Snail found in collection

[SoCalOrchidGirl]

Hi everyone,

I found a snail in one of my cattleyas and I am going to try the hydrogen peroxide treatment. My question is, since I found it on one plant, should I treat all my plants in my collection as a preventative measure? Also I have 4 plants putting out new flower spikes, all are at beginning stages and I don't know if the hydrogen peroxide will damage the spikes.


Thanks for any advice in advance!

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

I recommend buying yourself a jeweler's loupe. A 10x is good enough. Higher magnifications will not hurt you. Start looking for snails.

[bil]

Do slug pellets cause problems for orchids if they fall into the media and break down?
I had some snails attack some of my phals. I just scattered slug pellets and the problem went away immediately. They LOVE those pellets.

[wintergirl]

Originally Posted by King_of_orchid_growing:)

I recommend buying yourself a jeweler's loupe. A 10x is good enough. Higher magnifications will not hurt you. Start looking for snails.

Great idea King!
I have an optivisor, they sell them on Ebay. I use lens #5. This is the most comfortable setting for my eyes. That is the number used by the doctors in Urgent care to place sutures. I bought mine to use to take the sutures out but since I have retired I use them constantly on my orchids. You can change the lens on the optivisor if you want a higher or lower lens.

[Cym Ladye]

Originally Posted by bil

Do slug pellets cause problems for orchids if they fall into the media and break down?
I had some snails attack some of my phals. I just scattered slug pellets and the problem went away immediately. They LOVE those pellets.

No, they cause no problems in my experience and that is what I use on all my orchids. They also cause no problems if they fall onto the leaves of Cymbidiums, although I would try to keep them off any open flowers.

[bil]

Originally Posted by Cym Ladye

No, they cause no problems in my experience and that is what I use on all my orchids. They also cause no problems if they fall onto the leaves of Cymbidiums, although I would try to keep them off any open flowers.

Excellent. Thanks for that. I don't like using chemical megadeath, but if I didn't here, growing any fruit etc would be impossible. In the spring an ARMY of snails heads in from the campo, and while my garden isn't huge, I use pellets by the kilo. In the days after spreading a kilo of so around, all the paths are littered with snail shells. The first year I had planted out some young marigolds, and the next morning there was hardly a leaf to be seen.

That gets old FAST.

[JanS]

Well, I must disagree with some of you - in the past I did manage to kill some orchids by sprinkling anti-snail pellets on the bark in their pots. I guess it depends on what kind of pellets you use. I don't take that chance any more. I used to have a huge problem with these tiny snails that spread from one orchid to another and ate the newest root tips at night. The pellets did not get completely rid of them and, as I said, killed a couple of plants in the process. I then tried submerging the orchid pots in water for an hour or two, which made the adult snails crawl up out of the bark into the open for me to murder them, but that didn't kill the eggs ... so more snails in a week or so. I tried caffeine (using dissolved NoDoz tablets) and that was a waste of time. Finally, resorted to REAL CHEMICALS! Malathion solution poured into the growing medium just like watering the plants did the trick completely after about 3 weekly applications. Do NOT spray it on new growth or flower spikes, though, as it will burn them. Roots seem to take it OK. I do this now a few times a year just as a preventative measure and am gladly snail-free.

[bil]

Originally Posted by JanS

Well, I must disagree with some of you - in the past I did manage to kill some orchids by sprinkling anti-snail pellets on the bark in their pots. I guess it depends on what kind of pellets you use. I don't take that chance any more. I used to have a huge problem with these tiny snails that spread from one orchid to another and ate the newest root tips at night. The pellets did not get completely rid of them and, as I said, killed a couple of plants in the process. I then tried submerging the orchid pots in water for an hour or two, which made the adult snails crawl up out of the bark into the open for me to murder them, but that didn't kill the eggs ... so more snails in a week or so. I tried caffeine (using dissolved NoDoz tablets) and that was a waste of time. Finally, resorted to REAL CHEMICALS! Malathion solution poured into the growing medium just like watering the plants did the trick completely after about 3 weekly applications. Do NOT spray it on new growth or flower spikes, though, as it will burn them. Roots seem to take it OK. I do this now a few times a year just as a preventative measure and am gladly snail-free.

Fascinating. What type of orchid didn't like the pellets please, and while this might seem like a stupid question, what did the pellets do to the orchid, and why do you think the pellets did that and not something else?

Thanks.

[JanS]

Originally Posted by bil

Fascinating. What type of orchid didn't like the pellets please, and while this might seem like a stupid question, what did the pellets do to the orchid, and why do you think the pellets did that and not something else?

Thanks.

One of them was an Oncidium native to the Florida Everglades that I got from a Florida friend, had for 10 years and was very proud of. The other was an Epidendrum. In both cases the roots just seemed to burn, shrivel and die. It was quick - within 5 days to a week after I applied the stuff. I don't remember the brand but they were not actually pellets, more like brownish granules made of a sawdust-type material. i want to say the active ingredient was something else than iron phosphate commonly used now. Perhaps it was metaldehyde. I wetted the plants medium after sprinkling the granules on since I figured the snails will eat more of the stuff when wet. The granules sort of half fell apart and penetrated the bark chips...

[bil]

Originally Posted by JanS

One of them was an Oncidium native to the Florida Everglades that I got from a Florida friend, had for 10 years and was very proud of. The other was an Epidendrum. In both cases the roots just seemed to burn, shrivel and die. It was quick - within 5 days to a week after I applied the stuff. I don't remember the brand but they were not actually pellets, more like brownish granules made of a sawdust-type material. i want to say the active ingredient was something else than iron phosphate commonly used now. Perhaps it was metaldehyde. I wetted the plants medium after sprinkling the granules on since I figured the snails will eat more of the stuff when wet. The granules sort of half fell apart and penetrated the bark chips...

Thanks for that. What we use here are the blue pellets, and I think they are metaldehyde. They haven't caused me any problems with phals so far. I haven't used them on anything else.