Phal Infestation
 

I'm trying to figure out what our phalaenopsis orchid might be infested with. I think it might be fungus gnats, but the fact that the few I've seen don't fly away when I agitate them instead, they just crawl away.


They are really small bugs. I'd say no more than 1 or 2mm with a dark (possibly black) body and what looks like clear wings. I tried to take a sample, but they are so small they kept getting squished in the ziploc bag. My girlfriend noticed them when she watered the orchid as they can crawling out of the medium (bark, charcoal and perlite) and she noticed a few crawling on the aerial root.

The orchid is doing fine at the moment. It's aerial root has a green tip on it and it is growing a new spike. Currently, it is shedding a leaf, as it looks like one of the leaves is dieing (it was an original leaf from when we got the orchid just under a yea ago).

She believes it was infested when another plant was placed too close to the orchid. We have actually moved, but chose to keep the orchid at its current spot because it was doing so well.

So any idea what the infestation is and the best course to treat it? We were thinking of an insecticide, but the local plant store didn't think it was a good idea because its an orchid and an indoor plant. Instead, they suggested repotting the orchid in a new medium and rinsing off the roots to take care of the infestation. The only thing we are concerned about is stressing out the orchid and losing the new spike.

Phals tolerate re-potting while in spike better than most orchids.
You might try Neem oil spray, and be careful not to get any on the spike- or in your eyes, for that matter. I had mealy bugs a ways back and that did the trick.
I have to be VERY careful with insecticides in my house as my husbands hobby is raising arachnids which are extremely sensitive to insecticides. We just wore gloves, and washed hands and clothes after using the Neem before going near the arachnids.