For many months now my plants have developed tiny, mostly clear
droplets, some of which seem to burst and form transparent, thin and
sticky irregular patches on the leaf.
The droplets form on the surface, underside and along the edges of a
leaf. The plants have not grown during this period and have not formed
flowers over a year. One plant has recently begun to grow a new leaf
and a new root, but the growth seems unenthusiastic. It was suggested
to me to wash the leaves with a very dilute solution of rubbing
alcohol, but does such a treatment get at the root of the problem. In
other words, how do I get my plants to grow healthily again?

I am pretty sure you are describing a mite problem, not necessarily a
'spider' mite problem

If you search the internet for "Phalaenopsis mite" you will find lots of
links to cures and treatments. I am sure people here have their favorites
they can share. I use a chemical called "Ovation" but this is not easy for
a home orchid grower to get. Ovation tends to stop the dead and kills their
eggs. There are several types of mites and most are so tiny all you will
see is the effects of their feeding. The leaf washing regimen you are
describing is a good help. Maybe do it more often and switch back and forth
between alcohol rubs and warm dilute soapy water. Just by rubbing a soft
cloth over the leaves you are wiping out portions of the feeding population.

"Leon" wrote in message
ups.com...
For many months now my plants have developed tiny, mostly clear
droplets, some of which seem to burst and form transparent, thin and
sticky irregular patches on the leaf.
The droplets form on the surface, underside and along the edges of a
leaf. The plants have not grown during this period and have not formed
flowers over a year. One plant has recently begun to grow a new leaf
and a new root, but the growth seems unenthusiastic. It was suggested
to me to wash the leaves with a very dilute solution of rubbing
alcohol, but does such a treatment get at the root of the problem. In
other words, how do I get my plants to grow healthily again?

This from the Canadianorchidcongress.ca. I GOOGLED it up.

False Spider Mite: (Teruipalpus pacificus)
should be called Phalaenopsis Mite.
0.3 millimetres in length (not visible to eye).
red in color.
usual sign is yellowing of lower leaves.
green leaves will have darkened sunken area usually on bottom of
leaves.
slow reproducing pest but extremely difficult to see, therefore
infestation can be extensive.
eggs hatch in 30 days.
adult female only lays 25 or so eggs at one per day.
every leaf must be thoroughly sprayed top and bottom.
spray twice at 10 days apart.
spray with Morestan, Kelthane, SOAP, or Sunspray Oil.

Soap is probably your best bet, least harmful to humans, plants and
pocketbooks. Also, these pestshave short legs so if you put your plant
in your sink and blast it with the sprayer with lots of warm water the
mites will be washed off and will be unable to return. Do this weekly
for awhile and you will be clear.

One way to see these pests is to place a sheet of white paper under the
leaves, tap the leaves as strongly as you can, very slowly ease the
paper to the table and with a pencil circle all the tiny spots on the
paper. Wait five-ten minutes, mites will have moved enough to reveal
themselves. Don't breathe or otherwise stir up the specs or the test
will be ruined.

Keep us posted!
Joe T
Houston

Leon wrote:

For many months now my plants have developed tiny, mostly clear
droplets, some of which seem to burst and form transparent, thin and
sticky irregular patches on the leaf.
The droplets form on the surface, underside and along the edges of a
leaf. The plants have not grown during this period and have not formed
flowers over a year. One plant has recently begun to grow a new leaf
and a new root, but the growth seems unenthusiastic. It was suggested
to me to wash the leaves with a very dilute solution of rubbing
alcohol, but does such a treatment get at the root of the problem. In
other words, how do I get my plants to grow healthily again?


Mites will usually create little dead spots in the leaf. If you were to
wash off all the droplets, are the leaves obviously damaged, or do the
leaves still look normal?
You might first try giving them a good bath. Use regular dish detergent
and soap up you hands as if you were washing your hands. Then rub every
surface of every leaf with your soapy fingers. Do a thorough job then
rinse off all the soap by running tepid tap water over the leaves and
rubbing them more until it feels like the soap is gone.
You can get rid of spider mites completely that way but Phalaenopsis
mites may or may not get washed away completely.
Even if you don't have mites (I'm not at all certain that you do) a good
washing may still help with what ever it is.

Steve

Steve, I am sure your method will work but I thought soap was mainly to
block mites air passages and smother them. Same for oils. Strong water
spraying was to knock them off. I will keep in mind that a scrubbing
will help.
Joe T
Houston

jtill wrote:
Steve, I am sure your method will work but I thought soap was mainly to
block mites air passages and smother them. Same for oils. Strong water
spraying was to knock them off. I will keep in mind that a scrubbing
will help.
Joe T
Houston


Hi joe,
If you rub the leaves all over with soapy fingers the mites get mixed up
in the soap and rinse off completely. They are gone. I have used the
same method to get rid of brown scale on Phals and Oncidiums. Someone
once sent me some (free) Catts that turned out to have a fairly heavy
infestation of boisduval scale. I removed all dry coverings (which
revealed even more scale) and soaped up every surface of the plants. I
rubbed until all the scale appeared to be gone. I rubbed every surface
of every leaf and pseudobulb and the rhizome. Because of boisduval
scale's reputation for being difficult to eradicate, I waited a week and
soaped them up again. I never found another boisduval scale again. That
was about 4 years ago so, yes, they are really gone.
I could see this method being a problem on plants with areas you can't
get your fingers into. I've never had to try it on Paphiopedilums for
example. I remember using cotton swabs to get into the base of the
leaves on the Phals. They don't have a large number of leaves so that is
doable.

