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Post by meateater on Aug 17, 2016 17:40:36 GMT -5
VFT (typical) starting showing white dust-like substance on the plant a few weeks back but it was only in a very small area and I left it alone. Looks like it's contiguous because other plants in the same pot are now showing the same symptom. I tried scraping it off but not much luck. What is it? (If pictures help...)   |
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Post by lloyd on Aug 17, 2016 18:48:36 GMT -5
Get a good magnifying loupe and look at it. It looks suspiciously like immature mealy bugs or possibly whitefly which are not quite as bad. If they are bug like, quarantine them at once. If you can get a more detailed picture try posting it. Let us know what they look like close up.
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Post by hal on Aug 17, 2016 20:18:39 GMT -5
Looks like mealies to me, too, and they are challenging to get rid of. Wipe them off with a cotton swab dipped in alcohol, uproot, wash and submerge the plant for a day or two. Toss the medium and use fresh because they lay eggs in the soil.
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Post by lloyd on Aug 17, 2016 23:39:44 GMT -5
If it is mealies, it might be better to toss the plant unless it is a prized specimen. It is difficult to treat delicate plants without killing them.
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Post by meateater on Aug 18, 2016 19:49:57 GMT -5
<rant> ... it's a 12"+ new pot with new peat moss! Repotted this spring! These plants give me the biggest traps too!  </rant> Sorry, just need to vent out frustration. This is as close as my camera can get. I don't have a good magnifying glass so I can't tell what it is. But what I would like to know is: 1. what is it? Is it really mealies? 2. if I leave the pot/peat outdoors this winter (above ground, of course), will Canadian winter sanitize it for me? (located in southern Ontario) 3. what caused it? any preventive measures? Thanks!    |
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Post by sokkos on Aug 18, 2016 21:06:26 GMT -5
I thought mealies or whitefly at first too, but when I zoom in on your pictures, the white specs are all difference sizes and irregularly shaped. Any chance it could be tiny bits of perlite from the soil or dried salts from water splashing?
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Post by bonfield on Aug 18, 2016 21:11:39 GMT -5
Kenny's right, you should gently spray/brush the flecks away, and if they reoccur even when there isn't any splash-back, then you may have a problem.
That being said, if it's anything but splashback, it's probably mealies and you should follow the advice regarding them.
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Post by meateater on Aug 18, 2016 21:37:05 GMT -5
My dad often carelessly water the lawn and ends up spraying tap water on my flytraps  (and obviously nothing works on homo sapiens) But if it's just tap water/splash-back... that is quite... amazing... Anyways, will wipe them clean first and see what happens.... Thanks for all the advice! |
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Post by lloyd on Aug 18, 2016 22:54:00 GMT -5
From what I can see, that doesn't look like a bug. That being said, mealies are tricky and very destructive. Maybe try taking them out of the medium, washing everything and repotting. Keep them away from the other plants. If they survive, it probably wasn't mealies. Any bugs should be killed off or controlled by dormancy at Zero Celsius for a good four months.
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Post by kawarthapine on Sept 10, 2016 20:26:14 GMT -5
While I think it is different age classes of a type of mealey bug, could it also be a powdery mildew type infection? Another possibility is 'cottony scale' that is powdery in appearance.
I have seen similar buildup on orchids I have purchased, but the material is usually found in the crotch of leaves and stems and not on flowers and foilage.
I used isopropyl alcohol on problem areas, then washed plant in mild soapy solution, rinsed w clean water, then sprayed with diluted physan 20 and finally repotted in clean pot w fresh soil. Another treatment (although not sure it is safe for vft's) is horticultural oil.
Good luck...hate to see you lose a nice plant.
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</rant>
(and obviously nothing works on homo sapiens)
