Is this spidermites of mealybugs?

[BatBlooms]

Hi dear orchidboard people

i found these weblike things on my phal while watering this morning, i feel like it might not just be a spider. can't find any pests but the neighbouring plant had a little bit of the thinner webbing on it.

hoping the images work properly since this will be my first post here🤞🏻

if i posted this wrongly or anything like that please let me know.

[rbarata]

Spider mites are microscopic beings. You can't see them with naked eyes. To make such a diagnosis there are several ways: leaves appearance in a bad shape looking plant, sometimes webs are there too, rub the underside of the leaves with a white cotton embedded in a alcohol solution and hope there's no redish traces on it, etc, etc.

For mealies, the appearance is very simple: it looks like cotton and not webs. They are easily visible, especially when there's an outbreak.

About your plant...looking at the photos, the leaves don't look as if they were attacked by mites and the webs look like webs of a very tiny spider (btw, what's that brown thing envolved in the web?). Mites' webs are even smaller and thin and we can see them because often there's a large amount enough that, accumulated, make them visible.

You can post a photo of the whole plant so that we can see its general appearance.

[camille1585]

Welcome to Orchiboard!

Those look like normal spider webs, so it's it's far more likely that you have a resident spider rather than pests.

Mealy bugs don't make webbing like that, though they do surround egg masses sith fuzzy white material a bit similar to it.

[estación seca]

Welcome to the Orchid Board! Don't worry about where you post. The moderators can move it if it's really in the wrong spot.

[BatBlooms]

Thank you all so much for the kind and thorough replies 😊

I hadn't even seen the little brown spot, which turned out to be a normal tiny spider friend. Spent a good 30 minutes searching for any bugs and he just hid in plainest of sights I guess lol

[estación seca]

The majority of crawling things affecting orchids are scale, mealy bugs, spider mites, thrips, cockroaches, slugs and snails. If you haven't seen one or more of those use the Search function in the top maroon menu to find photos here.

[bkennedy]

OK I am newbie to the forums but have had orchids for many years. It seems over the last two years we have been infested with Mealy Bugs (White fuzz deep in leaves) and recently desicided to throw almost all of them away as signs of them on most plants and pots. Bagged and threw away plants and thoroughly cleaned the pots with iso alcohol per the guidance. We have now bought more. Couple of questions:

It seems the most sensitive to the mealy bugs are the Phalaenopsis variety we always get. What varieties are similar but less susceptible to the mealy bugs?

Also we tend to use planter moss in the pots with the orchids and I am concerned that this is worse for both mealy bugs and fungus as the plants don't breath as well. Anyway I am trying to get rid of these pests--any advice appreciated. Thanks

[Dimples]

Mealybugs on indoor ornamental plants are very difficult to eradicate without systemic conventional pesticides. It can be done but it takes a lot of time and attention, with regular repeat applications of suitable products, and is easier with small collections. I’m a certified organic farmer by trade and even I broke down and bought a bottle of Bayer Tree and Shrub drench when I discovered mealybugs on many of my houseplants last fall. Imidacloprid is the active ingredient and it cleared my plants after two applications a month apart. MBs can live for many months without food and they crawl all over the place, so they can re-infest cured plants later but the imidacloprid remains in plant tissue for up to a year and will continue to kill susceptible pests. For me, careful application on plants that will never be outside is much better than throwing out 50+ plants and buying new ones.