Mealybug

[Atzau]

Ugh, is there ever just one (or two as my case may be) Mealybug? Sigh, got a new acquisition... An arrangement with a NOID phal and dendrobium and found 2 mealybugs on it. I quickly removed it with a q-tip dipped in rubbing alcohol and it's in quarantine, which is difficult for me right now as I'm pet sitting my sisters two cats and already had to move all my existing orchids to a locked room (yes, those darn cats also know how to open my doors cause i have the lever door handles ) with not as much light. I guess this newest pot will just have to stay in the area with the third most amount of light in the house...poor thing.

I'll keep checking it for more mealy bugs but how long would I have to keep it in quarantine after the last mealybug sighting (yes, i know, im getting ahead of myself here...)before putting it with the rest of my collection? And would I have to do a full repot before then?

[Brooke]

Sorry you have new inhabitants in your collection but what I do when I find a couple is to spray the alcohol on the entire plant. By spraying you get the alcohol in all of the nooks and crannies to catch any newly hatched pests.

I treat daily for a few days, but watch all your 'chids around the offending plants. Make sure you spray the tops of the media too but it usually has to be a massive infestation to need the repot.

If you continue to find the pests, you probably need a stronger insecticide.

Good luck - Brooke

[cbuchman]

I also spray the plant with alcohol. but about every week for about 3 weeks. I find alcohol more effective that Safer's Soap, for example.

I think the life cycle of mealies is about 10 days. You should also remove any old leaf and flower sheaths as they hide in the nooks & cranies. Inspect carefully and once you are bug free for 10 days, I think it is safe to reintegrate the orchid back into your collection.

Also inspect the rest of your collection regularly, just in case....

[rangiku]

If you are not going to deal with mealies by spraying with Bayer 3-in-1 once every 10-14 days for 3 cycles, the next best thing to do is unpot the plant, wash the entire plant (including roots) under running water, spray entire plant down with alcohol, and the repot in brand new medium in a brand new pot.

If you see a couple mealies, you can be sure there are more in the potting mix.


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[Atzau]

Thanks for the tips guys. Didn't find any new mealies today... Nonetheless, I gave it a good dousing of alcohol and will continue to monitor. Also wiggled the orchids out of their arrangement pot to take a look at the roots. The dendrobium didn't even have a plastic pot with drainage holes...they basically shoved a phal (which did have a very flimsy plastic pot with one drainage hole) and a big root ball of a dendrobium together into a decorative ceramic pot. Luckily, neither of the plants had their roots all the way into the decorative pot so at least they weren't sitting in the residual water. I did find some black mushy roots though. Still haven't repotted them yet. Need to soak my bark. I wasn't planning on repotting so soon as I was waiting for my sister to pick up her cats first so I can safely have the orchids sitting out. For now, I just lifted them out of the pot so the roots can air out a bit until I can repot them. At least I didn't see any mealy bugs in the media...though I only looked superficially. I'll have to get a closer look when I do the actual repot.

I also found some weird white deposits on the phal. Mainly on a couple of the surface roots and slightly on the bottom of the crown. Figured it might be white mould so I removed some of the top sphagnum allow there to be a little more air circulation. Is white mould hard and crusty? It almost seemed like they were more like Hard water deposits. Would have taken pictures but my phone died.

[ALToronto]

I would get them out of this arrangement. If you leave them in, they will not last long after the flowers are gone. People who make these arrangements don't care about the orchids' health or requirements, they just want the plants to look nice. At the very least drill some holes in the bottom of the pot.

[Atzau]

yes, I'll be repotting them into separate pots soon.

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[RandomGemini]

One thing to note... I would just use the alcohol on the plants until the cats have gone home with your sister. If you have to use an insecticide before they go, then call a veterinarian for advice on which one to use.

[Atzau]

yeah, I'll just be using the alcohol. I've put the orchid in a room but those cats can get into almost anywhere if they really wanted to!

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[Atzau]

ok, have them repotted into their own little pots... no sign of any more bugs. I'll keep an eye out and all fingers and toes crossed!


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