Ryan's Oncidiums and Tolumnia

[Pilot]

Hey guys,

One of my newest Tolies has finally bloomed...here is Pink Panther,



This plant is from a local nursery and supplier and when I examined the blooms today I found mealy bugs. Yeah... Enter swear word here. I hate those dang things!! This is the their time I have brought home a plant with mealies and did not know until the blooms opened. Thankfully I couldn't find any on neighboring plants nor did I see any outside of the blooms, so they must be staying inside where all the sugary juices are flowing to the blooms.

I emailed the nursery with the complaint because I'm tired of being home infested plants. This business is highly respected in Colorado so I hope they take my complaint seriously. I am not asking for anything in terms of compensation but I'm asking that they get this stuff fixed with their supplier because this has happened too many times. These plants are expensive and I feel. They should be free of nastiness.

[Merlyn]

Nice one, Ryan ! You're absolutely right and if we, the consumer, don't stand up they will never change their policies.

[boytjie]

Is this perhaps the place outside of Boulder? I spent some time there when I was in Colorado on vacation back in August, and I have to say the plants were of varying quality. They had lots of interesting stuff, including hard to find species, but some of their seedlings had no roots to speak of, or had mushy stems. I was surprised. -Stephen

[Bud]

That is a beautiful flower.
Nuke the mealies with a mix of

10 drops dish soap
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon extract
2 cups tepid water

Soak the pot for 5 min to kill the eggs

[Pilot]

Originally Posted by Bud

That is a beautiful flower.
Nuke the mealies with a mix of

10 drops dish soap
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon extract
2 cups tepid water

Soak the pot for 5 min to kill the eggs

Thanks, Bud, I'll give it try. For now I have sprayed the plant with Dr Bronner's and water mixture...peppermint type as its been touted as making quick work on non exoskeleton bugs like mealies and aphids.... First time using this mix though so we shall see.

[Pilot]

Originally Posted by boytjie

Is this perhaps the place outside of Boulder? I spent some time there when I was in Colorado on vacation back in August, and I have to say the plants were of varying quality. They had lots of interesting stuff, including hard to find species, but some of their seedlings had no roots to speak of, or had mushy stems. I was surprised. -Stephen

Yes the supplier is outside of boulder and I agree with your assessment.

[orchidsarefun]

keep us informed on whether they spread to your other orchids. I was at a nursery near Chicago yesterday and asked for a special phal. The guy showed me and said not to worry about the mealy bugs as he had sprayed them 3x. They were very evident ! What surprise me was that this group of phals ( about 50 ) was amongst about 2,000 other phals. There had been no attempt to segregate them.
I bought a couple of oncidium/wilsonara/hybrids....and a miltoniopsis. I think I have got the hang of cool growing as I have managed to rebloom a cym and a zygo, and more on the way...

[Bud]

Blatantly selling you a Phal with bugs is unacceptable. It is an insult. I would have reported them to the local bureau

[Pilot]

Originally Posted by Bud

Blatantly selling you a Phal with bugs is unacceptable. It is an insult. I would have reported them to the local bureau

It is an insult especially when you consider how much care and attention we pay to our collections. My garden center likely doesn't know but I certainly told them. They're very good about fixing a wrong.


Ryan

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[orchidsarefun]

he did tell me that there were bugs and that they were sprayed. I am giving him the benefit of the doubt.