Something eaten inside a p-bulb... what should I do now?

[stefpix]

Coffee worked for my Onc Twinkle with snail damage. Saw many orchids on shelves with tiny slugs. Mostly come out at night.

Make some coffee not too strong and soak the pot in it for a while. it kills and keeps snails away. I posted a link to a scientific paper a while ago here about coffee as a remedy for snails. if you search you may find it. you could fill the hole maybe with Isopropyl Alcohol to disinfect in case it is something else. You could also fill it in with Krazy/Super glue that is good also for cuts on human skin.

I broke a Bulbophillym leaf, not totally , I glued back with superglue and you almost dont see the scar and the leaf looks fine no brown tips.

[RosieC]

Thanks Stefano,

Another of those tips I knew once and had forgotted

Thanks for the glue tip as well. Might be worth a try.

[stefpix]

PS I meant snails in orchids for sale. Saw a snail in a Den aggregatum better gro bag at Lowes.

Surfers use Krazy glue / super glue for cut i knew this guy he glued a cut above his eyebrow. and I think there was a paper about soldiers using superglue for wounds. I think cells then grow into it and the glue basically disappears after a while

[RosieC]

It was a slug

After the plant had sat in the dark a while we found the slug IN the hole. Hubby tried to get it out trapping it between cocktail sticks which didn't in it's self work, but made the slug decided it didn't like this hole after all and come crawling out... at which point hubbby squished him outside.

Going to put potato slices arround the pot anyway to try and get any further ones to come out (don't have cucumber so going for the potato). Will probably try coffee as well tomorrow night.

[Junebug]

Rosie,

My 'Sweet Sugar' had similar damage to your plant and someone on OB suggested I submerge the plant in water. I did and a palmetto bug crawled out. Palmetto bugs are kin to cockroaches and they live in Florida.

Once he crawled out he ran and hid amongst the leaves and I couldn't catch him, so I saturated a Q-tip with a residual spray insecticide called "Raid Max." Then I swabbed it in the tunnel and around the perimeter of the hole. The treatment resulted in no harm to the plant and there was no further damage done. The pseudobulb survived too, and later it bloomed. I wouldn't recommend spraying the plant but spot treating worked for me.

[kavanaru]

Originally Posted by RosieC

It was a slug

hehe, I am so happy you've found and caught it... these little devils..

those hoels are so typical of slug attacks.. I could even bet it was a smallish, black/grey (kind of stripped) one.. like this one:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...stinctus_1.jpg

(I used to work with them for my PhD, and was fascinated how these small Arion spp. used to make those holes and "hide" in them while eating...

[RosieC]

Exactly right Ramón. The stripes not quite as clear as in the pic, but they were there and it was similar looking size.

I tried the potato overnight, but forgot to shut the curtain in the room it was in so it was bright by the time I came down. I have spotted one of the tiny tiny snails on the other side of the plant though... I tried to get it off and lost it down in the media

Going to try the coffee trick tonight to try and get rid of anything that is left. Also thinking of putting cinnamon in the hole, the p-bulb on that miltonia that had a blister has not reacted baddly to the cinnamon on the open flesh so I'm going to try it on this. To be honest if I loose this p-bulb it won't be to much of a problem, the plant is otherwise quite healthy with other new p-bulbs and lead growths. I will try and save it if I can, but bo big thing if I can't.