Falling Flowers & bugs

[Woods]

Hi,
My mini phal has 3 stalks which have been flowering for a couple of months. One stalk has turned yellow, shrivelled and the flowers are falling off. I am assuming it's finished flowering and the other stalks will begin to do the same at some point.

The base of the shrivelled stalk is still solid and green till about 1 inch from the crown (up to the first section/joint of the stalk). Should I cut the stalk to that point? Should I wait till all the flowers have dropped (they are all shrivelled anyway)?

The other question is that when I checked the bamboo skewer I noticed a couple of tiny black bugs on the skewer. I suspect that this is not good. I have moved the phal with bugs to a different room from my other phal. What else should I do?

A

[chefatplay]

A picture of the bugs would help greatly. I had bugs in my phal once, took a picture and the geeks assured me they were only sowbugs, no danger whatso ever. Do they look like this? The bug is on my skewer. I am told they eat the decomposing bark medium. Nothing to worry about.

[BillC]

Hi Woods, If it turns out that your bug is similar to the pic that Ellen posted then what you have is 'Oniscus asellus' otherwise know as the woodlouse. It will have 14 legs and an exoskeleton for a back. Should not cause you any problems unless you have a potful of them. I guess the only way you can find out how many is to repot the phal. Many people consider that the spike should be cut back close to the main stem.

I would like to see your bug if you can post a pic.

Bill

[Woods]

Will try to get a photo but they are very small. Don't think it's a woodlouse... it doesn't appear to have an exoskeleton. To me they looks similar to dust mites but they are black. Fingers crossed I can get a photo.

[Woods]

Here's a photo. They are tiny. There were some on the middle of the skewer when I took it out but I also got a photo of two on the outside rim of the pot.

Any ideas on what they are?

Thanks
A

[BillC]

Woods, sorry, but the bugs are not identifiable because your pic. has not got them in focus. You need to get a macro shot to define them well.

Bill

[princessk]

i sort of had the same problem. i have a regular size phal and it had beautiful blooms for 3months. Over a couple of days all the flowers fell off and now the stem is yellow. i didn't know whether something happened to the plant or whether the it was just done blooming. When I took the plant out of the pot, I saw these microscopic white bugs. I didn't get a pic, but does anyone know what they could be? Is there something i can water the plant with to make them go away? Do you think the bugs made all the flowers drop so fast?

[Woods]

I got as close as I could used digi zoom and close up focus. That's the best I could do. I'll see if I can get hold of a better camera that could give a clearer photo. They are tiny and they are difinately not white. There does seem to be a lot of them.

Does the stalk turn yellow when it is finished flowering?

A