Extremely tiny transparent bugs in the soil?

[YetAnotherOrchidNut]

Originally Posted by Shauna

Finally! I have these exact same bugs, and I have not been able to identify them. While I am relieved to "meet" someone dealing with the same problem, I am curious as to how to get rid of them. The only time I have seen them is a few days after repotting in fresh, high quality (Orchiata or mixes from RePotMe) bark. I even tried microwaving my bark and dousing with boiling water, but they keep coming back. I have been contemplating a pesticide drench/soak but am a bit leery of some of the things I have read about malathion, etc. I see this message is over a year old; what did you end up doing? Did you get rid of them?

FWIW the photo presented here isn't very clear. It could be a root aphid, or it could be a mealy bug. You need a decent lens to tell them apart. They are cheap online. I have a cheap magnifying glass 5x with a 15x loupe from a local shop, and a tiny "money checker" microscope 25x or so with LEDs for higher zoom and really being able to see in the nooks and crannies. Invaluable for identifying the critters eating your plants.

---------- Post added at 01:38 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:17 PM ----------

Originally Posted by estación seca

Almost the only critters causing trouble are spider mites, mealy bugs, scale and snails. Otherwise don't worry.

Personally I'd add aphids to this list, at least if you keep Dendrobiums. It seems like nearly every year when my they start to produce new shoots that one of them gets chomped hard by aphids inside of a watering cycle. The damage is very unsightly and permanent too. :-(

[Lachi]

Originally Posted by Shauna

Finally! I have these exact same bugs, and I have not been able to identify them. While I am relieved to "meet" someone dealing with the same problem, I am curious as to how to get rid of them. The only time I have seen them is a few days after repotting in fresh, high quality (Orchiata or mixes from RePotMe) bark. I even tried microwaving my bark and dousing with boiling water, but they keep coming back. I have been contemplating a pesticide drench/soak but am a bit leery of some of the things I have read about malathion, etc. I see this message is over a year old; what did you end up doing? Did you get rid of them?

I've been away because of illness in the family, I apologise for replying late.
Since, I've had them a few more times. They don't seem to do any damage at all and from everything I found they look like a predatory mite (I forgot the name). They seem to dissappear as soon as the bark gets too dry.

[thefish1337]

Originally Posted by Lachi

I've been away because of illness in the family, I apologise for replying late.
Since, I've had them a few more times. They don't seem to do any damage at all and from everything I found they look like a predatory mite (I forgot the name). They seem to dissappear as soon as the bark gets too dry.

Yes it looks like a predator mite, many of the greenhouses use biological control / integrated pest management

[Shadeflower]

last year I asked the same about this bug which I have concluded was a predator mite.
I found a few of them on various plants.

The big problem I have/had with these predatory mites is that they tend to hide a problem but neve deal with it completely.
Outdoors this is generally a good approach but indoors imo this can easily lead to disasters.
The problem is that if you have predatory mites you most likely have thrips that are keeping them alive.

As noted the mites tend to decrease in numbers from time to time when humidity drops. Indoors this can be a problem if the thrips then take over. It's like having a guard dog who sleeps 12 hours a day and is on guard the other 12 hours. If robbers break in every time the dog is sleeping then having a dog is pointless.

I'm not saying thrips are there but man are they resilient... mites eat the ones on the surface you would normally spot and thus dn't spot them. Months go by. Then the mites do into hybernation or something and bam the thrips are back and worse than ever (till the mites can breed and catch up again) by which point the thrips have started jumping off to 10 different pots.

So yeah not a big fan of them even if they are harmless. They do more harm than good indoors imo.

Outdoors I completely understand their purpose, they control the numbers well and thrips can never take over a plant as well with rain and wind so controlling the numbers is enough to prevent much damage.

[estación seca]

Originally Posted by YetAnotherOrchidNut

Personally I'd add aphids to this list, at least if you keep Dendrobiums. It seems like nearly every year when my they start to produce new shoots that one of them gets chomped hard by aphids inside of a watering cycle. The damage is very unsightly and permanent too. :-(

I think you're correct. We have almost no problems with aphids indoors here in metro Phoenix but I've been told many people in other places do have them. The only native plants I've seen that regularly get aphids are various milkweed relatives. They also attack roses, some exotic garden flowers and vegetables outside.

[thefish1337]

Originally Posted by estación seca

I think you're correct. We have almost no problems with aphids indoors here in metro Phoenix but I've been told many people in other places do have them. The only native plants I've seen that regularly get aphids are various milkweed relatives. They also attack roses, some exotic garden flowers and vegetables outside.

depending on the # of species, local climate and time of year there will be times where aphids can occur. with a little study you can knock them out if you know the key times they will show up.

1. if you battled aphids into the cool season and then the pest pressure declined or stopped you may have eggs in your orchids that will overwinter and hatch at a particular time. new plants can also harbor these eggs.
2. overwintered eggs can hatch into viviparous (self fertile) females which will explode as soon as temperatures rise because they are essentially born pregnant.
3. overwintered eggs can also produce founding females which fly and around. these can come from anywhere and come in waves. this is usually how they show up indoors because they sneak in through a window and can smell out vulnerable plants.