Orchid sap anyone?

[flhiker]

Originally Posted by Dorothy

Dave - Which ones are you selling?

Sorry!! fresh out. I'll let you know when I get some more. The cow pastures are getting few and far between.

Calm down everyone!, we are just kidding

[Ray]

John,

Some aphids do secrete a similar substance, also known as "honeydew". I cannot recall ever seeing aphids on my collection.

Ants have been known to "farm" aphids to collect the honeydew, even "milking" their fat little bodies.

[Dorothy]

We are, Dave?



I will never look at aphids the same again ..
Now I visualize some little green bug squeezing 'milk' out of ants like one would extract moo juice from a cow .. Oh the horror!

[orchidilirious4]

I am new to this forum too!
My Brassia spike has dew on it as well. I checked it over real well to make sure there were no parasites and so far so good. When I first got the plant last spring, it did come home with aphids so I was a little worried that I may have that problem again. I can't stand Aphids!

[Dorothy]

I feel the same way about scale!
No love loss for those buggers!

Orchidilirious4 - Did you notice any aphids farming ants? Or even more repulsive - milkmaid-ing them?

[orchidilirious4]

No, and believe me, I looked very hard. Like I said, I had that battle last spring and I would never like to repeat that experience. Yuck! They are so tough to get rid of. Especially when they spread to your other plants without you knowing about it right away. Serves me right for not quarantining I guess.

[Dorothy]

Sometimes we can't help but learn the hard way ..
One of the reasons I love the OB is that I can find out about other people's orchid mishaps in hopes that I will not go through the same hardships my fellow orchid friends and lovers strive to get beyond. My adventure with scale was enough for me to learn the value of isolating any new plant before introducing it to my collection even after close inspection

[IdahoOrchid]

Originally Posted by Dorothy

Now I visualize some little green bug squeezing 'milk' out of ants like one would extract moo juice from a cow .. Oh the horror!

Dorothy, I think you got that bassackwards. It is the ants that milk the aphids.

[Dorothy]

EW!

[IdahoOrchid]

HEY! I just watered a few of my plants and I have several with seepage on the TOPS of the leaves, especially the ones in s/h. I am used to only seeing it on spikes.

NOTHING like the stuff in the pictures though.