My greatest enemy

Not the human kind lah <-- this one i'm more tolerant. Webspinners:



They give your plants a slow slow death by slowly chewing off the roots and using webs to form an occlusive surface. The plant will slowly lose all its roots and is unable to absorb water due to the webs.







This rupicolous Laelia gets infected all the time <-- may be time to throw?

Watch out for droplets off water forming at the roots during watering - it is a sign that there are webs.

The only treatment is using a strong systemic pesticide such as dimethoate

I managed to trace the index case to a nursery in Singapore - behind the nursery, one can see the skeleton of dead plants with roots jammed packed with webs. A lot of people may initially think these are spider webs, only to realise too late once the plants start falling off the mount and the roots and plants start drying and dying. This is a problem with illegal imports - when the plants are untreated, they have a higher chance of carrying undesired pests and these pests may jsut flourish when they are moved to a better, foreign environment.

Should have heed the warning signs my plants gave to me when I had that nightmare - lost about 755 of my precious Cattleya walkeriana strains that way. Sianz0.5