Steve

Now that we have branched off into mites and scale, I wonder what was
really wrong with Leon's Phals? Do you suppose he will be back?

I do appreciate all the advice a great deal, and will start washing
procedures suggested.

On an entirely unrelated subject addressed to gmail users among orchid
fans: sometimes it takes me ages to type a gmail message.

What happens is that the cursor simply vanishes. I click it back into
place and once again try to type the evasive letter. More often than
not the letter fails to materialize. The cursor may vanish again or it
may stay in place, flashing on and off deceptively normally. I have to
click to animate it and after two or three typing attempts the desired
letter graciously appears. You can imagine the frustration of trying to
type a gmail message. Am I the only one, who suffers from this plight?

Some time ago I sought advice from the Smart Computing user group. I
got excellent advice from this group on another occasion, but little
more than sympathy on this frustrating little typing problem. My
keyboard has been blamed, but why does it misbehave with gmail while
functioning without hiccup in Outlook Express and other applications?

Leon

Leon wrote:
I do appreciate all the advice a great deal, and will start washing
procedures suggested.

I hope I didn't lead you to believe washing will help all problems. I
suppose not. It does sound like some critter is piercing tiny holes in
the leaves, causing sap droplets to leak out. If so, washing should do a
lot of good.



On an entirely unrelated subject addressed to gmail users among orchid
fans: sometimes it takes me ages to type a gmail message.

What happens is that the cursor simply vanishes. I click it back into
place and once again try to type the evasive letter. More often than
not the letter fails to materialize. The cursor may vanish again or it
may stay in place, flashing on and off deceptively normally. .........

I don't know enough about gmail to know if you download a program or if
you use it purely from a web site. I do know the version that is out is
considered a beta version. At some point, they will have a final
version. When that happens, I bet the problem will go away. Of course,
if it is a downloaded program, you will have to upgrade at that time.

Steve

Hi Leon

I was waiting for someone to mention honey dew. As nobody has, I will
mention it myself.
The description you give is of ....

clear droplets, some of which seem to burst and form transparent, thin
and sticky irregular patches on the leaf.
The droplets form on the surface, underside and along the edges of a
leaf.

This is a perfect description of honey dew which is quite harmless. Dip
your finger in it and you will find that it has a sweet taste to it. Go
on! It won't kill you.

I have often seen this on Hardcane Dendrobiums but I can't honestly say
that I have ever seen it on Phals, but that doesn't mean it can't
happen.

The only down side I have come across is that the honey dew can at
times attract sooty mould, which again is no great hardship as it, like
honey dew, can be wiped off the plant with a damp cloth.

For the life of me, I can't say that I know the reason for honey dew
forming in the first place. Perhaps some other member can ellucidate.

I don't think this can be the reason why your plants are not growing
well and not flowering. Perhaps there are other problems involved here.

And I don't see any connection between this and spide mites either.

Good luck anyway.

Tony

emntee wrote:
Hi Leon

I was waiting for someone to mention honey dew. As nobody has, I will
mention it myself.
The description you give is of ....

clear droplets, some of which seem to burst and form transparent, thin
and sticky irregular patches on the leaf.
The droplets form on the surface, underside and along the edges of a
leaf.

This is a perfect description of honey dew which is quite harmless. Dip
your finger in it and you will find that it has a sweet taste to it. Go
on! It won't kill you.

I have often seen this on Hardcane Dendrobiums but I can't honestly say
that I have ever seen it on Phals, but that doesn't mean it can't
happen.

The only down side I have come across is that the honey dew can at
times attract sooty mould, which again is no great hardship as it, like
honey dew, can be wiped off the plant with a damp cloth.

For the life of me, I can't say that I know the reason for honey dew
forming in the first place. Perhaps some other member can ellucidate.

I don't think this can be the reason why your plants are not growing
well and not flowering. Perhaps there are other problems involved here.

And I don't see any connection between this and spide mites either.

Good luck anyway.

Tony


I don't know, Tony.... The term "Honey Dew" is usually reserved for the
sticky liquid excreted by aphids and some other sap sucking insects.
Even though I am told that it contains sugar, I'm NOT tasting that
stuff. ;-)
Actually, I know that is not what you are talking about. You are talking
about that clear sweet drops of liquid produced by many orchids,
especially around the maturing buds (but at other locations as well).
This is usually produced by healthy orchids in vigorous growth and the
Phals in question don't fit that description. In this case, I took the
drops of liquid to be a sign of a problem. I could be wrong.

Steve