Mites? Or?

[Debra]

I just joined, and came to this section looking for good advice on thrips, as I suspected the damage on the underside of my phal leaves - just like this old silvery pitted damage was being caused by thrips.

A couple reasons- I've never seen mite damage get this bad without seeing webbing, and not be able to find live mites.

I know thrips will spend at least part of their life cycle in soil or media, and are especially hard to find except at dawn and dusk.

Some of the phals do have wrinkled leaves, but not all of them with this damage. I' am one of those people who can spot a dry plant out of the corner of my eye. I suspect root damage, but I'm not sure in every case whether it's media break down or thrips feeding on the roots. I've done the alcohol wipe down and horticultural oils and bifenthrin on the leaves, but suspect I'm not making contact. The only real success story for me has been taking them out of the sunroom, removing all of the media ,root, and leaf damage and leaving them out in the colder greenhouse until I see signs of new root and foliage growth. And I have dumped A LOT of almost new, high quality sphagnum along the way.

So, I'd advise not necessarily watering more often but checking your root health and whether your media has broken down. But I'd LOVE to hear thrips remedies that are safe for roots and for blooms.

Debra