Quote:
Originally Posted by lepetitmartien
One important thing to do is to watch out for any other source of bugs you may have
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Excellent advice, and so easily overlooked! I used to have a citrus house plant, started from seed, that occasionally had spider mites. They were usually cleared up promptly with tea tree oil and some alcohol, and I didn't even consider them spreading to my orchids since they were far apart. Then, one day I discovered multiple orchids, some cacti and another houseplant fully engulfed in the webbing. Terrible shock.
I first tossed out the old citrus plant, root and branch, and treated the others infested with the tea tree oil and alcohol. Next day I washed them all down with a very mild, warm detergent spray and removed all visible webbing by hand. After that, I repotted everything in fresh medium, scrubbing all the pots carefully in vinegar, then bleach water, then rinsed in plain water. Washed down all the shelves, tools and other containers in the same way.
One reason to use the vinegar first is to remove salts deposits that could hide insect eggs, etc.
What a job. But it has been three years now with zero signs of spider mites, or any other insect pest.
I think this process might be good for any other massive invasion, but the best is not to ignore any insects and especially not to think that they can't migrate from one plant to another easily. I think citrus would not be a good plant to have in the same room or greenhouse with orchids, as citrus seems to be especially vulnerable to the mites and scale. There may be others as well, of course.
Piao Liang 
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