Phal white spots. What are these? Please help! :) - Orchid Board

JJsage · #1 01-16-2018, 10:15 PM

Hi everyone! I'm new posting here but I browse a lot.

I'm hoping someone can help me out. This sweet lil phal started growing a new leaf. It's almost done actually but it definitely halted. Idk if these white spots that I found today on the underside of just one leaf have anything to do with it. What do you reckon these white spots may be? In real life they look kinda like grains of sugar. Thank you in advance for any help!

Roberta · #2 01-16-2018, 10:27 PM

Mealy bugs maybe... They're sort of fuzzy if you look closely, and Phals are very susceptible to them. If you put some rubbing alcohol on a q-tip and touch the "spot" with it, does the white stuff dissolve leaving a little brown bug? Once you have made 5 posts anywhere on the forum, you can upload photos, which help a lot in diagnosing problemss.

JJsage · #3 01-16-2018, 10:45 PM

Thank you Roberta. I see- thank you for the info about photos. They actually kind of flake off- like an actual grain of sugar. They are hard. I did clean it off with some rubbing alcohol and moved it to a nice window in a room without other plants. Hopefully that helps. I have had the plant for a year and haven't seen this on it before? I will keep an eye on it. Thank you for your help!

Roberta · #4 01-17-2018, 02:14 AM

Doesn't sound like mealy bugs...Scale can flake off (if it is already dead, comes off easily, if alive a bit harder to get off) If you cleaned it off, just keep an eye on it - If it comes back you can use tougher measures, but it may have been something in the environment that wasn't alive in which case you might have removed it.