Sick Vanda ?thrips, scales, mites or other

[BettyE]

If anyone wants a one time sure kill, systemic for ALL pests on orchids, use one teaspoon of Merit powder in a gallon of water. Yes, it works great...I have used it. Wear gloves,long pants & long sleeves. Dip pot up to the top of the media. Goodbye all insects. BettyE

[orchids44]

BettyE,

Does Home Depot sell Merit?
I've used the peroxide on the Vanda. She doesn't look any better or worse yet, getting lots of fresh air and in the shade for now. Fingers crossed.

[BettyE]

No, I had to look for it on the internet. I wrote down how much powder to put into a gallon of water...one teaspoon. Dip orchid into this solution, ( wear rubber gloves ) make sure ALL media gets soaked. This is a one time deal, and you DO NOT have to wet the leaves. Kills ALL insects. I like that!

[Hiester]

Merit™ contains the neurotoxin Imidacloprid, which is also available in a houseplant formulation among other products. The one I can recall is Bonide™ houseplant formula which contains the active ingredient at 0.22%. Be sure to follow label directions explicitly and avoid contact with skin, eyes, mucous membrane of the nose, etc.

[allla]

I am sorry for your sick plant.

maybe now and then it is good to use compost tea or vary the fertilizers, even reduced fertilizing can help. Another matter is the humidifier, my guess is that it could have some role in your bacterial infection

---------- Post added at 03:20 AM ---------- Previous post was at 03:17 AM ----------

when I was trying to feed my cymbidium through its leaves I noticed that misting is somehow supporting fungi develop and perhaps bacteria (I had a bacterial infection on a phal and I cut out that leaf)

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[james mickelso]

Hi orchids44. How is the vanda doing in the last week? What is the condition of the roots? If the damage is caused by insects or mites, you should be able to see some of their blood on a Kleenex or tissue paper when you wipe it across the damaged area. The could be bacterial. Or fungal. Rain water is not pure by any means. In fact most rain water droplets form around bacteria, dust grains, and a lot of what are called water bears. Anything in the sky can be a nucleus for a rain drop to start forming. Be that as it may, I'm not a fan of home remedies. If they really worked as advertised, the pharma companies would patent them and sell them. I would get some good old Bayer 3 in 1 systemic spray at HD or Lowes. Works great. If mites or spiders get a miticide. Says right on the label. The Bayer can kill off most mites. I would add a drop of dishsoap to the spray bottle as a wetting agent. Vandas love water. And bright sunshine. When I grow vandas I water them daily with RO water with a small amount of fertilizer. I would also add a rooting hormone like Rays Kelpmax stuff. Remember to add just a very small amount of fertilizer to your water. Give the vamda as much sunlight as you can and when it starts to show a little red around the outside of the leaf, that's enough. I would get some large chunks of charcoal, not rthe BBQ briquettes, but real hardwood charcoal. You can get a big bag of it from HD. It works great in a BBQ too so you won't waste it. I put charcoal in every media I use. Or you could use sponge rock if you can find it in a large size. Vandas do well mounted too. It would pay to order some tree fern. They love it. Vandas are like phals in that they don't really have a rest period but they do stop growing for awhile. Then they really take off growing a couple leaves and some root. When you use the Bonide or BAYER, ADD A DROP OF DISH SOAP TO THE SPRAYER. tHIS WILL HELP THE LIQUID PENETRATE DOWN INTO THE LEAF axils where the bad guys hide. Also drench that basket as they like to hide in the grain of the wood. I would treat the plant once a week for three or four weeks to get rid of whatever is causing the problem. It doesn't look that unhealthy to me. Just needs more roots. They like temps in the 80's and 90's with a good breeze. Lots of good clean water. And feed it at every watering with a very dilute fertilizer. Let me know how it is doing.

[orchids44]

James,
Thanks so much for your thorough diagnosis/advice. I will take some picts today and post them.
I live in NC, the temps. have been 95 - 100 the past 2 weeks. I water her daily, sometimes twice a day. Her roots are impressive now.
I have plenty of 3 in 1. I tried that first but didn't see any improvement. She did improve with Cleary's fungicide. I will continue with the 3 in 1. I also have Ray's Kelpmax and let her soak in it for about 30 minutes. Love that magic Kelpmax
I didn't realize the mites could live in the wooden basket, argghhh!
She is in a bright shady area with lots of air movement, under a tree.
Did you notice the stem with chunks taken out, almost symmetric. Can thrips or mites do that?
My guess is I may have both, fungi/bacteria and mites.
Retrospectively pondering, I think the cause was from being near a window this winter, wet and cold. Not good. As Ron at AOS says, wet and warm is ok but wet and cold is a disaster for orchids.
Thanks sooo much for your help! Will update you.

[james mickelso]

Yes, wet/cold is very bad for orchids. Lots of fungus strains love wet/cold. But there are a few which prefer warm/wet. Wet spreads the spores around. But as long as there is adequate air movement it should keep the wet down. Remember that most orchids have evolved to go through a wet/dry cycle. The rains come and get them soaked and then the wind blows and dries them quickly. If we do the same we should be ok. Glad to hear your vanda is doing well.

[rocio]

That is sad!! I've used Hydrogen Peroxide before and it works very well. When you apply it (freely) if you see bubbles, then there's a sign of infection. If it is working, avery day yo should see less bubbles forming until there are no bubbles in the affected areas. That means you bit the infection. Hopefully you succeed with this non-toxic solution. But if after 2 or 3 days the bubbles continue as the first time, or if you get a lot of bubbles (yellow foam), then you may want to go chemical from day 1.
Good luck!!

[allla]

If you see improvements with the fungicide, try to soak your plant in compost tea diluted of course. I noticed that my plants (treated ocasionally with a misture of horsetail, stinging nettles, etc teas decompsed) do not seem prone to insects or fungi. Compost tea stinks for a few hours though. If you drink plant teas (chamomile, etc) you could save the plants after the tea and use them for your flowers as a cool tea...

Generally my plants are kept almost dry in winter when my home is a coolish 19-20C and dry if temperature goes to 16C. Light is extremely important also...

Vermicompost can be purchased locally and is a very good option if non pasteurized. Camomille triggers some defense mecanisms in the plant as well as helps her put up with a shock from treatment or chainging environmental conditions. some other elicitors are chitosan or salicylic acid/willow water... Unfortunately, I believe the plant might have had fusarium because of those rings and you should have cut the head off a long time ago or used some teas and protective fungi on a regular basis to avoid getting it in the first place.