What shouldn't be there?
 

This is a photo of the roots of a Laelia harpophylla...The question is:

What is it that shouldn't be there?

https://i.postimg.cc/3wkqqMxV/20190124-190551.jpg

I don't know, the escargot?

Good photo... What kind of snail is this?

Good camo!

The #%£~!_@ root eating kind!

Oui, c'est l'escargot.:lol:

I have a technique to monitor how my plants are growing, especially new ones. It involves taking photos of different areas of the plant using the zoom in feature at the maximum.
Usually I find new roots or new growths even before I can see them with the naked eye.
Photo bellow shows, using this technique, a new growth in a Catt.

https://i.postimg.cc/CKXg49qL/20190124-223447.jpg

And sometimes I find these things also.

https://i.postimg.cc/ZqTZRrh4/20190124-191107.jpg

This was a tiny creature, less than a mm, impossible to find without this technique. I could manage to take it out with minimal damage, as it was feeding from the tip of a new root (included a photo of what appears to be a root tip damaged, not sure if it was me or the escargot).

https://i.postimg.cc/LsnSLmhb/20190124-191158.jpg

Bush snails. They're kind of like mealybugs in that once they've infected your collection, you'll never get rid of them.

You can actually get rid of bush snails. I have, now, twice. The first time, years ago, I sprinkled the medium surfaces of all my plants heavily with the powdered form of the pesticide Sevin, and watered it into the soil/medium. I did not have problems with them again until this past summer. I had found one earlier in the spring on an orchid I had ordered and it must have laid eggs somewhere.... By the end of summer, I had an infestation. This time, I treated all my plants, including the orchids, with coffee grounds and sluggo plus. Gone.

Bush snails tend to really go after the new shoots and roots of some of my favorite tropical plants so I will not tolerate them.

Here is a brief notice about the caffeine research:

Caffeine Foils Snails : USDA ARS

I thought caffeine was bad for orchid growth? Maybe Ray can comment on that. I’m also pretty sure slug bait doesn’t work because the bush snails are not attracted to it.

They are not attracted to the bait, no, but I used it to get rid of the pill bugs so it was also present. (I also used cold-pressed neem oil, too, but I really doubt that did anything at all). I only know that my plants are all free of the snails.

The bush snails really descend upon a few specific tropicals in my collection and when I have had the snails, I always find them in the soil and on the leaves (eating new shoots!). So, when I do not find any trace of the snails on these plants and the new shoots come out undamaged, I can correctly assume that the nasty little buggers are gone. Even so, I always carefully check my entire collection and continue to check for a few months following. They do too much damage to take any chances.

I am not too happy that I was not more careful when I found that snail this past spring. I thought I had taken care of it...live and learn. I should have kept those new plants isolated for a while.

I have read that if you use coffee grounds heavily for many years, toxicity will become an issue. I have not had any issues yet with my own plants but, each summer, my plants go outside and we get heavy rains quite often which tend to flush everything from the soil. My orchids do not seem to have minded a dose of coffee and coffee grounds but, then, I only used it on the Cattleyas, Angraecums, larger Dendrobiums, Phals, the Paph delenatii, and Nelly Isler as I knew they would be fine with it. It does act as a systemic so if you do experience toxicity, it might take time for the plant to recover and the grounds need to be removed as they continue to decompose and feed the plant. The medium, then, should flushed well as with removing any systemic.

Just a warning about Sevin...we found it caused fruit drop with the fruit trees so it is possible that it might affect buds or flowers of orchids. No idea as I have never used it with orchids or my tropicals when they were in bloom.

rbarata that's awesome how you use your camera to inspect your plants. I've used the method to look for tiny creatures in my aquarium, now I'm totally going to use it for my orchids. What a great idea 🙂
Seeing the conversation on how to get rid of snails, I have an option I didn't see listed. I've never experienced these tiny bush snails, but I have experienced the regular ones in my garden. Snails are snails, if something works for one it certainly will work for the other.
Diatomaceous earth is 100% natural and has never hurt any plant to my knowledge. You do want to be careful not to breathe it in as it can be damaging to your lungs, but other than that it's benign enough that you could actually eat it to get rid of internal pests.
Another method I've used is hydrogen peroxide 3%. I know there is lots of controversy surrounding peroxide. I've used it for many years to get rid of pests and various other ailments in my garden (as well as my mother who used it for many years before me, as well as my grandfather who used it for years before her lol) I've made it a routine to spray all new orchids with it when I unpot them just in case they brought friends to the party. In my personal experience, when used properly, it's NEVER hurt any plant. Only bugs and snails 😉

This assumption is 100% false. Bush snail have zero interest in slug/snail baits. None. You have to drench them in elimination chemicals to remove them, which is why they are so difficult to remove from a collection.

Diatomaceous earth isn't bait. You would sprinkle it throughout the surface and over as much of the media surface you can. When the snails travel they will have to crawl over it and it will actually cut into them. With the correct method, I believe it would in fact work.
Hydrogen peroxide 3% is something you can drench the entire plant and media with and in my experience kills the large snails found in the garden. Surely it will kill the small ones. I believe it also would be an effective method.
I only meant that if these two things work on a large snail.. more specifically if these things kill the large snails on contact (peroxide works faster than DE) it should do the same for any bush snail it comes into contact with. I'm in no way claiming it will eradicate an infestation instantly.

Bush snails are quite content to stay deep in the media, so diatomaceous earth is useless. What works on large snails does not work on bush snails.