Black Aphids, a millipede, and possibly more.

[wilsonlamwai]

I got a bunch of new plants from a friend, and on the surface they looked healthy indeed.

That is, until tonight I was repotting one and found black moving little circles. Only upon inspection would you see little legs on these black spheres. I assume they're aphids but I have never seen them on my foliage yet, so that means it's proliferating on the roots, or hasn't gotten to the leaves yet. (phew)
Also today while checking on my Arachnis (and what a wise move it was) I found something orange and black undulating on the moss. it was a worm-y thing with no visible antennae and loads of feet so I'd think it was a millipede. Immediate dumping of all media and repot. flushed the bugger down the loo.
Also I have some tiny fruit-fly ish flies and but maybe not fungus gnats.

So. Black aphids (most probably) and tiny flies. And I live on a 25th floor apartment. how to eradicate and prevent re-insurgence? and if those little black balls of evil were not aphids, what else can they be and how can those get killed?

PS carnivorous plants tend to die in my environment, and I'm worried the aphids might get them too.

[WhiteRabbit]

Changing the media was good! Fungus gnats can be difficult to manage ("manage" being the best I can usually manage to do) - I use a botanical insect repellent, spray it on the surface of the media after watering. The products I have used have burned foliage of plants when not diluted - not just orchids - so, I use it very diluted; it still has a very pungent smell to it - not a horrible smell, just pungent. I believe there are clove, cedar, rosemary oils in the products ... The sticky yellow paper traps can also be helpful.

Hopefully others can help out with the other bugs, and possible other help for the gnats!

[djf051]

What do you mean by "little black spheres"? How little? If you can see them with the naked eye, they're undoubtedly aphids. If however, you can only really see them with say, a 10x hand lens, then you might actually be looking at predatory mites. I did once see them in the media of one of my orchids.

To my knowledge, the "organic" pesticides that actually work are insecticidal soap (potassium stearate) and neem oil. Those work on insects and mites, an important feature. I avoid insecticidal soap however, that also contains pyrethrin, a common combination. Pyrethrin is a very effective and safe insecticide, but it is not a miticide. Most insecticides are not also miticides. There are well documented examples of outbreaks of mites occurring after the application of insecticides. These were other insecticides on other plants, and to my knowledge there are no cases of that happening with orchids, but I don't want to take any chances.

[bil]

Millipedes usually eat dead plant material, so I wouldn't worry too much about them. Get a lens and identify the mites if you can.
Not everything in the pot is a problem. My plants get infested by ants, which is fine. They will kill and eat a lot of problem bugs.
In the event of finding something nasty, I whip out the chemical megadeath and let them have it with both barrels.

[wilsonlamwai]

I've needed them with 1:100 solution, will continue weekly spray regime till little blighters are gone. In the meantime I saw one that was less black and spherical, more brown and bloated, idk if that's good news or not. Also soaking all new potting media in a weaker neem solution. I do have a little issue, and that is mould or something like that growing on overly soggy moss, idk but I am spraying cinnamon over it for now.

[silken]

Don't get cinnamon on roots as that will desiccate them. It is fine for cuts and damage on leaves and pseudo bulbs but not roots.

[ALToronto]

The black spherical bugs in the medium are likely springtails - completely harmless and possibly beneficial. Be careful with chemicals - they kill indiscriminately. There is such a thing as a good bug.

[bil]

Like I say. Identify them before you act.

[harpspiel]

Regarding the black bugs - are they roundish, about 1mm and shiny, and only seen on the medium/roots but not on the leaves? If so, they are a kind of fungus/algae mite and not at all harmful to the plants. My recent order from Andy's was full of them. Fortunately Andy had mentioned them to me and said they weren't harmful, otherwise I would have freaked out. As it was I bare rooted everything and soaked overnight in distilled water, and that seems to have killed them all, if you want to get rid of them.

Some predatory mites can indeed be seen with the naked eye, as I recently discovered - they can be up to .5 mm long, but I haven't seen any that are black in my research.

As far as I know, gnats/flies aren't harmful, just annoying, so all in all I would not worry too much.


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