black tiny bugs

[clusty]

Hey,

I seem to have a minuscule black bugs on leaves and flowers on my orchid collection and was wondering if they are something I should be worrying about.

Initially they seemed to be baby fungus gnats, but as I rub them off, they run away slowly, but don't fly.

Any idea what could they be ?

[RJSquirrel]

anything on yer orchids that you dint put there is sumtin to worry about ya know ?

in fact most everything we put on our orchids is sumtin to worry 'bout too, a'?

and if them little black bugs are all over your orchid collection that gives you even more to worry about.

pictures please if you could would be most helpful in these circumstances.

[Salix]

Spinosad has worked well for my orchids, it kills most insects. I had a gnat and spider mite problem a while back, and it's since cleared up.

[clusty]

Due to popular demand here are the creepy crawlers that are chewing on my fresh flowering Bellinea.
Gotta love the macro lens...

[orchids44]

looks like thrips.

[clusty]

I thought thrips are very agile and could fly.
These are slow moving and I blew them off till now.

[clusty]

Any other opinions as to what they might be, or how to proceed?

[DavidCampen]

Thrips; use insecticide.

[Judi]

They look a lot like thrips to me as well. I had them several years ago and was surprised to find out how many different varieties of thrips there are! Mine didn't fly unless really provoked--if I remember correctly they had the habit of letting themselves fall as their defense--but I can be wrong that was a while ago. In any case they are nasty little buggers! There is a lot of good info on the web including http://www.aos.org/Default.aspx?id=141 . Good luck identifying what you have!

[clusty]

My spinosad will arrive in 2-3 weeks.
Do I use pyrethrin or neem oil meanwhile ?