Soaking to remove potential pests?

[Heuchera]

Hey all!

I'm the lucky new owner of a Restrepia lansbergii and Bulbophyllum weberi. They'll be going into my crested gecko enclosure on some hygrolon.

My question is quarantine and removal of pests. The plants look clean, but to be safe I keep all my plants in a sealed container for a week at 100% humidity to kill any pests.

With the orchids, they looked to have a bit of rot (black spots with yellowing) on the leaves and I was worried about putting them in a humid environment for an entire week.

I'm wondering if soaking them in filtered water (spring water) would remove pests like mealybugs and scale, and how long I would need to soak them for? I've seen that some can be soaked completely overnight, but i'd rather not risk it!

Any help would be appreciated.

[Ray]

You mention two different potential problems requiring two different treatments. Water won’t help the rot issue, and in my experience, only tends to extract a few adult bus who try to swim away, leaving many others and immature pests behind.

[SouthPark]

For mealy bugs etc, could try just spraying some things like carbaryl or imidacloprid on the plants.

[Heuchera]

Originally Posted by Ray

You mention two different potential problems requiring two different treatments. Water won’t help the rot issue, and in my experience, only tends to extract a few adult bus who try to swim away, leaving many others and immature pests behind.

I was thinking that after I soaked them for a few hours, I might put them in a hydrogen peroxide bath for 30 or so seconds - will that help with the rot/bacterial issue?

I should note that i havent seen any scale or mealybugs, it was just something i became concerned about it after seeing that mealybugs are not uncommon on orchids or broms grown without pesticides.

[estación seca]

Welcome to the Orchid Board!

100% humidity wont kill any bugs.

Black spots with rings around them may be mechanical damage with extended leaf damage. It doesn't mean fungal rot. It might be fungal rot.

A multiple hours soak in water with a little soap will kill insects and eggs. I do it when I need to. I do not do this unless I know the plant is infested.

I would not treat any plant with pesticide, fungicide nor bactericide prophylactically. I would use none of these unless I were certain the plant had something susceptible to the chemical I planned to use. Using this kind of chemical when it's not needed leads to selection for resistant bugs, fungi and bacteria. Not all fungi or bacteria are sensitive to all fungicides or bactericide.

In your situation I would put the plants into a quarantine enclosure with about 60% humidity and see what happens.

[thefish1337]

i would soak in a biofungicide or apply a systemic antifungal/antibacterial pesticide. hydrogen peroxide is not a good treatment and for some reason is regularly recommended online.

[Heuchera]

Thanks for everyones responses thus far!

It seems I was misinformed by some of the info I read online, i'm grateful for the correction.

I've removed the orchids and im sending some pictures. Don't mind the spagnum moss around the roots, its meant to be temporary until I could attach it to the hygrolon.

I'm going to let them try overnight, and if you guys think there's an issue with the leaves i'll take your advice and do whats necessary. =)

[estación seca]

If they just arrived after mailing the leaf damage could be from that. I don't see anything out of the ordinary.

[Heuchera]

Originally Posted by estación seca

If they just arrived after mailing the leaf damage could be from that. I don't see anything out of the ordinary.

oh really? That's great news! I think i'm used to bright, green leaves because when I saw it I thought "its so sick!!" but some of the images i'm seeing of this species online indicate some natural spotting, so i think its just me being a newbie.

I've placed them back into the humidity quarantine container until I get back from work tomorrow, and then i'll see about getting them into their own space.

[SouthPark]

Heuchera ----- if the orchid had been just stagnating in a wet pack in the mail for a while, then there can certainly be issues linked to that. A wash with water, and maybe a spray with say mancozeb or something, followed by potting and providing some gentle air-movement and medium light level (no direct light) ....... should be ok. Normally, somebody that sends an orchid won't have insects etc lumped into there. This doesn't mean to say it can't happen though. But I wouldn't expect that. I did have 1 case of snails in the post though!