Snail on Paphiopedilum Pinocchio
 

Recently I bought a Paphiopedilum Pinocchio, only a few days ago.
Yesterday I found snail trails on the plant and bark, and a damaged flower. Also maybe the start of a spider mite infection. A tiny bit of webbing.

I took care of the possible mite infection but still have the slug/snail(s) to deal with.

I think it’s a large one as the trail is wide. I also found a short trail in the cache pot.

I have 2 dogs so need a pet friendly remedy. Living in the Netherlands I might only have EscarGo available.
I’ll visit the garden center tomorrow to see what’s available.

I browsed the forum and found remedies like coffee, lettuce and beer.

What would be the best way to deal with this pest?

I’m growing indoors and so far this plant has been isolated, lucky me!

Coffee is the go-to for bush snails (tiny, hide in the medium, ignore snail baits, and even attempted drowning). For other mollusks, Maybe just let the plant (pot and all) sit in a container of water up to the top for an hour or so. Won't hurt the plant, you'll drain it when you are done. I just captured and executed a large slug (I could see the damage but not the culprit which was hiding down in the medium.. but it came out to avoid drowning and I found it on the outside of the pot.) Of course, if it makes itself visible like that, squishing under your shoe is very effective and quite satisfying. :evil: And non-toxic to pets.

As said, coffee works for bush snails but, for the larger kind, you can Sluggo or Bonide's Captain Jack's :

Bug & Slug Killer - Bonide
https://www.montereylawngarden.com/product/sluggo-plus/

I have been using both of these as I had problems the past two summers with slugs. These have been working quite well for the slugs and they would work well with the normal snails but they do not work on the bush snails as bush snails are not attracted to the bait.

Thank you for your quick reply.

Sorry for being long winded.


I'm going for a multi approach except for squishing it under my shoes as @Roberta suggests :biggrin: as soon as I'm convinced the "snail trail glitter" actually is caused by a snail. This morning I'm doubting it's from a snail or not.

This is how I received this plant by mail. No protection or what ever in a very tall box. Also extremely dehydrated. (Got a refund.)


https://i.imgur.com/mMir50f.jpg


https://i.imgur.com/3ez1hjs.jpg


As you can see the flower and spike suffered a lot of damage. The trail I meant to see might have been sap from the plant. Flower probably (highly likely) damaged during transportation and maybe not by a snail. What I think is a snail trail might be just sap from a bruised plant.

I could salvage the bent spike by taping it and the new bud still is developing. So far so good with that spike. Taping works for Phalaenopsis and for Hoya, it was worth a try.

But to treat spider mites I cut the flower it came with, and now almost a day later I see that same "snail trail glitter" on the spike, just below were I cut that flower and above the new bud. Not elsewhere on the plant.

A snail can't crawl upwards the spike without leaving a trail, thus if it's a snail trail I'm seeing on the top of the flower stem, it must hide around the new bud. And there isn't damage at all. Or the damage is inside the developing bud.

Conclusion. This could be glitter from a bruised plant only or from a bruised plant and from a snail.

There are still tiny bits of "glitter" on the substrate but that could be the remains from before hosing down that plant.

So for now a reserved approach. I feel that's justified at this moment. But I'll keep this plant isolated and observe, also for spider mite webbing, and treat accordingly.

Currently it's hard to make a decent picture from the "glitter" as we have a lot of overcast. I'll give it a try with sunny weather.

I tried to drown snails yesterday. I didn't find snails in the substrate, but that doesn't exclude nails on the plant. But I don't see damage done to the plant.

I sprayed the entire plant with 'lambda cyhalothrin' which is absorbed by the leaves and has a residual action of 14 days.

I also used snail bait on the substrate.

As i only see, what can be snail trails, on the spike and flower(bud) I wonder if it can be guttation to the extreme. The leaves are net affected.

I washed of that glittery stuff by spraying the plant yesterday. As soon as it's back I'll provide you with a picture.

Curious if spaying it with an insecticide also frees the plant from minor webbing from leaf to leaf.

Right now I can't do more than, isolate, sit, wait and observe.

I promise, I won't observe that plant with a magnifying glass every 15 minutes :rofl:

I don't know what I killed, but the plant looks perfectly fine right now. No signs of snail trail glitter or what it else might have been.

I knew something wasn't right. I'll spray her again in 10 days.

A quick update.

The spike and new buds didn't survive the treatment with lambda cyhalothrin. Bummer. But still no sign of pests.