Thrips - dish soap or insecticide?

[Onyx]

If the bugs are only running around the bark/whatever mix you're using, they might actually be springtails, which are harmless unless you're growing seedlings or the like. Annoying as heck, yes, and I don't want them in my own plants, but everything I've read has them listed as harmless because they just eat decaying plant material in whatever potting mix. If the bugs show up on the plant itself or in flowers, then it's pretty much for certain thrips.

If you want, grab a magnifying glass and check out the little bugs next time you see them and compare to pics of springtails and thrips online. At least from comparative google imaging, springtails look more rounded on the ends (the ones I had looked kinda like mini elongated beetles to me) and the thrips look a bit more pointed.

If they are springtails, just wash off your orchid's roots really well and remove all the old mix, then repot it in fresh stuff and they should go away. I'd assume you could bake bark in the oven before using it if you really want to make sure it's bug-free -- running boiling water through it instead of baking it might help too. I seem to have springtails coming in from outside. I don't know how, but they keep showing up by the window, ugh!