Lilly, the Pest

[sandra]

I know I'm posting in the right section, "Orchid Pests and Diseases." The culprit: Lilly, my cat....a definite PEST.

We've been having very high winds here in Fla. the last few days and my little oncidium kept getting knocked over. I took it and put it on my patio table where it would remain safe until the winds died down. So, along comes Lilly to remind me that nothing is safe in her domain where my orchids are concerned and goes at it. The moral of the story is now I've got about 5 chewed leaves.

Anything I should do other than leave it alone?

P.S. Anybody want a cat?

[Vivienne]

oh sandra, I feel for you. No room for any more cats, already have 3. Thankfully mine haven't developed a fetish for orchids!! Well, let me take that back, they did do a bit of nibbling on my miltonia. I just trimmed the leaves and it's fine. It is no longer accessible to the cats.

[E-Jag]

Sandra, your oncidium will probably survive if it has a healthy root system. A little worm tea would be good, if you have it. There is no hope for the cat, however. Shoot it, and with the money you save on cat food and vet bills, buy more orchids.

E-Jag

[pikevi]

sandra: would applying some neem oil to the leaves help?

I know it is bitter and I doubt that any cat would like the taste of it, let alone the smell.

And it is harmless to Lilly too. The worst that can happen if she ingests a lot (which is improbable) is a bit of a loose motion (loose stool).

[sandra]

E-Jag, the truth is, I'd take Lilly over the orchids in a heartbeat. , but I like your suggestion about the worm tea and that was exacty what I did. Fingers crossed now.....

Pikevi, I've never used or have seen neem oil. Can I spray it on the leaves? All of my orchids are typically kept high up on shelves but, I've got a couple of plants within her reach she likes to check out and snack on. Can I use this neem oil on other plants? I'll have to scope the forum here and see what I can find out about this stuff.

Vivienne - 3 here too!

[kmarch]

I have 3-4 Paphs that have kitty-fang marks in them. If your plant is otherwise healthy it will be fine. It will just look a little rough for a while.

Purrrrrrrrr.

[pikevi]

sandra: I only use neem oil on all plants. For Phals, I use cotoon wool to apply.

Occasionally I use safer's soap , as per subggestion from this forum.

For the others I just 'fine spray' an emulsion of neem/water. So far it seems to work.

It is soooooo bitter!!!!

[ I will resort to synthetic chemicals only as a last resort. It will not be my first line of defense ]

[flowerchild]

Sandra, maybe get Lily some of her own plants to chew on such as cat grass, then get a little sprayer and everytime she touches your orchids give her a little mist of water to train her, when she goes to her cat grass praise her beyond belief eventually she will get the idea that orchids are off limits and that the cat grass is good. It is just a little cat behavior modification thats all!! Good luck

[sandra]

flowerchild, I laughed after reading your response. It is a very smart and wise suggestion but I'm dealing with a genius here. I thought I was all the wiser for it too and tried this some time ago. Problem is, Lilly outsmarts me every time. She's an angel while she's in eyesight of me. She waits for me to leave, I swear! The couple of times I caught her in the act, I wet balistic. She looked at me like, "what's your problem" and just walked away.

It's times like this that I have to keep reminding myself of just how much I love her.

P.S. I'm going to get some more cat grass today and give it another go!

[sandra]

My little culprit, Lilly

[fred]

Lilly has got I love orchids all over her

what does the tag say sandra

go away mum i want to eat more orchids

[sandra]

LOL Fred. It takes one to know one you duffer. I think you're right though.

I'm going to change that tag to "free to a good home"........not really.

[fred]

what is free to a good home the kitty or the orchids

[fred]

you can have this one to if you like.

[flowerchild]

Originally Posted by fred

you can have this one to if you like.

Fred can you ship that one to Canada?

[fred]

I could only one big problem the BOSS

[Vivienne]

LOL - maybe I'll snap some pics of my 'other children'. sandra and fred - they are beautiful.

[fred]

ohhh thats nice of you to say that.

I wont tell my BOSS that though she will kick me out at night insted lol