Checking For Mites

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

Here are a few methods of checking for mites:

1) Wipe the under side of leaves with a white tissue or cloth. If the cloth comes away with a rust color, you would have red mites or flat mites.

2) Feel the leaves for stickiness over an area. A few drops of honeydew at joints, especially on flowers, is normal, but over a large surface area is abnormal.

3) A silvery look to leaves. This is because mites are chlorophyll eaters. Sometimes it looks like a sandy white edging to the leaves. Any sprinkled white pin point spots should be suspected as mites. Severe scaring is late stage damage.

4) Look for near microscopic webs. A very light misting and good light sometimes helps to find them, and a magnifying glass helps. If you find super fine webs, and you see a tiny bit of dust on the web that slowly moves, that is a mite.

5) Hold the plant over a white piece of paper, and tap the plant. Never having done this one, I'm not sure what kind of tapping is in order. Look at any dark specks on the paper for movement.

6) Best of all is to look at the underside of leaves with a microscope. Seven power (.7X10) is good for scanning, but you will need something like 30 power to actually see the shape of the mites, tho red mites are quite a bit larger than spider mites. For a simpler, but very effective, way to go, use a hand lens or jeweler's loupe. Try to find a 4-5 power loupe, or as close as you can get. Start with the oldest leaves and look very carefully at the underside.


Flat/false mites generally are very slow moving and find a good location and stay there, kind of look like parked cars under a microscope. They do not make webs, and are red in my experience. These give you a rust color when you wipe the underside with a white cloth, but a 30 power pencil type hand held microscope should be used to verify the slow movement if these are suspected. Spider mites are pale green and red mites are reddish, but both are very active. There is an in-between sized mite I have seen that is green and a moderately slow mover. If it looks like mites, the best thing to use is Bayer Advanced 3 in 1 with the word 'mites' on the front of the label. Repeat treatment in 7-10 days for spider mites and 3 to 4 weeks for flat mites. Don't use Neem Oil, as I am finding too much damage from this oil.

[Dave]

Great info Cynthia...Thanks!

[Aniko]

Worthy to be pinned next to the "skewer method"

[Anton]

I think that I'll have to make a folder to store "Cynth's Tips n Tricks".

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

Sorry for this repeated post, but I really think this needs to be added to the sticky for mites. If you read this on the other thread, this is identical with nothing added or changed:

I have changed my technique for mites and for neem oil. I am pretty much convinced, but time will tell, that neem oil is stressful for many orchids, and the problems that arise, mottled foliage, leaf death for some plants, may not be caused by the neem oil directly, but that the stressed condition of the plants leaves them vulnerable to fungi and bacterial. I have been treating all plants getting neem oil with a systemic fungicide (and bacteriocide for Phyton 27) immediately before I use neem oil, and for several times over the next few weeks, to protect the weakened plants. I no longer use neem on everything when I find spider mites. I use a jewelers loupe to inspect each plant, and only treat the plants with mites. With over 700 plants in my greenhouse, this may seem an impossible task, but I have just completely eliminated a very extensive infestation of spider mites this way. It turns out that spider mites don't like an awful lot of plants. Catts, Phal, and the Phal type Dens (and the tough leaved Australian Dens) seem to be unacceptable to spider mites, so after a while I stoped checking these. However, they love most other Dens, Cymbidiums, Sobralias, and a lot of odds and ends. Those that showed mites got a certain colored tag. So now I know to keep rechecking these, and anything else that seems to be having any kind of trouble. The real trick to this is to have a really good system of 'seeing' these mites, so you know for sure which plants really need work. I can't emphasize enough the need to be able to 'see' these bugs. Treating plants that are free of mites is unnecessary and tough on the plants. Phal/flat/red mites are larger than spider mites, and should be even easier to see, which is good, because the spidermites are sometimes only seen as easily as they are because they are very active, and their movement helps. Flat mites just sit there doing nothing but sucking on plant juices. I have yet to see how extensive the tastes are for flat mites and if they are found more uniformly on the plants, or are limited to the plants they like as spidermites are.

I have been buying jewelers loupes, the kind that lodge in your eye, from surplus shed. $1.25 each, and a flat $5 for shipping, so look over their catalog, everything is cheap. I keep misplacing the loupes, so I bought a half dozen. One for the GH, one for my outdoor potting bench, one for my window sill where I occasionally keep plants, one for my light garden I have started, and a couple to use when I misplace one of the others

NEW: My current recommendation for mites is "Bayer Advanced 3 in 1". Make sure it is the "3 in 1", as none of the others have a miticide in them. Spraying the entire collection with this product apears to be the best method. Repeat the spraying once to be sure you have eliminated all the mites.

