Hello from Austria!

[musa]

Hello everybody,

I'm living in vienna and I'm really addicted to plants, mainly aroids (~60 pots) and orchids (~40 pots). Since two years my maininterest are paphs. especially sect. coryopetalum. By the big leaves of the aroids I have no problem with humidity in summer but as I'm growing all plants in a small flat at two windows you can imagine that there is always the problem of too less light and of pests spreading quickly, in particular mites.
Reading this Forum for some time I'm glad to join finally.

Michael

 

[NYEric]

Welcome from NYC. Humidity and moisture keep mites from Paphs!

 

[Marco]

Welcome - You've come to the right place.

 

[Migrant13]

Welcome from Boston, MA!

 

[JeanLux]

Hi and welcome from Luxembourg!!!! Jean

 

[musa]

Hello,

thanks a lot for your welcome! I'm looking forward to have many paph. discussions with you.

Michael

@ NYEric:
you are perfectly right for all species of Tetranychus, but Tenuipalpidae and Tarsonemidae unfortunately grow quite good in high humidity.

 

[Happypaphy7]

Tarsonemidae- Do you know how to identify the symptoms of this particular kind of mites before plants die? I think these are invisible to naked eyes and probably not a big deal for plants? would love to know more.

Tenuipalpidae- These are very tiny little red dots that most people will easily pass as dust or won't even recognize them.
I have seen them on some of my dendrobiums and miltoniopsis.
They tend to attack underwatered thus stressed plants first.
I washed the plants down with soap water, paying attention to underside of the leaves where theses critters live and then rinse well. I repeat this everytime I water for a couple of weeks and that seems to remove them all.

I grow indoor as well and I have not yet found these on my paphs.
Keeping plants healthy and strong, and avoiding drying the pots too much too often usually keep these mites away.

 

[MaryPientka]

Hello from Saratoga Springs, New York

 

[SlipperFan]

Welcome to Slippertalk, Michael!

 

[abax]

Welcome to ST from KY.

 

[polyantha]

Willkommensgruss aus der Schweiz!

 

[17andgrowing]

Welcome from New Jersey!

 

[musa]

Hi Happypaphy 7,

Tarsonemidae I had twice in my mini grow box (80 - 99 % humidity) on the roots of seedlings. I had the impression of stagnation in growth of the plants so I looked closer and found them with a 10x magnification glass and confirmed it with a microscope. I check all plants from time to time in that way. The difference in size between the diverse species of mites is amazing. I found them each time only on specific plants: Tenuipalpidae on coriaceous leaves of Phalaenopsis, Angraecum and Vanda; Tetranychus on specific aroids; on Paphs I rarely found scales and mealybugs.

Michael

PS: Probably strange to introduce myself with pests instead of nice flowers...