Phal JSC with pill shaped bugs??

[sweetjblue]

@ Bob, the moss is fresh just looks old as it's in a clear pot and with the fert and light it gets algae fast. I do plan on repotting but I'd like to find out what it is just in case it shows up elsewhere.

@ Paul, I can't be 100% sure if this is a new development or not. Thats not to say it wasn't there before, it may have been, but I just noticed it today.
And the plant is in total moss so can't be pumice.

The plant was fairly new in the last couple of months and an import from Taiwan, So I'm fearful of what it might be. I did a check of the others that came in the same order and none of the others have this. Thankfully they have been in isolation from the rest of my collection!

Thanks for the additional ideas guys!

Judi

[WhiteRabbit]

I was thinking maybe fertilizer pellets, but looking at your pic, I'm not sure of that.

Repotting a Cym today, I found a cluster of tiny round things that I'm guessing were eggs from something - yikes! I don 't know that any insects or bugs would have eggs that are hard

[Wynn Dee13]

If they were bugs I would think you would be able to squish them. When I first looked at the pic the first thing that came to my mind was that it looks like tiny pieces of styrofoam that crumbled off a bigger piece. Was that plant packaged in styrofoam when you bought it?

[james mickelso]

I would guess porous clay pellets that carry ferttilizer. I've seen it in bonsai made over in asia. Timed release stuff. styrofoam would be squishy as would eggs of any kind and perlite/sponge rock the same. Just an opinion.

[Call_Me_Bob]

maybe just replace the top layer of moss then, and get the noid-ugly-round-things off, and keep an eye on it.

[orchidsarefun]

if none of the above, then maybe fungus gnat pupa


Fungus Gnats

[zxyqu]

This may be a bit naive, but are you sure this isn't really small styrofoam pieces? When you say they held their shape when you mashed them, did you mean they resisted smashing or just rebounded right back. If the latter, I'd bet styrofoam. Just a guess though

[sweetjblue]

Thanks guys for all the input.

I don't think these things are anything mentioned yet, IE: fertilizer pellets, clay pellets, or styrofoam.
Fungus gnat pupa, maybe but I don't think so, the moss is not kept really moist/wet and I haven't seen any indication of gnats in general.
Maybe the pic is misleading as I took the pic 8 inches away from the plant and then cropped the pic like crazy to try to show what I was seeing. Here's a pic of the plant unpotted. The tiny white dots are about the size of a grain of salt if not smaller. There a bunch right above the top root in the pic




Oh! And I picked some off and tried squashing them on the counter and they flatten out as compared to rolling around between my fingers which did nothing.

Judi

[james mickelso]

Ahhh! Styrfoam balls. They use them a lot in making light weight soils.

[Wynn Dee13]

I think it's styrofoam too.