Little white bugs parked on my Miltassia

[Monica_chey]

I am so mad at myself. I recently found a Miltassia CM Fitch at a local chain store and snatched it up. Only after a couple of days did I notice that it has the little white, slow moving critters parked on the blooms. I just separated it from my phal. dens. and catts. What do i use to get rid of these critters. I am afraid the neem oil would harm this plant since the leaves are so thin. I've never used neem oil and would like to avoid it if possible. What are my options and how can I protect my healthy plants? The bugs are white with a greenish hue. I can see them with my bare eyes. They are not fast moving. The plant is in pretty good condition otherwise. It does not seem very stressed, at least not yet. Please help.

[robb]

monica: welcome to the forum first of all!

secondly, i do not know what those bugs are, by your description. the only white critters i've had were some mites on an ivy. hopefully someone can clarify further for us! regarding the neem oil, i cannot say, as i have no experience there either

[BillC]

Hi Monica, I posted a thread about mealy bugs and if you go to the Search tag on the menu bar you can compare the bugs in the pic. to see if they are the same as you have. Just type in ' Mealy Bugs ' in the search box, and you will find my post half way down the screen that comes up.

Bill

[pikevi]

Welcome to the forum, Monica_chey.

I doubt if neem oil will hurt any plant . I can only speak about my experience. I use it on almost all the plants. So far I have only used two things on orchids,namely ,safer's soap and neem oil. I have not found any ill effects caused by it.

I have not used the commercial product found in the garden centres. I mix the oil with water and a little soap and use a spray. I have seen posts in here by other members who use neem oil.

If you are nervous you could try it on one leaf and see the effects.

Good luck.

[Monica_chey]

Thank you, you all have been helpful.

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

If you can see them, I would not worry about them being mites. The only mites that are common problems of orchids are too small to see. For everything else, I recommend Bayer Advanced Rose & Flower, or any other product containing imidacloprid. It is systemic, takes a few days to work, but is very gentle on your plants. Neem oil has caused a strange mottling of leaves for me, and many others, and should be reserved for mites. I have also heard lately that Bayer Advanced 3 in 1 (not to be confused with Garden Safe 3 in 1, which is neem oil) works on mites and does not harm a variety of orchids. The person who has used this successfully on mites has as large a variety of orchids as I do, or better.

[Monica_chey]

Thank you Cynthia.

[articuno75]

A while back I had these little white bugs that appeared when I watered my orchids. (I repotted my orchids from moss to Schultz Orchid mix.) I was horrified. I checked everything I could and was told not to worry about it. Well, they killed one of my Phals. !!! I tried to save it, to no avail. I noticed that my other two plants were contaminated as well. I went into a flushing frenzy with my plants and rinsed my medium in warm water. I haven't had a problem since.

My question is has anyone else seen these little bugs and what are they? I check all of my medium that I use now and I pretty much "sterilize" it now before I even use it.