What is damaging my orchid

by Aline
(Quebec, Canada)

holes in leaves

There are holes in my new orchid leaf, any idea what is doing this and how to treat it.

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Sep 21, 2011
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Cable's Reply
by: Cable Thompson

That looks like damage from slugs, snails, or some other pest eating the leaves. Slugs or snails are most likely. To help confirm this, you can look carefully for slime trails, or get a flashlight to look at it in the middle of the night (they tend to be nocturnal.)

Aside from manually removing any slugs or snails that you see, there are a couple of things you can do to control these pests:

There are commercially-available pesticides specifically designed for controlling slugs and snails ("molluscicides"), which usually come in the form of pellets that attract and kill them. Metaldehyde and iron phosphate are the most common active ingredients you'll see in these. (Iron phosphate is less toxic and more environmentally-friendly, but no less effective.)

A dish of beer or sugar-water set next to the orchid may also attract and drown snails or slugs.

Nov 22, 2011
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HOLES IN LEAVES OF AN INDOOR ORCHID
by: Anonymous

How can an indoor orchid that has holes in its leaves been attacked by snails or slugs. What other causes can there be? How can orchids with holes in the leaves be treated?

Nov 22, 2011
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Follow-up
by: Cable Thompson

Holes in the leaves are almost always from snails or slugs, unless there's some obvious mechanical source for the damage (e.g., the plant being attacked by a housecoat.) The damage is permanent, but usually the leaf won't die back too far. The main thing is to control the snails or slugs, as discussed in my other reply.

Aug 11, 2014
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Watering NEW
by: Anonymous

My orchids leaves are turning yellow and i broke one of the leaves when moving the bark around the leaves to see if it was dry. I have repotted it and it was doing fine. What is wrong with it?

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