# Attacked Pleuro's!



## NYEric (May 12, 2008)

I discovered too late some kind of problem w/ some of my pleuros. At first I thought it was mice but then I found a few leaves like this. I dipped all leaves in solution of physan. The bummer is I knocked off a few little pleuro buds :sob: Maybe I should have used cinnamite!


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## Candace (May 12, 2008)

Whoa. Sure looks like critter damage although I've never had mice eat the leaves on my plants-they got straight for the flowers. It could be snail damage but if I were you I'd set out some rat/mice traps just in case. Do you ever have problems with snails or bush snails in your media?


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## NYEric (May 12, 2008)

No. If I found some snails I'd make escargot. I'm sure it's micro [fungal/viral] problem. I found a few leaves w/ black rings along the edge like the top photo.


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## Candace (May 12, 2008)

Were the missing areas gone or were they black and you tore them off? If they were missing you have a critter! Viral and fungal problems don't carry off parts of plants.


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## NYEric (May 12, 2008)

Hmmm. I thought maybe I had washed away the rottted parts thru watering. I guess it's mice traps then. Oohh If I catch any I can do parachute failure scenario from 20th floor window. Watch for the video on U-tube! :evil:


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## Ron-NY (May 12, 2008)

I'm guessing a mouse..the edges look too rough for slug or snail damage


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## Candace (May 12, 2008)

I thought mouse too Ron, but unless pleuro leaves are unusually tastey? Mice have never attacked my leaves-only my flowers. Of course, maybe they're starving at Erics and are forced to eat salad!:rollhappy:


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## NYEric (May 12, 2008)

I have a hard time believing that mice would go there instead of into the adjacent kitchen where there's Lemon cream cake, cookies, poptarts, bread, pretzels, etc. just a thin layer of celephane away!?


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## cwt (May 12, 2008)

Seen it before on Masd, Pleuro and especially Restrepia leaves. Mice. Look at the way the outer part(chlorofill parts) is stripped more than the inside part of the leaves, typical sign of vermin damage. Good luck!!!!!
Charles


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## Kyle (May 12, 2008)

Have you seen any mouse droppings.

Kyle


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## NYEric (May 12, 2008)

nope.


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## Kyle (May 12, 2008)

Then I doubt its mice. They **** everywhere. And the damage is only on the pleuros?

Kyle


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## Marco (May 12, 2008)

I think Eric has a secret obsession with pluero leaves. Those look like teeth marks to me.


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## SlipperFan (May 12, 2008)

Look for caterpillars.


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## Rick (May 12, 2008)

SlipperFan said:


> Look for caterpillars.



That or grasshoppers. Have you had any moths flying around them?


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## PaphMadMan (May 12, 2008)

I agree there must be something eating them, but if you aren't seeing droppings it probably isn't any kind of rodent. It looks similar to earwig damage I have seen, but earwigs aren't in season, around here at least. Cockroaches perhaps?


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## NYEric (May 13, 2008)

Nope no vermin, not even fungus gnats. This is only on the pleuro's. Crickets get lose from gecko tanks once in a while but that would have to be the MOAC! I treated w/ physan solution and I'll repeat next week. If it stops then I'm golden. Now I only have to replace a few plants


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## Leo Schordje (May 13, 2008)

I would check for a big fat slug. Look for slime trails. They only come out in the dead of night and they hide in the pots by day. I have lost many a plant to slugs and your damage looks like slug damage. Though mice also leave similar with bigger teeth marks.


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## NYEric (May 13, 2008)

That's what I thought at first but I see no slime trails. I looked but I know a good one would duck into the sphagnum during the day! :ninja: I thought about using salt but that would FSU. I'll keep an eye on these guys for a few days.


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## cnycharles (May 13, 2008)

NYEric said:


> I have a hard time believing that mice would go there instead of into the adjacent kitchen where there's Lemon cream cake, cookies, poptarts, bread, pretzels, etc. just a thin layer of celephane away!?



your plants have no preservatives, artificial sweeteners and other nasty chemicals in them like the junk food; assuming you have very little on your pleuros


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## Eric Muehlbauer (May 13, 2008)

I think rodents must have a thing for pleuro's....within 48 hours of putting my first Masdevallias outdoors this spring, the squirrels attacked...tore them up to pieces...eating some and totally destroying the rest....these are the only orchids the squirrels go after ...they destroyed my potted cyps (I'm down to 1 reginae), but they don't actually eat them. The love to knock over paphs, making sure that all media is scattered all over the ground, but otherwise leave the plants alone. But pleuro's....!!!! Good luck! Take care, Eric


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## NYEric (May 14, 2008)

cnycharles said:


> your plants have no preservatives, artificial sweeteners and other nasty chemicals in them like the junk food; assuming you have very little on your pleuros



Those chemicals are what make the junk food so good! :crazy:


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## Ernie (May 14, 2008)

If you sign up for that Chase credit card, you can make back some of your money spent on mouse bait and traps!  

-Ernie


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## Ellen (May 14, 2008)

I bet it's slugs. They love pleuro leaves and buds. Get some slug spray and spray the plants with it, don't water for a few days, and see if you find dead slugs.


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## NYEric (May 14, 2008)

That's for a QT, not me.


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## NYEric (May 14, 2008)

Luckily, I got this bloom before the attack. Pl. scurrulla.


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## Renegayde (May 14, 2008)

is that a bloom or mouse droppings????


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## cnycharles (May 14, 2008)

:rollhappy:
now I know why Eric's pictures are so shaky! it's all the white sugar, high fructose corn syrup and the msg in the junk food that makes him twitch at high speed! on a less light note, I'm glad that one of the flowers survived or predated the attack on your plants. 
one thing that copper is good for is messing up slimey critters. if you hung or placed all of your plants on a wall or bench with copper or zinc mesh (galvanized?) I believe that will keep them from climbing on it. i'm not much on personally squishing bugs, peeling off scale with my fingernail sort of grosses me out but just let a tiny bush snail poke it's head out of the media and it gets a fast and furious departure. sometimes I'll grab them and feed them to my albino cory catfish. if you wanted to use up some stale coffee you could try the caffeine torture for sluggish creatures :evil:


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## NYEric (May 15, 2008)

All those good thing are why I don't sleep much too! :crazy:


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