Insecticide safe for miltonia? - Orchid Board

orchidlauren · #1 11-16-2019, 03:19 PM

I beleive I have some new visitors on my Miltonia orchid and would like to keep my blooms. Do you guys know if this product is safe?

Roberta · #2 11-16-2019, 03:28 PM

I don't know if pyrethrin-based formulas are damaging to flowers, having not tried them. The product has relatively low toxicity so as a general garden pesticide it's not bad...The photo of the plant is fuzzy, but I THINK I see aphids. To get them off the flower quickly (and perhaps save it) you can wash them off with a spray of soapy water, 70% isopropyl alcohol is also probably OK. Then you can spray the plant (leaves, stem) with the pesticide to (hopefully) prevent the bugs from coming back.

orchidlauren · #3 11-16-2019, 03:35 PM

Oh sorry, I didn’t realize that posting it would lower the quality of the photo, I’ll try zooming in & see if that helps. I’ll put an update & let you know how the insecticide works on my flowers! Thank you!

Roberta · #4 11-16-2019, 03:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by orchidlauren

Oh sorry, I didn’t realize that posting it would lower the quality of the photo, I’ll try zooming in & see if that helps. I’ll put an update & let you know how the insecticide works on my flowers! Thank you!

Still not really in focus. But I know that sudden "blooms" of aphids do appear like that (colors vary from white to black, they) and just getting them off the flowers is the first step. (Soapy water will kill some of them, but mostly just gets them off the flower, then you can deal with them with bigger guns)

orchidlauren · #5 11-16-2019, 04:26 PM

Yeah they seemed to come out of nowhere and are primarily only on my miltonia and none of my phalaenopsis, but I went through misting all of them with the insecticide and still saw them crawling on my Miltonia, how annoying.

Also going to spray them with 70 isopropyl alcohol as soon as they dry.

Roberta · #6 11-16-2019, 04:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by orchidlauren

Yeah they seemed to come out of nowhere and are primarily only on my miltonia and none of my phalaenopsis, but I went through misting all of them with the insecticide and still saw them crawling on my Miltonia, how annoying.

Also going to spray them with 70 isopropyl alcohol as soon as they dry.

The insecticide is only going to affect those that it hits, and maybe not all of those. That's why I suggested a good bath with soapy water to physically wash them off the flowers, then following up with the insecticide on the plant (and medium as well) to actually kill them. Again, the alcohol is only going to affect the ones it hits, and not all of those. (Alcohol is more effective on mealybugs because it strips their protective coating. Other bugs, it may kill some or make them drunk but it's pretty temporary)

aliceinwl · #7 11-16-2019, 06:17 PM

I used the Garden Safe brand of organic insecticidal soap on my Oncidium spikes that had developed an aphid infestation. It killed them with no damage to the spike or buds. I have had mild damage to Dendrobium nobile flowers when I used the product on them in the past.

orchidlauren · #8 11-18-2019, 08:01 PM

Update on the Garden Safe Insecticide Spray: Not sure 100% if this was the reason, but I just now saw it and it’s blooms, including the new ones, are shrivled and wilted. While I was away it was moved to a different location with not as much light & not watered efficiently, but the rest of the plant looks healthy.

Update: didn’t do a full look at the plant and it turned out to be rotting at the base, either way, still not sure about the consequences of the spray but it worked fine on my phals

Dollythehun · #9 11-19-2019, 01:37 PM

I use that spray. It works fine on all my orchids. From experience, if the plants are too dry in spike or bloom they will abort the flowers.