who are they?
 

and what are they doing on my phals. Small, constantly running light colored bugs with feet.
They are not scale, melybugs and too large to be mites. I don't know any other orchid bugs.
Can they be hypoaspis miles?
They are always on the move and are imposiible to take good picture of.
Here is the best I could do:

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xXCyutY1rS...s1600/bug2.jpg

How fast do they run?

I'm taking a guess here, b/c I'm not familiar with all kinds of "pests"... But, it almost looks like a predator mite... I found one recently (a couple months ago) on my dendro it was red, looked a lot like this... I watched him for awhile, it looked like he was hunting, the way he was moving about the cane/leaves, in all the crevices... I think I tried to take pics of it... I'll go look and see if I can find it! It looked like a giant red spider mite, but I could be seen with the naked eye.

Here are the pics off of my phone... The best I could do at the time, by the time I got my camera, he was gone...
Also, the Dendro was dirty/sandy, cuz we had a good storm the night before, and it got wet & dirty on the porch ledge :coverlaugh:
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/10/25/era9u6a4.jpg
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/10/25/3y5u4a6u.jpg

Thank you Mary Linn.
Leafmite - it is hard to say, not very fast, but they don't stop either.

After some more web-browsing and looking at the plants and bugs I noticed that they are present on a few plants potted in bark and mostly stay in pots ocasionally running through leaves.
I am now thinking that they are either springtails (although pretty round bodies for springtails) or predatory mites.
I think my bark (cheap shultz stuff) caused them to appear. I need to get good new bark.
Watching those moving things gives me shivers even though I realize that they are probably harmless to plants.

If you Google "spider mites" and select the images tab, you will see some images that you can compare to your critters. Use a decent magnifier or loupe (you can probably get one at a hobby store, or even a pharmacy) and compare to the images on Google.

I do think Mary Linn is right - probably a mite, probably too large for a spider mite. The photo comparison may give some added peace of mind. Maybe a predator mite (Google "spider mite predator and look at those photos; many spider mite predators are also mites! Although miticides are sometimes needed, this is a good justification for not using miticides as a prophylaxis; kills the good with the bad).

BTW, if there are no tiny webs about, that also suggests it's not a spider mite.

---------- Post added at 09:09 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:06 AM ----------

If the bark is otherwise in good condition, sift out the fine stuff, boil it, thoroughly dry it, & the remainder should be fine to use. If the amount you have is worth the bother.

I have very similar looking bugs, but they're black in colour. They're in my phal seedling pots, especially those with lots of algae growing on the sphagnum. I posted about them a couple of days ago, but here's another photo. The bugs are on the wall of the clear pot, and they're tiny - the pot is 4" square.

They're not hurting the orchids at all, not leaves, not roots, so I'm happy to let them stay. I think they eat the algae, and I'm ok with that. Like orchideya's, mine are pretty active as well, and they jump incredible distances for their size. Orchideya, do yours jump?

If these are predatory mites, does this mean they eat other pests?

http://www.orchidboard.com/community...g-00000371.jpg

Mine don't jump, just run around. I think mine are similar in size to yours, if you mean the small dark dots on the back wall of the pot, but they are cream-beige colored.

I don't see any damage to orchids either, they just freak me out by moving there.

I have ordered some large bark from Agrogreen Canada and will replace medium in all my shultz potted phals. :tapfoot: