Small white bugs on roots

[arimurri]

Hello,

I received a cattleya orchid as a gift last fall. So far it had been doing really well until an emerging flower bud and a leaf started dying. It didn’t take me long to realise that there were very tiny white insects on the roots.

So I washed them off of the roots gently, removing all soil in the process, and repotted. After only a few weeks, they’re back. Does anyone have a solution?

I’m attaching pictures; they don’t look like mealybugs as we have no fluffy patches anywhere.

Thank you,

[Roberta]

I'd suggest thoroughly rinsing the roots under running water. Then a systemic pesticide may knock down the remains of the infestation. When you talk about "soil"... some commercial orchid mixes are actually heavy on peat, which looks like soil but isn't. But that is likely still too wet for Catts - I'd suggest medium to large bark. It's really important for Catts to pretty much dry out between waterings. If the root area is drier, it won't be so hospitable to these little bugs (which are probably fungus gnats, not harmful to the plant but indicators of too much moisture, and rotting material, which IS harmful)

[hypostatic]

Those look like springtails to me. Springtails are generally beneficial arthropods, that typically feed on mold, yeast, bacteria, algae, etc.

While springtails aren't harmful, a large amount of them could be indicative of an underlying problem like mold growth on the media or roots (the black stuff in your pictures is most likely decaying matter). I actually add them to my orchid media to prevent mold.

Here's a video of Folsomia Candida for reference:

[arimurri]

Thank you for your insights, much appreciated!