Mystery pest/bug on Oncidium

[OrchidMan101]

My Oncidium has a few roots that look liked it got chewed off and a hole in one of the growths so I suspected there were snails. So I woke up during the night to see if i could find any snails. I didn’t but I did find a very small dark brownish bug. It was crawling around in the moss and I didn’t see any on the leaves or growth. Is this a pest or is a random bug that just decided to live the moss?

It’s kind of difficult to see but on my finger that’s sticking out there is a small dark spot and that’s the bug. I found around 4 and killed them.

[Roberta]

One thing that you can do is soak the whole plant in a bucket, perhaps with a few drops of dish soap. Any creatures will try to escape. Then drain well. Alternatively, a repot with fresh medium (rinse roots under running water, don't try to get every last bit of medium off, again just make it unwelcoming for beasts)

[realoldbeachbum]

OM101 - Isn't it amazing what we will do for our orchids -- like getting up in the middle of the night, taking them on vacation with us? We are a crazy lot!

I am fairly new to orchids so cannot even guess what your pest is, but I am sure someone here on OB will be able to help!

Happy growing. ROBB

[OrchidMan101]

If I were to soak, how long would I soak it for? A few minutes?

[Roberta]

For "de-bugging" I'd suggest leaving it in the the bucket for 15-30 minutes. You want to give the critters a chance to "panic" and escape the medium. (The soap helps to wet the breathing pores in their bodies, so they will know that they are drowning) This is pretty much a one time treatment, so while that's more watering than a plant needs, won't hurt it.

[OrchidMan101]

I haven't considered using soap to get rid of the bugs, but wouldn't soap also damage the plants' roots?

[Roberta]

A few drops in the water won't hurt them. You can follow up with a good drench with clear water if you want. Dish soap is really mild, but it's a good wetting agent - so makes the "drowning effect" on the bugs more efficient. (Do you get the impression that I get sadistic pleasure in dispatching bugs and slugs and such? I do... ) It might even make water (and fertilizer) uptake by the plant more efficient... I wouldn't use it routinely, but a bit will do no harm.

[OrchidMan101]

Also when you did soak the plant, did you mean the whole plant? Including the leaves and flowers?

[Roberta]

I think just the pot. The ones that you can see you can treat if necessary, what you are trying to accomplish is to chase them out of the pot where they hide.

[OrchidMan101]

Update: I soaked it and the bugs did float up and die! But the bugs were pretty small so I couldn’t get all of them out of the media so now there’s some dead bodies left in the media. Is that going to harm the plant?