Bugs in Water Resvoir

[Ray]

The semi-hydro pots I invented consist of a plastic container, with two, 1/4" holes in the sidewall, about an inch or so up from the bottom, defining the reservoir below them.

When watering, the pot should be rapidly filled to the top with a very dilute fertilizer solution. As it drains, it saturates the inert medium, flushes residues, and completely flushes and refreshes the solution in the reservoir.

The same can be simulated by placing a regular pot, with drainage holes in the bottom, in a tray of solution, but the watering technique should be similar.

[Salixx]

Are your reservoirs internal or external?

I recently had some kind of larvae in one (only one?) of my Masdevallia's reservoirs but they are external so bugs can access it easier to lay their eggs.

In any case, flushing it several times may get rid of most of them unless they are something other than mosquito larvae and have the ability to cling to surfaces. There are some midge flies that lay their eggs in fast flowing streams and the flushing would probably not be enough to dislodge them. It's unlikely, but possible.

[GinaStarSeed]

Individual Saucers under each plant.

I water from the top through the roots and LECA until the reservoir is filled. I do not fill the entire pot. That is not even an option with the type of pots I have.

Soon I am going to do a clearex flush on each of them. They dont seem to be hurting anything, and I haven't seen anymore develop??

[estación seca]

Yes, you can have mosquitoes indoors all year if there is water for them to breed. Empty the saucers regularly and break the cycle.

If the reservoir water will not go back into the plants, you can also put some soap in the water. Use just enough to cause a slight amount of bubbles if you swish your hand. The soap reduces the surface tension of the water, and the mosquitoes will be unable to use their spiracles to breathe. They will drown.

Keepers of tank type bromeliads often put one drop of dish soap in each plant tank for this purpose.

I just saw this thread:
AMAZING roots.. But how to repot?????
When you say reservoir, do you mean the green saucers under these pots? If so, once every few days to a week, empty the reservoirs and let them dry a few hours. Run water through the pots at the sink to rinse away any larvae clinging to the LECA. If this is the kind of reservoir you mean, do not put soap in here. The soap might damage the roots.

[Jasonmc89]

Don't worry about it. Think of them as little packets of fertiliser. In nature, orchids are FULL of insects both dead and alive. If a problem does occur then just do a hydrogen peroxide flush 👍🏻

[Orchid Whisperer]

Originally Posted by GinaStarSeed

I have these tiny swimming bugs in my water reservoirs. They loook like really tiny tadpoles or tiny sperm. Anyone have any ideas or suggestions about this? Is this a problem? What should I do!!!!?!

The description of tiny tadpoles / sperm make me think these could be Cyclops, which are very common (and tiny) freswater copepods. They are about the size of a grain of salt, but greatly magnified, they look like:



They are quite harmless. You could read a little about them here: Cyclops (genus) - Wikipedia