Humidity without insects ! - Orchid Board

BeexDD · #1 08-31-2011, 05:23 PM

Hey !
First of all,I'm brand new here

! Hope I will be of good help and learn a lot of things about orchids,facts that are not that accessible and help you keep your orchids healthy and beautiful all the time.

There's one problem that I've been always coming up against...the proper and fruitful umidity!
Whenever I try to raise it in order to help my orchids develop in a moist environment,I happen to notice those little white jumping insects in the bark when I water the plants,I don't know what their name is or how to get rif of them FOREVER !
I tried to kill them with weak repellents,and it worked at the moment,but in the future they would appear again !

Does anyone know what do I do wrong ?
What am I supposed to do so as to never see them again,and,in the same time,to be able to provide my orchids the high humidity they need ?
Plese,I am going crazy !

Merlyn · #2 08-31-2011, 05:26 PM

I've never had them but I believe they're called thrips. I would use an insect soap that lists them as one of the potential corpses.

Hope that helps,
Chryss

camille1585 · #3 08-31-2011, 05:39 PM

Nope, on bark like that I say that they are springtails. Definitely not thrips. Springtails are small, white and jump around. They like moist medium, and people often see them jumping about when they're watering.
Can't tell you much about how to deal with them, I've never had any.

BeexDD · #4 08-31-2011, 05:39 PM

Thanks you !!
Erm....how can I find that soap?

BeexDD · #5 08-31-2011, 05:41 PM

But htey ahrm the plant or just stick around and ...exist there ?

Merlyn · #6 08-31-2011, 05:43 PM

Garden Safe brand Insecticidal Soap, made by Schultz (or others) here in USA it's available at Home Depot but I don't imagine you have those. Try at a nursery.

BeexDD · #7 08-31-2011, 06:08 PM

I think I might be fighting with Colembole...I just don;t know why,I don't water my 'chids too often(only once a week) , the plants stay in a well ventilated place,the bark in new,I changed it this spring....I can't imagine why....

camille1585 · #8 08-31-2011, 06:11 PM

Don't know. Could be that the extra humidity keeps the bark surface moist enough. Whatever the reason, at least they aren't harmful to the orchids. Sure they aren't pleasant to have, but until you find out how to deal with them they aren't doing harm.

Merlyn · #9 08-31-2011, 06:13 PM

I think a good possibility is that eggs come along with media that wasn't sterilized or else sat on a shelf too long somewhere. I have the exact same problem with sow bugs. I repot a plant, clean off every single speck of old media, repot with quality new zealand sphag and in a month or so they're back !!! I have the same question about them as you, are they harmful to my chids ?? I have yet to get an educated answer. One from a knowledgeable entomological source !

Sorry Camille, your post wasn't up when I posted this one. Are you degreed in bugology ? What about sow and/or pill bugs ?

Bud · #10 08-31-2011, 06:18 PM

This works for me ...2 cups tepid water, ten drops dish soap, half teaspoon cinammon extract...spray them and nuke them...even flies drop from their perch if i spray them with this mixture

-any dishsoap will do(palmolive, ajax or the blue one)
-cinammon extract in the supermarket aisle(McKormick or something)
-tepid water=hot water in the sink run for a minute or two