Root pitting - Orchid Board

Troythediver · #1 10-28-2013, 07:16 PM

The roots of 2 of my cattleya look like this. I touched on this in a earlier post with the response being that it was from high mineral content in the water. Are there any other ideas. Because I switched up the water source and it still appears that the pitting is occurring.

Troythediver · #2 10-28-2013, 07:20 PM

2nd image

Troythediver · #3 10-28-2013, 07:22 PM

Trying to fix orientation

Ray · #4 10-29-2013, 09:19 AM

Looks like mechanical damage to me, more than chemical in nature - something is eating them.

Leafmite · #5 10-29-2013, 10:23 AM

It could be a nutritional issue but I would check for bugs, first. I do this by submerging the pot in water and seeing if anything climbs out of the medium. Let it soak for a good ten minutes as some things take longer to emerge.

---------- Post added at 10:23 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:21 AM ----------

I have never seen that on roots before.

Orchid Whisperer · #6 10-29-2013, 02:14 PM

Possibly tiny snails eating them? That would be my first guess, though I'm no ruling out insects.

Troythediver · #7 10-29-2013, 02:41 PM

I wanted to make sure it wasn't a watering, humidity or fertilizer issue. I use a 20/20/20 at 1/4 of the indoor strength every other watering. I'm down from once a week because they are being watered every 7 to 10 days. For humidity they sit on pebbles. Since they are in a sun room, there also happens to be a lot of other plants around.

I just repotted them about a week ago, so hopefully that helps if it was due to bugs.

When I brought them home I found two instances of what looked like mini snails. They were slightly smaller than the size of a pencil eraser. Does this sound like it matches? Little snails? I have never seen them anywhere else.

The media was pretty bad when I repotted too. Should I mix fungicide in with the next watering or should I wait another couple of weeks now that they are both in new media?

Leafmite · #8 10-29-2013, 04:10 PM

The little snails are not at all nice. They eat roots and leaves...and multiply. My daughters like the snails so we have a few as pets in a container and feed them lettuce, celery, and potato skins.

Troythediver · #9 10-29-2013, 04:20 PM

Yep. Snails. I found a pic at aos.org . I'm 98% sure that I have snail damage. Well, I thoroughly repotted them where I made an incredibly meticulous attempt at removing all old potting media. So we will see if I need to bring out the big guns.

As far as safer pesticides go anyone have ideas other than wet dog food, potatoes, caffeine or beer? I will try these but I'm always keeping my mind open to different ideas.

Leafmite · #10 10-29-2013, 05:03 PM

Sluggo isn't toxic but kills snails.