Help! Insects.

[pchadwic]

Can anyone help me ID these insects? The appeared a few days ago when the humidity here in NYC was very high for a week. They are tiny and white and I thought they were dust a first...until I watched one for a while and noticed it walk...I took some close ups but it's very hard to ficus that tight with my lens.

Can I use the Brookn's recipe for these? Would I submerge the entire plant? It's a odontocidium wildcat with three huge spikes all in bloom!

Thanks for any suggestions.

[digitalgate]

submerge wouldn't do anything. Like like mites to me. Spray with white oil(mineral oil)/ white summer oil. When summer arrive so do mites.

[patticake]

It's hard to get perspective on size. They almost look like tiny aphids. Brookn's recipe should do the trick.

[pchadwic]

they are VERY small: maybe a mm or 2 across. Mealy bugs are not that small, correct? These could sit on the head of a pin.

[digitalgate]

on second thought , it does look like aphids.

[norris]

I think Aphids also...

[violetta]

I also vote for aphids. You should start treating them immediately because they multiply like crazy.
I get rid of them by spraying a mix of water, dishwashing detergent and alcohol. But since your plant is in flower, I would leave out the alcohol because it dries out the flowers.

[Stelios]

I don't know the name but i think they are like what my roses used to get in spring time. I 've planted lavender under the roses and they stoped returning.
A first aid trick is to warm water with a cigarette and use the tabaco tea to spray the plants (when cool again) but i don't know if Orchids can stand it. Nicotine is one of the most effective natural insectisides.

[violetta]

I have read that tobacco should not be used on orchids because it can transmit the tobacco mosaic virus to them:

Virus can be mechanically transmitted from an infected plant to a non-infected plant by any tool or procedure that exposes or comes into contact with the plant’s sap. These include knives, pruning shears, plant stakes, wire ties, even used pots--that have not been properly sanitized before re-use. Plants rubbing together in a breeze which induces the leaf edge of one to cut into the other can transmit virus. You can transmit virus yourself by running your fingers along the length of a plant’s leaves or exposing it to rough handling, and that risk is multiplied by orders of magnitude if you’re a smoker or have handled tobacco just before contact. Chewing and piercing insects can also transmit virus: scale, mealybugs, grasshoppers, and aphids are all suspected carriers, so growers whose collections are plagued by these pests run a far greater risk of viral contamination. And because viruses are so tiny, they can enter through wounds that may be completely invisible to the naked eye.

Here is the link Orchid Viruses Article

[brookn]

Hi, have you had a problem with ants? I know that they basically use aphids as a herd, and milk them. At least I think that's what I read about them. I have been having a booger of a time with ants at my house, and have anxiously watched the orchids for signs of the ants on them. Since it's spring I have been spraying with cinnamon spray as a preventive measure, and so far the ants have been confined to the kitchen. I just couldn't get every spot in the kitchen with it though. I couldn't take it anymore, and I got some ant traps yesterday. I hate using pesticides, but man they were about to carry out the dogs and the kids lol.

[katrina]

They look too sparse to be aphids. Typically, when you find aphids they are thick on the plant....lots and lots of the little buggers.

Could be a harmful insect...might be nothing...but I'd definitely treat w/the cinnamon spray and/or any insecticidal soap just to be safe. If possible, I'd spray the entire plant with a heavy burst of water first...sort of a heavy shower...then I'd treat.

[pchadwic]

I'm spraying with brookn's recipe and will let you know what happens.

Thank you all for your suggestions. I live in NYC and these appeared out of nowhere: the only explanation I can think of was a bouquet of white lilies a house guest brought. They were placed next to the plats that got infested, so it fits.

Anyway, thanks again.

[jerrymeola]

You probably have thrips. They are smaller than aphids which you should be able to see. Thrips are very common in April - June. They devour flower buds and leave that silver trail of bites on leaves.

I actually had an infestation of white flies this week which I have never seen on orchids before (only on leaves of Grammatophylum) that looked similar but much more insects.

Regardless of the cause it is insects and all the treatments are the same. I would use something stronger than cinnamon spray which is basically an anti-fungal solution.

Organically I use vermiliquid (worm tea) and for poisons malathion or orthene work well and are not overly dangerous.

[solay]

Those definitely look like aphids. I've seen plenty of them on my roses. These are the baby aphids before they get bigger and turn either greenish or dark brownish black. They look like this in the spring when they first appear.

They are easily killed and Brookn's recipe should do the tick as well of all kinds of sprays you can buy or make. Good luck.

[kmarch]

Originally Posted by jerrymeola

...and for poisons malathion or orthene work well and are not overly dangerous.

Malathion not dangerous? It's been banned hasn't it?

[solay]

No need for drastic measures. Aphids are easy to kill with simple soap and alcohol.

[digitalgate]

Originally Posted by kmarch

Malathion not dangerous? It's been banned hasn't it?

Nah.... LDA rat is 1950 mg I think. small case compared to Carbofuran. weak , weak

[jensan]

If they are aphids You could get a anole lizard at the pet store.[If you like lizards] They love aphids I used to have several terrariums and my mom had a couple and every once in a while we'd get aphids I'd just put godzilla in there and no more bugs

[articuno75]

Definitely Aphids. Brookn's recipe will do the job.

Malathion not dangerous? It's been banned hasn't it?

Nah, You can still get it here in Indiana. Don't know about the other states.

