Scale like bump. May be an egg?

[Girl_With_An_Orchid]

Hello. I’ve been seeing these things (see pic) show up on my plants for a while now. It seems to be one plant at a time. They look like some kind of scale or shell. The smaller ones are light in color and as the get bigger they get darker in color with some kind of stripyness to them. They can be removed easily with light pressure. There is some kind of insect guts-like goo inside. There is no damage to the leaves or flowers from what I can see. Not under the spots/ scales or around. They do seem to grow but I have never seen anything come out. This pic is the first time I’ve seen them on flowers. Generally it’s been the leaves. Anyone know what these are and how to get rid of them permanently?

[estación seca]

Those do look like scale insects. There is a lot of information about them here on Orchid Board. It is likely they are on all nearby plants.

[Dimples]

Looks like some type of scale to me. You can get rid of them in a few different ways. You’ll want to treat all of your plants even if you don’t see scale on them since they can hide. Search OB for scale to see what other people have done.

If you’re going to use any pesticides (both organic or conventional) beyond DIY soapy water or rubbing alcohol, make sure to apply it outside. That could be a little difficult to do right now given your location, but it’s the only safe way to use pesticides. I’ve been known to **very** carefully apply a soil drench pesticide to my houseplants without taking them outside but only when absolutely necessary. We can keep the doors/windows open most of the year in my area so ventilation isn’t an issue.
Good luck, and get on it!

[Girl_With_An_Orchid]

I guess they were rather literal when they named this bug weren’t they. Thanks! I’ll got on it immediately!

[Keysguy]

Scale is very difficult to eradicate once it gets established and has started migrating from plant to plant but it's not impossible, especially on a small hobbyist collection in the house.

If they are on flowers (as yours clearly do), I would just remove the entire inflorescence and put it out in the trash. The flowers are taking a lot of your plants energy that it needs to fight off this insect attack and you will in all likelihood damage the flowers anyway trying to get the scale off of them.

De-pot the plant and clean all media from roots as best you can keeping an eye out for scale shells on the roots.

Next, put a few drops of dish soap (a detergent free variety) in a small cup of isopropyl alcohol and mix good. Get a stiff bristle toothbrush, dip it into the solution and start scrubbing every one of thise shells you see. The actual scale beast is underneath that protective cover and you have to manually get it off (the toothbrush) to allow the soap and alcohol to get the critter. Once you have all of them off you can do a general spray application on the whole plant and leave it unpotted to dry. Loosely re-pot because you will need to repeat this process at least 2 more times at 1 week intervals to ensure every life stage of the pest has been addressed. Thoroughly clean your work area then go get another plant and start the process with that one. You need to treat every plant if they are growing fairly close together. From there keep an eye on them and if more pop up try and get them 1 at a time before they get spread around.....and it happens fast!

Once under control, a quarterly treatment with a systemic insecticide like Bayer 3-in-1 will help keep them at bay but won't eliminate the need for constant vigilance. And you need to rotate those chemicals or the bugs get to the point they will look forward to their shower which just makes things worse.

I have found that good air circulation is a must. If you aren't running a fan directly on your plants you seriously should consider doing that.

Highly recommend you google St. Augustine Orchid Society. They have a superb library of the ID, do's and don'ts of pests and diseases of orchids on their website.

[Girl_With_An_Orchid]

Wow. This sound like a lot I'm gonna go through a lot of potting mix... I guess it's a good thing I got a potting mat for Christmas! Any idea if this scale will affect the fern or ZZ plant I have sitting with my orchids?

I'll try the dish soap and isopropyl alcohol today. If I understand correctly, I do it this once a week for three weeks, starting this week?

[estación seca]

I'll mention this again. I submerge entire plants in pots in a bucket of water with a little dish soap. For a bark-potted plant I invert it so most of the medium doesn't float out. I put on a weight to keep it submerged and leave it for 6-12 hours. This drowns eggs, nymphs and adults. I almost never have any bugs survive.

[Keysguy]

Originally Posted by Girl_With_An_Orchid

Wow. This sound like a lot I'm gonna go through a lot of potting mix... I guess it's a good thing I got a potting mat for Christmas! Any idea if this scale will affect the fern or ZZ plant I have sitting with my orchids?

I'll try the dish soap and isopropyl alcohol today. If I understand correctly, I do it this once a week for three weeks, starting this week?

Correct. You can give Seca's approach a try. Nothing to lose. I admit I've never tried drowning them. I just know spray alone will not touch scale if you don't get the shell cover off first.

[Girl_With_An_Orchid]

estación seca, great idea! I will do that! I have a really big sink that I can fit most of them into. I'll also take a toothbrush to them and at least remove the scales I can see and get into the tight parts in the crown. I've looked over all of my plants and I think I've caught this pretty early. I'm only seeing a small amount scales and only on three of my orchids. I know that might not mean much given the size of the babies, but I am hopeful!

How much is "a little" dish soap by the way?

[estación seca]

Enough for a tiny amount of bubbles, just enough to break the surface tension. Not like a bubble bath.