pests

[sbb87]

Hello:
I posted this message on 7/15 but no replies. Am I not posting in the right forum or is the insect problem not something I should be talking about? Sorry if I made an etiquette error, I am new to the boards and was desperate for help. It looked like people read the posting but no replies that I could retrieve.
I could still use some imput. The orchids in question are in another room now.
thanks
sb

hello everyone. I hope someone can help. I was watering today and I noticed some sort of teeny teeny bugs in the medium of several orchids. i am so upset. I have never had a bug of any kind before and i have plants for several years now. The bark medium is fairly new not broken down. They are almost microscopic. in the medium only. I was at the orchid show in NYC in april. Bought 3 new plants. kept them in isolation for 8 weeks. everything seemed fine. Now several of my orchids have these bugs. I can't seem to find what they are. They are crawling in the medium, not flying. I removed the plants. any ideas what these are? what do I do? please help.
thanks
sb

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

You could use diatomaceous earth, a goodly amount put into the pot and washed in. You can get some from a pool supply or a feed store. There are arguments over the efficacy of the stuff from the pool supply, but the All Clear brand I get works well. Don't breath it, but otherwise it is supper safe for people and pets. Kills by mechanical damage. Others have recommended common rubbing alcohol (50% with water?) or hydrogen peroxide poured thru the pot. I would think that a thorough drenching with neem oil should help, but I have used it heavily in the greenhouse and they (gnats) always come back. But I have hundreds of orchids and could have missed doing a good enough job on a few pots or they can come in from outside pretty easily. If you use neem, you want to keep the plants in low light and cool for a day, other wise you can get chlorophyll damage to the leaves of you plants. Cynthia, Prescott, AZ