1/3 h20, 1/3 rubbing alcohol, 1/3 natural liquid soap shocked my roots

[stylingpat]

I gave one of my phals a soak with 1/3 h20, 1/3 rubbing alcohol, 1/3 natural liquid soap to take care of little mites popping up and some white little crawling bugs in my media.

Took care of the problem but it shocked my roots. 75% of my roots turned soft and mushy and then shriveled up. Its been over a month and the plant hasnt dropped any leaves yet so thats good.

This was the general purpose mixture I read about on st aug orchid society.

Anyone got any info or advice?

Maybe I should try some different remedy down the road. Maybe switch to a systemic

[orchidsarefun]

that is far too much liquid soap. At most a teaspoon or 2 per your mix is sufficient. The brand of soap matters too. I use Dr Bronner's with much success. I also only spray the leaves.
I suppose if you thoroughly flush the pot with plain water, you should be OK.

[stylingpat]

Yeah thats what I was using, Dr Bronners. The natural castile soap.

How long do you leave the mixture on the leaves before you spray them with water?

Also st aug orchid society says a 1/3 409 cleaner into the mixture as well!

---------- Post added at 02:05 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:44 PM ----------

Should have just referenced First Rays' Home Remedies

LOL

[orchidsarefun]

I don't actually remove the spray purposely. I do water normally and pour a bit over the leaves and I suppose that does wash away the spray. This is a contact insecticide so spraying should be repeated say 1x every 6 weeks. Maybe not in your case as you only have 1 or 2 phals ?
I also add a 1/2 teaspoon of canola oil to this mix ( which I keep in a separate bottle for spraying only ).

[S&K Maley]

We use 1 tsp of Dr. Bronner's peppermint with 1/2 tsp Neem Oil /qt of water and spray entire plant each watering.Have also used peroxide straight up with good results. Ground cinnamon works great too but for a mite outbreak we would use a miticide.the soap/neem oil should work as a preventative.Would NEVER SOAK ROOTS IN ALCOHOL and you must have misread something because we don't think anyone would advise a mix like you outlined with 1/3 soap of any kind.Twice a year we use a systemic insecticide/fungicide. 2 doses as per instructions before we put plants outside for the summer and another 2 treatments as per instructions before plants are brought in for the winter.Placing yellow sticky strips in grow area to alert us if any bugs are present.Last part of our integrated insect management program is adding BTI to all plants ,saucers and humidity trays monthly to control any possible gnats.This system has kept us pest free for quite a while Would strongly advise you research Integrated Insect Management on the net/ AOS/ AOS Orchids Pests and Diseases. One last piece of advice we would give you is to be as precise as possible with measuring components of any mixtures including fertilizers and insecticides/miticides/fungicides/ Good luck and don't get discouraged.

[stylingpat]

Orchid Pests

Under mites in the 'treatment' paragraph

[S&K Maley]

409 & murphy's oil soap are premixed [ unlike Dr. Bronner;s] already and did you notice the 1/3 water? as you did not mention that in your original post. Still we would not use this mix prefering the one we mention above.

[Jayfar]

Originally Posted by stylingpat

Orchid Pests

Under mites in the 'treatment' paragraph

Yes, but notice nothing about soaking, only spraying leaves, and nothing about applying to roots.

Treatment: Try spraying upper and lower leaf surfaces with the home cure mixture of 1/3 rubbing alcohol, 1/3 409 or Murphy's Oil Soap and 1/3 water. Plants can also be sprayed with a miticide like Avid, Talstar or Kelthane following label instructions being particularly careful to contact all the undersides of the leaves. During warm weather, new generations mature every 6 days so repeat applications will be required, perhaps 3 applications at 4 day intervals. TetraSan is an insect growth regulator that can be used to keep the egg and nymph stages from maturing.

[stylingpat]

Alright. And I did say 1/3 H2O which is water hehe.

Here Ray says:
Straight 70% or 90% isopropyl rubbing alcohol - touch insects with a soaked cotton swab, or for larger infestations, spray the entire affected plant, being sure to thoroughly wet all surfaces. Repeat every 3 days for about 2 weeks. (I have never experienced any problems with buds, flowers, or any part of the plant when using an alcohol spray.)

I would assume 'any part of the plant' could be roots. But if a spray is different then a soak, how long do you leave a spray on before rinsing it off with water

---------- Post added at 02:59 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:55 PM ----------

I dont see bugs on my leaves. I'm seeing little white bugs in my media when I'm watering

[S&K Maley]

Sorry my bad now have bifocals on. read it as h202 the first time.