Orchids and garlic snail infestations.
These near invisable Australian native snails inhabit nearly every orchid pot.
They live below to pot line ,amongst the potting media and only come out at night to chew (rasp actually) on orchid root tips.
We all have them its just the more observant ones that notice then
On Australlian Dendrobiums they tend to eat green root tips and the papery sheaths on new canes as shown in the above photo.
Coarse mixes allow them to wander at will amongst the pots and eat roots.
The photo below shows poor quality roots with the green tips constanly eaten.
Eating the root tips slowly kills the orchid as it takes time for the orchid root to rebranch and recover.
In the meantime precious time is lost in the growth and the orchid is weakened.
The photo below was from 1 x 4 inch pot of a rare Paphiopedilum I once owned.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2eys3vVBPE
was an interesting you tube video
Our cure at AON is to apply Slug out as shown below
To purchase slug out just click here
