Mystery Bugs in Phals, HELP!

[orchidgirl82]

wow, thank you for that update...i would have had quite a nasty concoction on my hands. YUK! I will try your other recommendations and thank you so much for all of your wonderful feedback!! This is such a nice and friendly forum. I'm happy to be a new member.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

This is my thoughts on a completely sterile potting media free of insects and other insect-like creatures.

It's impossible...unless your growing area is also sterile. Sterilizing the potting media and the pot itself along with the plant, but not the growing area will only temporarily keep your plants free of microorganisms. They'll come back when the conditions are right.

To tell you the truth, springtails may appear gross to you, but they really help out more than they mess anything up. I'd rather have springtails than thrips or aphids.

I have nothing to say about fungus gnats, it's kind of a love hate thing with these guys. I love 'em when they pollinate the orchid's flowers. I don't really care if they fly around, but I hate their larvae for being destructive.

Of course, the fungus gnat situation is akin to the situation with butterflies...

Many people hate the caterpillars when they start eating the leaves of their tomatoes or flowers. But many people love the adult butterflies for their seemingly delicate beauty.

Just something to think about.

[orchidgirl82]

That is a very realistic view and I don't dissagree at all. My "growing area" as you say is my indoor windowsill so i'm not sure how sterile it will ever be since i do open the windows for fresh air.

I completely agree about the springtails although the idea of little pests in my plants is pretty gross to me, i guess they are to be expected and as long as they aren't causing damage just part of the ecosystem.

Regarding the fungus gnats, they are a bit better as my orchids are drying out but I was curious how the pollination works with that...do you have any more info on that? I wish i could get one of my plants to keiki but i never have. I'm just happy if they spike which is a bit rare for me.

Thanks!!

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

First of all, I think it's important to mention that orchids are the more specialized flowers when it comes to pollination. Not everything and anything can do the job. Some are much more specialized than others.

For the most part orchids such as Cattleyas, Catasetums, Coryanthes, or Cycnoches are bee pollinated (specifically a kind of bee called Euglossine bees). I've actually seen a real life Euglossine bee here, they're gorgeous because of their metallic green (I believe not all of them are metallic green). You can kind of guess at this because they are very sweetly fragrant (particularly Cattleyas, I don't know what the fragrance to Catasetums, Coryanthes, or Cycnoches are), almost like honey or ambrosia.

Epipactis are wasp pollinated.

Others such as Angraecum are moth pollinated. These flowers have extremely long spurs where the nectar is produced at the tip of it. I also believe that Neofinetia falcata are moth pollinated because of their long spurs.

Then there are some Bulbophyllums which are pollinated by bot flies or other types of carrion loving flies (I saw a photograph in a book with a Bulbophyllum graveolens, I believe it is, with a bunch of green bottle flies pollinating it). This is why certain Bulbos smell like dead fish that's been laying out in the sun for a while, dog poop, or rotten meat, some even have flowers that resemble rotten flesh or flesh wounds.

There are other Bulbos that may be pollinated by fruit flies or fungus gnats, or perhaps some other kinds of tiny insect (especially the minis and micro-minis).

But Pleurothallids are either pollinated by small flies (more likely fruit flies than the bot flies) or fungus gnats. You can tell by how tiny the flowers are and by the fragrance, like I said before.

Pleurothallis pterophora smells like a ripe banana, so I'm guessing they're fruit fly pollinated.

However, Restrepia muscifera flowers smell like freshly cut raw potatoes. These are either fungus gnat pollinated or are pollinated by an insect that are equally attracted to either fungus or potatoes (I read not too long ago that potatoes originated from the high Andes). I also believe Pleurothallis ornata (aka Pleurothallis scheidii) is also fungus gnat pollinated because they also smell like a freshly cut raw potato.

Pollination, however, does not create kheikis. They produce seed pods.

Orchid pollination is different from the pollination of, say, a chrysanthemum.

Here's a link to a video example of how a moth pollinated orchid such as Disa uniflora occurs in nature. On this page there are also drawings of different orchid pollinators pertaining to the genus Disa.

http://culturesheet.org/orchidaceae:disa

[Narnia]

Originally Posted by King_of_orchid_growing:)

First of all, I think it's important to mention that orchids are the more specialized flowers when it comes to pollination. Not everything and anything can do the job. Some are much more specialized than others.

For the most part orchids such as Cattleyas, Catasetums, Coryanthes, or Cycnoches are bee pollinated (specifically a kind of bee called Euglossine bees). I've actually seen a real life Euglossine bee here, they're gorgeous because of their metallic green (I believe not all of them are metallic green). You can kind of guess at this because they are very sweetly fragrant (particularly Cattleyas, I don't know what the fragrance to Catasetums, Coryanthes, or Cycnoches are), almost like honey or ambrosia.

Epipactis are wasp pollinated.

Others such as Angraecum are moth pollinated. These flowers have extremely long spurs where the nectar is produced at the tip of it. I also believe that Neofinetia falcata are moth pollinated because of their long spurs.

Then there are some Bulbophyllums which are pollinated by bot flies or other types of carrion loving flies (I saw a photograph in a book with a Bulbophyllum graveolens, I believe it is, with a bunch of green bot flies pollinating it). This is why certain Bulbos smell like dead fish that's been laying out in the sun for a while, dog poop, or rotten meat, some even have flowers that resemble rotten flesh or flesh wounds.

There are other Bulbos that may be pollinated by fruit flies or fungus gnats, or perhaps some other kinds of tiny insect (especially the minis and micro-minis).

But Pleurothallids are either pollinated by small flies (more likely fruit flies than the bot flies) or fungus gnats. You can tell by how tiny the flowers are and by the fragrance, like I said before.

Pleurothallis pterophora smells like a ripe banana, so I'm guessing they're fruit fly pollinated.

However, Restrepia muscifera flowers smell like freshly cut raw potatoes. These are either fungus gnat pollinated or are pollinated by an insect that are equally attracted to either fungus or potatoes (I read not too long ago that potatoes originated from the high Andes). I also believe Pleurothallis ornata (aka Pleurothallis scheidii) is also fungus gnat pollinated because they also smell like a freshly cut raw potato.

Pollination, however, does not create kheikis. They produce seed pods.

Orchid pollination is different from the pollination of, say, a chrysanthemum.

Here's a link to a video example of how a moth pollinated orchid such as Disa uniflora occurs in nature. On this page there are also drawings of different orchid pollinators pertaining to the genus Disa.

http://culturesheet.org/orchidaceae:disa

Very cool, thank you for sharing all that info King. I had to look up the Euglossine bee. It's really pretty.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

I forgot to mention that some orchids are possibly bird pollinated. There's very little information about these. From what I've read Disa chrysostachya is pollinated by the African sun bird's feet when they perch on the flower spike.