phal question

[biothanasis]

Hello!!!

A friend of mine has a white phal that is in bloom! It has rebloomed on the old spike and now has 10 flowers!!! But there are a lot of small drops of sticky substance on the leaves! Is this normal??? There are also some white things! He sent me those photos! His father tried to clean the leaves so there are no good evidence... Any tips???? TY

 

[P-chan]

The sap isn't normal. It looks like it's having an attack of scale, or mealies? It's hard to tell from the photo. I would keep wiping down the culprits with a Q-tip dipped in rubbing alcohol. Check every few days and keep repeating. Check the base of the leaves, especially. They may want to spray every 7 days with insecticidal soap, also. Good luck!

 

[fundulopanchax]

Time to spray with an insecticide! While they have been largely wiped off I suspect white fly since they really, really love Phal's and leave the sticky areas where the maggots (under a puff of cottony material) are puncturing. I have to spray mine every two weeks or so to keep them in check. You can use a pyrethrin to keep toxicity low to animals (Chrysanthemum extract).

Ron

 

[biothanasis]

TY for the tips!!! I hope we will cope with it soon!