for about a couple hours.

While I do have other plants nearby, they show no signs of slug or snail damage.

I think it's a bird, because it did partial damage. The reason the wound is open like that is because I pulled away the dangling parts of the leaves at the site of damage.

I also doubt it's a leafhopper, they don't chew from what I understand, they pierce and suck the juices out of the leaves.

The suggestion of grasshoppers or locusts is quite possible. The rain may have disturbed it too much to do complete damage, idk.

However, like I mentioned, what ate it doesn't matter so much to me.

I'd much rather focus on what I can do from now on.

Thanks for the response, Stefano!

[slipperfreak]

Your plant will continue to grow the way it is, though obviously the damaged growth will be unsightly. The plant will not produce new growth to compensate for the damage. However, though your flower bud may be damaged, the affected growth should be okay and the plant shouldn't be set back by the damage.

The most common culprit of this kind of damage is slugs, but it may have been a squirrel or something as well. Many growers put cages around their plants (at least plants that are in the ground) to protect from rodents, which love to chew on new growth.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Thanks.

[stefpix]

I think a squirrel would have done more extensive damage, probably would have dug a hole around the plant.
I bet it is a slug/snail...
I had some mango seedlings on my fire escape and squirrells ate the seed not the plant.
they also ate some tomatoes.

they make more of a mess around the plant.
I still like squirrels though.

If it is a slug/snail I would sprinkle used coffee around the plant.

I found a scientific horticultural paper online that studied coffee as a snail killer

[stefpix]

Actually I put my Sarracenias and Dionaea muscipula outside and today i found similar damage. the squirrels visit my windowsill and i am sure they are the culprit. they chopped off a couple of fly traps. maybe since it is the end of the winter they taste new shoots.

[Junebug]

King, I hope your plant is thriving.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

It's doing very well.

Although I'm not sure why one of the new growths is about to sprout leaves at this time of year.

Got a total of 3 new shoots.

Have a seed pod too!

Hopefully the seed pod will have enough viable seeds to do something with.

Too bad this species is a problematic one to grow from seed. But I'll try anyways.

Thank you.

[Junebug]

Three new shoots and a seed pod. Way to go, that's great! Good luck with the pod.