Little bug

[The Orchidist]

I recently have noticed a few phals , under the leaf has had a few of these , do they spread fast and where are they coming from , found a plump one tonight on a maxillaria leaf :mad:

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

That's scale. I'd get rid of that fast! They can spread like wildfire and do massive damage.

Don't know how they're getting there, (maybe ants brought them there, idk), but that doesn't really matter. Most of the times if the plants are strong, they will not contract these pests.

Maybe check to see what's possibly stressing the plants out.

[The Orchidist]

that would explain the leaves on a couple of my phals with yellow spots as if they sucked out the nutrients , i had wondered about that , will a safers insecticide bath a few times a week sprayed on the plant be enough?

---------- Post added at 08:02 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:00 PM ----------

Originally Posted by King_of_orchid_growing:)

That's scale. I'd get rid of that fast! They can spread like wildfire and do massive damage.

Don't know how they're getting there, (maybe ants brought them there, idk), but that doesn't really matter. Most of the times if the plants are strong, they will not contract these pests.

Maybe check to see what's possibly stressing the plants out.

I had moved my entire collection this past season outdoors into a green house and i hoped i didnt bring anything in , guess i was wrong when they came in for winters lighting , they hitched a ride .

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

You could try using isopropyl alcohol first and see if that'll do anything.

Isopropyl's cheap and easy to find. Pretty safe for the orchids if you don't get them on the roots.

If that doesn't work, then try the insecticide.

[The Orchidist]

after a close inspection of my collection , the culprit seemed to be a couple of untagged phaphs someone gave me last year , after opening the base of the folds , i found all kinds , i am soaking the plants in safers and rinsing them all off . the folds seem to be there hiding place ! .

[silken]

Scale are nasty and can be hard to get rid of. You will have to treat them for a number of weeks. The immature scale can look like white fuzzy mold and they do hide in cracks and crevices. It can also get into the media. You may need a systemic to completely irradicate them. I have found Malathion to be a good contact killer even if it stinks. Otherwise I use Merit which has the systemic imidacloprid in it.

[Leafmite]

Good luck! Scale is nasty. I usually go the alcohol route but, for a bad infestation, I spray the plants with olive oil in the evening and wash it off in the morning. Safer's soap sounds like a much better solution.

I have a Theobroma Cacao (chocolate tree) and the rare times that scale or mealies have tried to colonize it, I have found them already dead when I go to remove them with the alcohol. Too bad the other plants don't follow suit.

We use Malathion on our fruit trees but I would not recommend its use in a home or enclosed space. Like all pesticides and fungicides, there can arise short and long-term health effects when the warnings and cautions are disregarded.

[The Orchidist]

I found 3 plants and i sprayed them with safers ,next day washed them and re applied safers once again , i left the plant bare rooted to dry , i think they are gone now , but they were really close to other plants , going to have to keep a close eye on the collection .

[Daethen]

I have used malathion and it mostly worked but is really stinky for quite a while. I had a couple of paphs that had scale hiding this spring. I decided to try a systemic this time. I treated with Bayer 3 in 1 for roses once a month all summer while my plants were outside. Those with scale the worst are starting to come back really well. I have noticed no more scale since bringing them in for the winter. Good luck.