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Post by pem on Aug 18, 2006 20:13:14 GMT -5
OK so I'm looking at my P. lusitanica today and notice that the leaf has a few chunks missing from it, so I'm thinking "hmmmmmm". I then notice that the ant head that I had put on said leaf a week ago was now missing, so I'm now thinking "hmmmmm HMMMMMMM!" Upon further I noticed a little clear tube animal poking out of the soil and take a bite of said leaf, so I'm thinking, "MUST KILL". Well now, I don't know what it is and chances are it won't live long enough if I catch it to take a picture, so I'm asking anyone out there how to kill it? Your thanks will be greatly appreciated thanks. Also, lesson learned about sterlizing your planting material first . EDIT- fixed to read "P.lusitanica", the Lusitania was a ship that got sunk in WW2
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Post by tom on Aug 18, 2006 20:48:24 GMT -5
There is good chance you have fungus gnats larvae. There never caused me much troubles others than with Sarracenia rhizome, with which i used Safer's soap insecticide, but this product can kill sundews and others faster than you can name the brand product... Which plants are affected?
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Post by sdeering on Aug 18, 2006 22:37:10 GMT -5
You could try repoting it. Or sit the pot in water up to the surface of the medium and pick out the culprits. It must be biger than a fungus nat to eat leaf mater. STephen
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Post by pem on Aug 19, 2006 0:18:06 GMT -5
unfortunatly it's my only ping that germinated, it's only about 2 weeks old. I'm going to first try to drown the sucker out then if not I will repot, thanks for the help guys, I'll keep you posted.
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Post by lloyd on Aug 19, 2006 5:58:07 GMT -5
I've had those guys in some pots for a long time. I never found them harmful. Maybe some low strength Neem solution would be good if you continue to have problems. I used it once on some Mexican Pings with aphids and the plants were untouched but the aphids died and never came back.
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Post by sdeering on Aug 19, 2006 8:59:23 GMT -5
How did you mix you neem lloyd. I think I have been using 1mil/L and a couple drops of soap for the orchids, I havent tryed it on the cps yet. Stephen
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Post by mabudon on Aug 19, 2006 9:22:57 GMT -5
I would be tempted to suggest that you might have a snail or slug in there, that's what ate my beauty P cyclosecta x emarginata
Fungus gnats, I have NEVER seen one actually eat one of my plants (and here's hoping I never do) but that does sound like the worm you described
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Post by lloyd on Aug 19, 2006 14:17:10 GMT -5
Here's Al Bickell's recipe:
1 litre water 2-3 cc Neem oil few drops of Eucalyptus oil (for red-spider mite) 1 tbsp light mineral oil 5-6 drops dishwater detergent
Shake vigorously to suspend oils. Keep in fridge to keep fresh. Must be room temperature to keep Neem oil liquid. For scale use double the Neem concentration.
In my experience the normal strength is fine on Mexican pings and larger Sarracenia. The higher strength is toxic to VFT's and small Sarracenia but they do bounce back. I have never tried it on utrics. Sundews do not like it and I would be careful trying it on them.
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Post by pem on Aug 19, 2006 14:44:34 GMT -5
Here is a picture of the ping, you can see the damage done to it on the left leaf. Yah it's fairly young and I'm still trying to find the worm, btw thats just a peice of the original picture. I borrowed my parents camera, 8 Megapixels. Nice quality.
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Post by tom on Aug 19, 2006 17:51:34 GMT -5
If its fungus gnats larvae, drowning might effect more your Pinguicula than the worms themselves: they can withstand a great deal of humidity/water and Pings roots are pretty sensible to this...
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Post by mabudon on Aug 24, 2006 7:21:35 GMT -5
So, didya get the little beggars yet???
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Post by pem on Aug 24, 2006 13:48:29 GMT -5
As far as I can tell I did, looked up a picture of fungus gnats and yep thats what it was, a big one though 1.5cm long. Also I caught one and as punishment for it taking a bite outa my ping I fed it to my D. capensis, which of course is now threating to flower as thanks. Thanks for all the tips guys.
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Post by mabudon on Aug 26, 2006 8:28:13 GMT -5
1.5 CM LONG?!?!?!?!?!If you are ever gonna send me plants, I'll take 'em bare-root Seriously, I don't hink they get that big so you may have had something unusual in there, the ones I usually see are at MOST .5 cm, and that would be a titan... Glad to know that the little plant is safe for now tho
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Post by pem on Aug 26, 2006 10:31:59 GMT -5
I know odd isn't it, hmmmmm I always do seem to have a tendency with odd things (1.5cm). But hey maybe thats why I'm into CPs.
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Post by Syble on Aug 26, 2006 20:54:38 GMT -5
I've had a few big ones myself, and have had problems with them eating the ping leaves that touch the soil, have watched them do it, really agrivating! Sib
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