Milts & Mites

[orchidsarefun]

a cautionary tale.....
my milts starting visibly going downhill and THEN I noticed mites, seemingly by the millions. I have drench sprayed the leaves with a 50/50 mixture of water and 70% isopropyl alcohol, mixed with a few drops of dish detergent.
I should have done this before as a preventive measure, so be advised.
They were doing fine and then....BAM, overwhelmed by a mite attack.
I am still feeling good from the alcohol fumes though

[Gage]

Yikes! My experience with both mites and thrips has been that they do damage before I can spot them, especially thrips. Thrips are actually always around my orchids, it's more a matter of prevention with Orthene if I don't want to see my orchids damaged by them. Mites seem to sweep in at random and tatter the foliage of my plants before I can spot them. As soon as I see sandblasted leaves I soak everything down with diluted dish soap, of course after having a short cry.

[Bud]

try this cheap mix:

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

put it in a sprayer and add a cinnamon stick inside the bottle

spray the plant til soaked and dripping wet

make more mix for a bucket and soak the pot for 15 minutes to kill the eggs

repeat again the next week

rest for 2 weeks and then repeat again for 2 weeks until you see no more bugs on the leaves

*find a used soft toothbrush and gently clean the leaves of dead bugs after 10min of being drenched with the mix

* this mix is not harmful to plants or human and pets....it drops flies upon contact and I also use it for cockroaches and mosquitos