Root tip damage

January 2007. In Indonesia, root tips of Phalaenopsis growing in a medium of cocopeat and sphagnum moss – some with wood bark – are broken. A bug is present and suspected of causing the damage. There is no damage where sphagnum moss is used alone. The question is, what is the insect, and could it have caused the damage?

It was identified as a slater (Isopoda), probably in a genus near Philoscia. It may not be the primary cause of damage: slaters feed on damaged tissue.