What are these insects on my orchid?

[scy]

Today I noticed there was a tiny yellow insect running fast along a leaf of my dendrobium. I couldn't take a picture because it was so small. It was barely visible to the naked eye. Just looked like a yellow speck. Is this harmful to my orchid? What can I use to get rid of it?

Susan

[Dendy83]

Squish it!

[NYCorchidman]

small yellow and very fast. It sounds like a thrip.
If it is, check the leaves. underside and all the crevice and flowers if you have them.
If you see more than a few, then you might have a serious issues as they can do some big damage.

Kill them all!!!

Do you have other flowering plants in the house?

I had bad thrip attach last summer. They hitchhiked via african violets. I managed to get rid of them, but I no longer buy african violets now, which is sad because I love them so much!

[vermin06]

Originally Posted by NYCorchidman

I had bad thrip attach last summer. They hitchhiked via african violets. I managed to get rid of them, but I no longer buy african violets now, which is sad because I love them so much!

Would you have anyway to quaranteen your African violets from your orchids? Sad to hear you're not enjoying them.

[NYCorchidman]

Well, I don't have a greenhouse to keep certain plants enclosed.
Thrips are highly mobile and they fly too. so having anything that has thrips on them is almost like a guarunteed ruin of your orchids pretty much.

I thought about covering up african violets with fine mesh nets, but the ones that are fine enough that thrips cannot go through make the plants look bad.
so there's no point of having pretty flowers.

Oh, well...I'm waiting for the day when I finally hit jackpot and buy myself a garden or greenhouse or both. lol

[scy]

Thanks for identifying the insects! How do I get rid of them? What product and how to apply / use it? I'm going to treat all my orchids just in case. Most of my orchids are dendrobiums. I have a miltionopsis, a cymbidium and a phalaenopsis.

[DavidCampen]

The insecticide Sevin is available in many garden and big box stores. It is supposed to be effective on thrips and not very toxic to mammals, also it does not stink like other insecticides such as malathion. Read the label though; I see that it is listed "For outdoor use only". As for myself, I don't always strictly follow the labels.
http://www.domyownpestcontrol.com/ms...g%20&%20Sp.pdf
Sevin Concentrate, Garden Tech Sevin Concentrate Bug Killer - Free Shipping

[Leafmite]

Ah, Sevin! It will definitely kill the bugs. Use it carefully. There is quite a bit of debate on this one. In one of our ChemE classes, we had quite a discussion years ago, then later my spouse expressed unhappiness with my rare usage (he is a biochem/biophysics major)...Union Carbide made it then (think India....). We try to avoid using this on the fruit trees as it causes fruit drop but every couple of years, we get a Japanese beetle infestation and Sevin is outstanding. When using any pesticide, always follow the directions.

[NYCorchidman]

Dendrobiums and Miltoniopsis were attached by thrips last summer. There were everywhere in and around the flowers, on young leaves on dendrobiums. Miltoniopsis flowers and leaves were so badly damaged that I had to cut off all the damaged parts as they looked so sad.

I killed manually as many as I could find, but I would miss a few as they were really quick in jumping or flying away. so after much struggling, I searched internet over and over and finally decided to give a try at this thing I found and da da! What a find! problem solved and headache gone!

I used "Flying Insect Killer" by Safer brand. Look it up and the company has quite a few similar products but that is the one I bought.

It is meant for organic gardening. It is a little stinky but supposed to be pretty mild while being very effective on thrips.

I followed the instruction and with just two applications, all the bugs were gone.

You have to close windows and doors, and spray generous amount all over the growing area, even directly on the plants themselves too.
then you leave the house for about 20 minutes while bugs are being killed. lol

You come back into the house and open the windows to ventilate.
No harm done on the plants but bugs were all gone.

Highly recommended.

I just had one big housefly flying around the livingroom being very annoying.
I took this spray can out and well, within a few seconds, it dropped to the floor. lol

Get this stuff and kill your thrips.

[scy]

Thanks for the suggestions! Is there a non-toxic route that I could take? I can't use anything toxic or requires ventilation. My orchids are all indoors. Also how do I spray on the phal since it might get to the crown? How long do I need to continue treatment to make sure I get the entire life cycle?