Tiny Tiny White Bugs

[nancy]

If the critters are thrips, you do want to wipe them out ASAP, as they will ruin your flowers at the bud stage, and make the new growths look funky.
A sure sign (at least on vandas) is a small ring of necrotic tissue on the roots. Sometimes it looks like the root has a tiny crack.
Acephate is pretty effective, both as a foliar spray and soil drench, and it has mild systemic properties.
Thrips are tough because while you can't really see *them* you can certainly see the damage that they have done.
Regards - Nancy

[RosieC]

I think mine were spring tails, which I've later found out are not harmful. I've seen a lot of them in my compost heap as well.

I seem to have got rid of them on that Phal now, but whether I needed to or not is another matter.

[jmccoy]

Im just reading this post not and it makes me so much more relieved to know I have springtails and not trips or something like that. I am looking at videos of thrip damage and that is not happening on mine. I just happened to notice something moving in the water when I soaked my orchids and was about to freak out. The orchids I see them on are young seedling type but they all have new roots and growing new growths and seem just as happy as they can be. Their media is only a year old or less but I guess I will repot anyways. I just hate to repot when they are still so young and their new growth is not even done growing. I may hold off since they seem harmless.

[No-Pro-mwa]

Try spraying or flushing the medium with neem oil or some kind of bug spray. I think that will take care of them. I had them in one of my pots and I just sprayed the top with neem oil. I do still see a few when I pick up my pots but they don't seem to cause a problem.