Quote:
Originally Posted by murphy48
Thanks for the advice. I was a bit worried as I read that black mold (probably sooty mold) occurs when there is honeydew and can be a symptom of insects... I didn't want to take this one back, it has such beautiful delicate and tiny flowers.
My poor malipoense... no sign of the mealybugs but it must not have dried completely after being sprayed with the alcohol (before I posted here and found out about neem oil). Some of the leaves have rot now. I've now put peroxide on the rot areas and dried it completely. I don't know how this plant can take anymore abuse from me! Thanks for asking.
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For your Dtps keep an eye on it. See if it gets worse.
You know, this hobby can get difficult because certain times problems can be so subtle. It's often difficult to know if the problem has gotten worse, stayed the same, or have gotten better. Sometimes making a decision to act or not, and what course of action to take when it's appropriate is not easy. It comes down to decisions. Whatever you decide, you're just going to have to live with it and learn from them.
As far as your Paph malipoense, I don't think that was completely your fault. Not many people consider how the plants grow in nature. Sometimes if we're new to something we don't think about certain factors. I mean, prior to researching it, I never knew my favorite section of Paphs (Parvisepalums) primarily grew on limestone cliffs with a bit of moss and leaf litter. The only exception to this rule are Paph delanatii, which can be grown in bark, hence why they're so easy to grow and so common compared to the rest of section Parvisepalum.
The whole time I had been growing Paph micranthum incorrectly. It was no wonder they did nothing for close to a year before they died. Before they got to me, the plant was grown in bark and perlite. When I grew it, I grew them in potting soil. Now I know they should actually be grown in limestone. No wonder people always complain about section Parvisepalum Paphs being difficult to grow.
Duh! If they were growing on substrate they would've never grown on in nature, or at least a close approximation of it, of course they'll die.
My suggestion for a good Paph in the section Parvisepalum would be Paph delanatii. It may be a common plant, but at least you know it's common for a reason (high availability = everybody knows how to grow it and breed it = easy to grow).
One of my psychology professors had once said in class, "...Sometimes the best things in life are not the rare ones. Sometimes, the common things are the best, because a lot of things are known about it. But the human mind doesn't work that way. It always seeks and values the rare."
It's not an exact quote, but you get the idea. That quote is definitely something to think about. However, I will say this as well...sometimes the rare brings with them some nice surprises.
Again, a decision call.
One more thing...mistakes always happen.
black mold under Dtps leafs
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