Quote:
Originally Posted by K-Sci
After finding a phal I purchased from Norman's was infested with mites, I put sticky traps around my greenhouse to see if there was a more widespread problem. The only pests I've seen are a few fungus gnats. This led to me to find that one of my C. intermedia in a plastic pot was laced with white fungus threads running throughout.
I hate to ask, but in decades growing orchids I never had a thrip infestation but I've heard a lot about them on this forum. Would you mind posting a couple pictures of the damage they caused?
-Keith
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Sure thing, I don't have a lot of pics but I'll take a few. I have gotten good at protecting in bud plants from major infestations while in bloom.
The damage is always the same on open flowers, silvery gray dehydrated patches starting at the edges of the petals and sepals. They feed from the edge of the petal always. This damage is often the only sign you will see before seeing a few adults scurrying around. If left unchecked they get into buds that ultimately blast.
They are great hiders and they know I am a threat. They spend one phase of their lifecycle in the soil so you have to treat the soil and the plants multiple times. They are only visible to the eye in their last instar and do most of their damage before that.
They will infest all types of flowers but seem to have favorites and their tastes seem aligned with mine unfortunately (catasetum and cattleya). They leave most orchid leaves alone except catasetum and lycaste.
They can travel between plants that touch leaves and on noses / fingers on people in the grow room. I know I have infected plants by sniffing multiple flowers. They however don't seem to be able to cross surfaces and especially can't figure it out if a container is sitting in a tray
Spinosad is the best pesticide but the type I have have some resistance.
Will moving orchids to lower light cause bud drop?
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