Found this on my new mounted orchids

[tellmewhy]

Hi Orchid Board Members
This morning I found some wood dust fell off from my mount orchids. I got this piece of grape wood from pet shop month ago and I also let this wood sit under water for a week. What is wrong?
I try to add picture but the attachments does not work.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

There might be some insects boring holes in it.

Could be other things, don't know without a photo.

[tellmewhy]

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Yeah, it looks like some sort of insect is in there. Probably one of those strange wasps that I usually see digging holes in wood.

Only way to know is to see if there're any kind of oddball insect that comes out of those holes.

I'm not 100% sure really, but it is very likely that it is one of those wood boring wasps.

[tellmewhy]

Originally Posted by King_of_orchid_growing:)

Yeah, it looks like some sort of insect is in there. Probably one of those strange wasps that I usually see digging holes in wood.

Only way to know is to see if there're any kind of oddball insect that comes out of those holes.

I'm not 100% sure really, but it is very likely that it is one of those wood boring wasps.

Thanks Philip!
Now I have to unmount the orchid to kill those insect

[Tschimm]

I don't think the wasps will harm your orchid.

[MattWoelfsen]

There are wasps like this in my geography and they do harm orchids. Orchid leaves like Oncidium, Cattleya, and Phalaenopsis are high in fiber. Wasps will eat the leaves and harvest the cellulose to build their egg combs. The eaten leaves look awful. They probably would eat any orchid leaves but those are the ones I had outside last year.

[tellmewhy]

I'm more worry about harm my house
My orchids all inside my house in winter and I only let them outside when the weather get warm

[Dante1709]

Maybe they are carpenter bees? They look like bumblebees but bore into wood to make a tunnel like nest.

I'd look up more about wood-boring insects ; particularly the type of wood used for the mount. Maybe you should contact the company?

[K.C.]

In Pennsylvania it hard to say just what it is, but out west I have not found a bug that alcohol will not kill at one point I thought my orchids would have to start going to those first name meetings. I use the 50% isopropyl on the orchid from the dollar store, the hydrogen peroxide works well on bacterial problems for me.