Anyone know what does this?

[TeresaE]

Here is the stand I built. It's 7 feet high and 48 inches across (4 feet). I have re-organized it a lot since I put initially put it together, and now I have about half as many plants so it's thinned out a lot. Took me a long time to do this but I love it....and yep...using fluorescent tubes only and I am actually blooming a lot of them.

[christina waines]

That's a very nice setup Teresa it looks very efficient and easy to manage.
As far as the spraying goes I would definately not use diazanon in a house. It is quite toxic. Believe it or not it isn't always that easy to raise humidity in a greenhouse. Mine has a big heater that blasts hot air and when its dry and cold outside the humidity drops like a stone even with my fogger. I found out one fogger isn't enough I need two. Although I'm not a big fan of misting plants I think in your case you might consider it. I read somewhere that mites hate cold water so I tried it last summer on a few plants that were having problems with mites.(they were outdoors). Between regular spraying and daily washing with water I got the upper hand but it doesn't happen overnight. One question. Were you spraying the undersides of the leaves ? Mites live on the undersides so spraying the tops only doesn't help. Also you need to spray to the point of runoff ie the plants should be really wet almost dripping.
There are a wide range of effective pesticides that are available to professonal growers but they have to be used with caution. Most have a re-entry interval which is a time period where nobody can be in the greenhouse. Some as much as 48 hours. I shudder to think that some people would use these products indiscriminately. Well this is a pet peeve for me and I could rant forever. There are new less toxic products being developed that are much more effective and safer to use.

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[Barbara]

Hello again. That is a beautiful set up Teresa and you would hardly know from the picture that you are having such bug problems. We had spider mites in the garden really bad during a really dry spring and summer a couple years ago and I used Endall full strength to stop them and I also watered in the evening. This did help to slow them down. Just stay on top of them and you will probably defeat them evenually, althought mites can be very difficult. Another question, how warm is your growing room? Too much furnace heat can be problematic too. It is best to avoid getting water sitting in the apex of phals, paphs and phrags in the evening since this can cause rot and/or aborted buds. But you probably already knew that.

[Gin]

Mites love Phals. wreck them in a hurry , as Ross said Keltane will get them if you can spray out of the house ,If in the house I got rid of them a couple of years ago by spraying them with Safers then washing them 3 days later and respraying . several times. They have a short hatch cycle something like 3 days I would treat other plants in the area .Low humitity is what they like .
Orchid Pests and Diseases
Gin the bug hater

[Ross]

Originally Posted by Gin

Mites love Phals. wreck them in a hurry , as Ross said Keltane will get them if you can spray out of the house ,If in the house I got rid of them a couple of years ago by spraying them with Safers then washing them 3 days later and respraying . several times. They have a short hatch cycle something like 3 days I would treat other plants in the area .Low humitity is what they like .
Orchid Pests and Diseases
Gin the bug hater

Prevention is easier than the cure. Believe it or not, orchids are not the hardest plants to treat for spider mites. Cacti are. Safer's soap will destroy the outer cell layer of cacti and kelthane isn't much better. Mites are the main reason I left cacti for orchids. All the cacti looked gross with scarring and white deposits. Increasing humidity or wetness with cacti are not possible due to the plants' desired conditions. Orchids grown well under optimum conditions should not have mites (in my opinion).

[Ironwood]

Teresa, is the damaged area still spreading since you started treating for this condition because the damaged areas will never recover and as the leaf ages will probably look worse. you also mentioned ant like, does that mean they were dark rather than reddish if so it could be thrip damage which is very much like spider mite damage and I believe harder to eradicate (google thrip damage).

[Barbara]

Thrips. Hope not for Teresa's sake. Didn't think they lived outside a greenhouse, or on the Crocosmia and Glads in the garden. I did treat thrips with Endall a few times too and it took care of them. Persistence is key.

[TeresaE]

One question. Were you spraying the undersides of the leaves ? Mites live on the undersides so spraying the tops only doesn't help. Also you need to spray to the point of runoff ie the plants should be really wet almost dripping.

Yuppers Christina! Always spray underside and on top until the leave is completely wet and dripping.

[TeresaE]

Originally Posted by Ironwood

Teresa, is the damaged area still spreading since you started treating for this condition because the damaged areas will never recover and as the leaf ages will probably look worse. you also mentioned ant like, does that mean they were dark rather than reddish if so it could be thrip damage which is very much like spider mite damage and I believe harder to eradicate (google thrip damage).

Actually it's better than it was and they it doesn't seem to be spreading right now (knock on wood). What can I say about this but...looks like a mini ant! They are reddish but I wouldn't say dark. You can see them walking around occasionally. When I do see them, I spray them immediately and I have been seeing less and less of them. Maybe I am winning the battle?

[TeresaE]

Originally Posted by Barbara

Thrips. Hope not for Teresa's sake. Didn't think they lived outside a greenhouse, or on the Crocosmia and Glads in the garden. I did treat thrips with Endall a few times too and it took care of them. Persistence is key.

Oh my god don't even say that, LOL! I checked what thrips looks like and the "poop" they leave. Definitely isn't those.