[kgately]

Hi Everyone,

This thread is really helpful, thanks!

My question is - Have any of you had experience with tiny white-ish bugs? My phal is in a clear plastic pot, and while watering it I noticed very tiny white bugs making their way around inside. The roots are all healthy looking, and the leaves aren't being chomped, so I'm not sure if this is necessarily a bad bug. I also noticed a smallish red spider, but I'm not sure it was a mite because it wasn't as small as these white bugs... I stopped looking when I saw that guys - I'm not a spider fan.

Also, my potting medium is bark, and since I've had the orchid (since Feb.) it's been very difficult to keep it from molding. Is there a trick to keeping the bark mold-free?

I'm prepared to repot if necessary, I just don't want to keep running into either of these problems. What do you all think?

[Tobi]

Kgately,
If the bugs are only in the bark, they could be fungal gnats. These little
pesky insects are more of a nuisance than they are harmful to your plants.
Especially if the bark is old and the medium is on the damp side. There are
several posts on what to treat them with. I have used a small amount of mild dish washing detergent (Dove) when I water and this usually takes
care of them with a couple of waterings. If they are on the leaves or blooms
then they might be something else.

[kgately]

Nothing on the leaves, and my blooms dropped within the last month. They had been in bloom since I bought it back in February at the Flower Show in Boston so I don't think it's related. I'm sure on the age of the medium but with the mold issue I'm sure it will have to be changed out soon. Thanks for your advice though! I'm going to try it in the meantime.

[viper]

are there any pictures of mites?

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

http://ipm.ncsu.edu/current_ipm/otimages.html
Check under T for two spotted mites, and under S for spider mites. Didn't see any red/Phal/flat mites there, but maybe you could search around on the site for them.

This is a good article.
http://www.agf.gov.bc.ca/cropprot/mites.pdf

[Stefka]

Hello, i'm new to the forum and to orchids. I recently bought a Den and i believe it has a pest in it but i have no idea what it is. I've got black spots under the leaves and some of them are becoming yellow.
I started a post at this link Dendrobium Emma White- black spots + yellow leaf
Some of you on the forum suggested bug some mentionned mites. I've posted pictures of my den. do you think it is mites? these photos are from saturday and sunday and now the leaves are yellower than that.
Many thanks for reading

[Moothedan]

I have the same problem i have a phal and i moved a little bark around today and they scurried everywhere. So i took the plant out and dumped the bark sphag mix i had and it was unbelievable how many there were. If i repot should i use just bark or mix again. It was just coming back to life again after its first repotting. Not a very good root system but i noticed a few little new bumps coming off the old. help Thanks

[Moothedan]

How do you go about using the dove water?

[articuno75]

Originally Posted by Moothedan

How do you go about using the dove water?

The dish soap recipe:

1 tsp. cinnamon extract
5 -10 drops of phosphate free dishsoap, ie: Dove, Dawn, etc.
1 1/2 -2 cups of room temp water

This recipe is excellent for fighting fungi, cleaning leaves and mite teterant. Also great for reviving bareroot orchids when you first receive them. (Add more water, adjust accordingly.)

[articuno75]

Originally Posted by Moothedan

I have the same problem i have a phal and i moved a little bark around today and they scurried everywhere. So i took the plant out and dumped the bark sphag mix i had and it was unbelievable how many there were. If i repot should i use just bark or mix again. It was just coming back to life again after its first repotting. Not a very good root system but i noticed a few little new bumps coming off the old. help Thanks

Repotting would be a waste and you'd still have them, plus end up contaminating the new media with mites. Treat the mites first. As recommended try Neem Oil or the Dish Soap method. If you really have to crack down you can get the big guns and buy Bayer 3 in 1.

[articuno75]

Originally Posted by articuno75

Repotting would be a waste and you'd still have them, plus end up contaminating the new media with mites. Treat the mites first. As recommended try Neem Oil or the Dish Soap method. If you really have to crack down you can get the big guns and buy Bayer 3 in 1.

Oops, I didn't look at the date, silly me

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

I highly recommend staying away from the neem oil. It appears that the stuff is being stored incorrectly (55F to 85F specified storage temp) leading to a chemical change that is damaging to orchids. Since there is no way to check the product for previous abuse, better to just not use it. Save it for the roses.

[Tobi]

I don't think that Moothedan's problem is mites. If they are concentrated in the bark
only and are moving that fast (mites don't scurry that quickly), it still might be fungal
gnats or something else. How large are these Moothedan?

[ganim]

Jenny,

Hi, kinda wonder how i can use the dish soap formula/recipe .Mean, to how to administer it.