Mealybugs

[BillieG]

Originally Posted by fishmom

There are many resources on-line to help you identify pests and diseases. The American Orchid Society has information, and here is a link from another source, the St. Austine Orchid Society. Orchid Pests There are great pictures on this site, as well as articles on solutions.


I would say your first picture shows a mealybug.

I did look up photos of pests online and in my orchid books and felt like it was mealybugs; however, estación seca asked if it could be scale, so I posted a pic for opinions just in case.

[rbarata]

Be it scale or mealybugs (which I think that's what you have...the photo is not a good one) Imidacloprid or Thiacloprid will take care of them both.

[Roberta]

Looks like mealybug to me. If you put some rubbing alcohol on a cotton swab and touch it to the bug, if that white coating dissolves leaving a "naked' brown lump, meallybug. The white coating on scale doesn't dissolve so readily in alcohol. If this happens, use that swab to remove the bare bug. and squishing it is very satisfying.

[BillieG]

Originally Posted by Roberta

Looks like mealybug to me. If you put some rubbing alcohol on a cotton swab and touch it to the bug, if that white coating dissolves leaving a "naked' brown lump, meallybug. The white coating on scale doesn't dissolve so readily in alcohol. If this happens, use that swab to remove the bare bug. and squishing it is very satisfying.

Thank you! I dabbed it with alcohol and it turned brown. Such a satisfying feeling, lol.

[CROrchid]

Get imidaclopride and treat the plant with it as soon as possible. Just removing them one by one won't work (trust me, I tried). By the time you see adults, there will be plenty of them hidden in cervices and in the potting medium, the newly hatched ones are extremely small and hard to see in daylight. A systemic like imidaclopride is absorbed by the plant and afterwards, when mealybugs suck the sap, they ingest the insecticide itself which kills them.

Just be sure to read the label and take recommended actions like wearing gloves and not spilling excess insecticide outdoors.