[violetta]

Originally Posted by jensan

If they are aphids You could get a anole lizard at the pet store.[If you like lizards] They love aphids I used to have several terrariums and my mom had a couple and every once in a while we'd get aphids I'd just put godzilla in there and no more bugs

Also ladybugs love a nice aphid snack!

[pchadwic]

Hi again: I've been using Brooken's recipe for about 4 days now and I'm not seeing much of a change. I can usually find 8-10 aphids on my large Phal crawling around on the blooms. The plants seem fine but I'm concerned naturally. How damaging are aphids? (BTW I squashed a few and they had green fluid in them...does that help confirm ID?)

I have a bottle of .9% neem oil (garden safe 3 in 1 which I have read conflicting things about here and elsewhere), should I try that? If so, can I spray the entire plans including flowers and media?

Thank you!!!

[tansyflower]

Did u get rid of the bouquet? They may still be jumping off the flowers??

If u don't want to resort to heavy measures yet, I would persevere with the natural spray as there may still be eggs hatching.

[pchadwic]

I trashed the bouquet before I noticed the aphids...so they are not coming from there.

[pchadwic]

I've been using Garden Safe Insecticidal Soap (potassium salts of fatty acids 1%) and that appears to have brought them down in numbers. I still see a few each day, but only on the Ondont now: the paph and phals are clear.

Where do Aphids come from: I ask, only because I'm on the 6th floor of a building in Long Island City, NY, just across the East River from Manhattan. I've noticed aphids crawling on my window sill and I'm starting to wonder if they came from the outside somehow...blown in on the wind from a tree?

See pics of my windows...there ain't a lot of trees out there! (but there are a few...) If they come from outside, what will ever stop them?!

[solay]

I'm glad you got them under control now. Good question. I always thought they came with the wind cause they just appear out of nowhere in the spring as teeny little things and by summer they are big and very noticeable.

[katrina]

Aphids are dispersed through winds and they can travel pretty darn far on winds so I'm sure blowing up to a 6th floor would be no problem for them. Also...they do overwinter in soil and other media. In your case, my guess would be wind travel.

[mehitabel]

brookn, for ants in your kitchen, spray all over your sink, countertops etc with windex and leave it on. Do this several times a day, and at night. Windex kills them, and this way they can't get away from it. Scouts will keep coming for a while, but fewer and fewer.

About aphids-- aphids give birth to *pregnant* young. That's why persistence is the key to getting rid of them. As someone pointed out, even soapy water will kill them, but you have to keep doing it every two or three days for a week or two until you get the last one's great-great-great grandchild.

[orchidlover55]

I am new and the geeks are the first to listen to but I got something on my new buds that looked like a white cotton candy then when I looked a little closer it was a white and brown looking little bug that could sit on a needle head that crawled . It had a flat body with lots of legs. Now I don't think I was seeing things even though this was a strange looking creature so I went and got a cotton swab and wiped seven dust everywhere I could see the white looking stuff. I looked a little closer and seen it on other orchid buds too, so I put it on there also. I just know when I was small granddaddy used to put it on all his garden plants and also rub his hunting dogs down with it for bugs. I was so worried I would wait up and all my blooms would be gone after watching them everyday, I just went a grabbed the safest thing I knew of , since I didn't know what else to do, and it's been several days now , my bloomed came on out and the bugs are no where in site. Just a suggestion ASK the Geeks First though. I will need to know too is it safe.

[lance]

it could be thrips..

[mehitabel]

Orchidlover, are you talking of mealy bugs? Since you're an experienced gardener, I doubt it, but I only have one association to cottony pests and that's mealies.

re mealies: My experience with them on orchids has been they love orchid buds and flowers more than anything. More tender, I guess. Also easy hiding.

Sorry, I've never used Sevin, so I don't know about the safety. I use either soapy water with alcohol in it or pure dishwashing detergent liquid for the onesy twosies. (soap penetrates the shell). If it looks a little more than that, I use the Bayer's for Rose and Garden (they say safe for roses = safe for orchids) that gives 30 days of protection.

Once when I had mealies recur and recur on the flowers of one phal for months despite everything I did, I finally just cut the spike. On close examination of the spike, I found that there were mealie factories in the little green nodule coverings on the spike. I suppose these are tight enough so the poisons and soaps didn't reach. The little humphs just sat there, well protected, reproducing like crazy and reinfecting the flowers.

When bugs are on the flowers, I haven't found a way of killing lots of them without damaging the flowers to some extent. A few you can get with soap or soap/alcohol on a Q-tip. But sprays do disfigure or even kill the flowers. They don't hurt buds, tho.

Hope this helps.

[orchidlover55]

mehitabel, I am really not an experienced garden even though I appreciate the compliment. The closest I have ever had to this many problems , is either off Roses or my tomatoe plants. Most people around here has had slugs on thier hosta, but I have never had any problems with mine. I got my first orchid ever five years ago. I keep it just like I got it for three years I never repotted it . I was just lucky, I just hardly ever watered it, and keep it in a good window. I didn't know what I had until January of this year. I had a Den and it was beautiful , it was white and it 's shoots was very long. My husband and I had a job that we had to travel the east and west coast for two years so I left the care of my Den in my nieghbors hands . Well, he killed it, his luck wasn't as good as mine. That was almost two years ago.
In Jan of this year I got my second orchid and I started learning all I could about them. Only this time, I am retired and I stay at home.
Oh and since I have learned a little more, I now use soapy water with alcohol in it or pure dishwashing detergent liquid . I guess we all have to learn but the seven worked at the time and it never hurt my plants. LOL I will ad it to my orchid journal.