white little bugs

[princessk]

i posted this question in a thread, but it got overlooked so i thought i would post it separately. 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? does anyone know how long is a normal time frame for flowers to fall?
(attached is what the plant looked like before the falling flowers)

[gerneveyn]

The plant will lose flowers much more quickly when stressed due to inadequate growing conditions or bugs. Your phal's flowers lasted 3 months, which is pretty normal I believe. I had a phal with mealy bugs and it's flowers didn't last a month. The little white bugs could have been decomposing the media. I have found little bugs in sphag before. Unfortunately, I never did learn the name, and I ended up repotting the phal. I have heard of a product by Dynagro called pro-tekt, which is a silicon based solution that is used to help the plant build stronger cell walls to provide better protection against chewing bugs. I have yet to try it.

[Woods]

Hi,

I've had no luck identifying my bugs yet. Will let you know how I get on. You should look at the info on Pest and Diseases section. Vivienne has put some good information in the first post.

Good luck

[Tobi]

Hi PrincessK,
I'm not 100% sure, but I had tiny white bugs scooting around in the bark
media last year. No one knew for sure but some thought it might be Fungal
Gnat larva. If they are only in the media and not on the leaves or flowers,
that's what they might be. Do you see any of the tiny gnats flying around
your plants? I used a couple of drops of liquid dish washing detergent mixed
with water and flushed my plants when I watered. I did this a couple of times
and they seem to disappear. Keep your humidity up and this will usually keep
them at bay. They don't really hurt the plant, just a nuisance.
That's just my guess if they are that tiny.

[gerneveyn]

Here's a link about pest info and control. I hope this helps. http://mrec.ifas.ufl.edu/lso/Manual/...-text-only.htm

[BillC]

Hi Princess, without knowing exactly what type of bug you have I will offer you a pesticide that Sandra swears by. This is a line from one of her posts:

In one word, ORGANOCIDE. I purchased it today from a tropical nursery nearby, came home and sprayed it on and in all my plants. Harmless to most plants (not for bromeliads, which I have just as many of as I do orchids). Not one little critter to be found now!

This may do the business for you.

Bill

[princessk]

thanks for the tips. i'll try it out.

[NancyG]

Do you know if ORGANICIDE will burn leaves if the sun hits them?

Some of my orchids are hanging from the trunks of palm trees and I used Neem oil once and several of the leaves burned the next day.

Thanks,
NancyG

[BillC]

Nancy, I don't know if Sandra keeps any plants outdoors where they could receive full sun so I cannot say if the leaves will burn when subject to the sun after spraying with Organicide. If you decide to use Org. then perhaps you could spray just one plant and keep a close watch for any problem before going ahead and spraying all.

Bill

[sandra]

Originally Posted by NancyG

Do you know if ORGANICIDE will burn leaves if the sun hits them?

Some of my orchids are hanging from the trunks of palm trees and I used Neem oil once and several of the leaves burned the next day.

Thanks,
NancyG

Nancy, I have all my orchids on a screened patio with north, east and west exposure. Florida sun is strong, no smog, hence no filtering between up there and down here! Mine are not in direct sun but I've sprayed all the leaves that were exposed in the conditions I've mentioned and never lost a leaf. I recommend it highly. Have only found it at nurseries, never chain stores. Good luck and give it a try if you find it.

[chefatplay]

Princessk, do your bugs look like this?
HPNX0237.jpg