- - CAUTION - -
FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS FOR ANT CONTROL CAREFULLY
AVOID SPRAYING YOUR ORCHIDS WITH THESE CHEMICALS
DO NOT USE INDOORS IN YOUR HOME
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Q: Hi this is Debbie from Northern CA. I have a question for you about "ANTS!" I get them very badly in mine, and I don't know what to do. A: Ants normally do not directly do any harm to your orchids. In fact, the pseudobulbs of Schomburgkia and Catasetum orchids are the natural habitat for ants that use these orchids for their homes. The problem with ants is that they feed on the honey dew produced from other pests such as soft scale insects, mealy bugs, and aphids, which do do harm to the orchid as well as spread viruses and diseases. The ants tend to drive away the natural enemies of these pests, which allows the pests to quickly multiply. Your plant should be examined thoroughly for soft scale insects, mealy bugs, aphids, and other pests. Your plant needs to be treated for these problems as well as dealing with the ants. If you you are growing your orchids in your home, check for other pests and place ant traps around the orchids the ants are bothering. Nadine Davis sent this tip: She uses bay leaves around the point of entry and in the pots. Ants are repelled by the bay leaves. If you are growing your orchids outdoors or in a greenhouse, a more aggressive ant control program can be tried. The use of Baygon, Dursban, and Diazinon have been used very effectively against ants. Spray the benches, bench legs, the floors, and walls where the ants can climb up to the plants. |
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- - CAUTION - -
FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS FOR ANT CONTROL CAREFULLY AVOID SPRAYING YOUR ORCHIDS WITH THESE CHEMICALS DO NOT USE INDOORS IN YOUR HOME |
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Here is a tip I received straight from Mexico:
"Ants don't like to walk across surfaces treated with white vinegar. Rinse your floors of the rooms where you keep your orchids with a solution of white vinegar and water. You can also use it to clean windows and counters. The vinegar is non-toxic(even to animals), and the acidity helps inhibit the growth of mold." And also he has this one: " If you have orchids on a table you can keep crawling insects off the table by spraying a ring of cooking oil around each table leg, or applying double-faced sticky tape to the circumference of each leg." |
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A: Frequently, symptoms are more obvious than the insects themselves. Your plant may show discoloration, wilting, pitted leaves, cobwebs, oozing sticky liquid, sooty mold on the leaves, and ants. Yes, ants frequently visit plants to eat the sweet liquid excreted by some insects (the ants themselves - except for some leaf-cutter species, do no harm to your orchids). If your plant does not look healthy the first thing to do is look for a bug. |
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A: The most common scale are the Armored Scale, Soft Scale, and Pit Scale families . They are tiny inconspicuous insects that by the time you realize you have them, they have covered your plant. They are sometimes mistaken for fungal growth. Armored Scale are often found on the leaf, rhizome, or pseudoblub. Infestations often begin below the leaf sheath where you do not notice them. Watch for yellowing leaves. These insects excrete a waxy, hardened shell-like covering that is not part of the insect. This is where the name "Armored" comes from. The armor can be circular, oblong or pear-shaped. |
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The Boisduval Scale can be identified by a cottony mass on the leaves of your orchids. These are the males.
The males have wings and sometimes look like small gnats. Due to their mass they are easily identified. The adult female is wingless and can lay 30 to 150 eggs beneath the armor. I took this orchid and moved it out of the greenhouse and treated it with my 409 bug spray, then washed the leaves all off with cotton dipped in the solution. I was lucky as this was the only plant that had them. Soft scales do not have the protective armor and their bodies are clear or opaque. They also infest the leaves and the pseudobulbs. |
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A: These are very tiny insects, less than 1/16 to 3/8 of an inch long with strap-like wings fringed with long cilia. These pests suck up juices from the plants, they also carry bacteria, fungal and viral diseases and spread them to your plants. Thrips are very active and when alarmed they turn up the abdomen tip as if to sting you. |
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A: These are small insects that feed on decaying material, fungi, bacteria, algae, and pollen. They are more of a nuisance pests when they occur in large numbers. They are milky white or gray with elongated soft, rounded bodies and do not have wings to fly with, so they propel themselves by means of a forked muscular appendage at the tip of their abdomen to spring them selves into the air. If you see little tiny insects jumping all over they are probably springtails. |
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A: The dark winged fungus gnats are more of a nuisance but in large numbers can attack healthy plants. They feed on fungi and decaying material. If you see them, you need to check your potting media and make sure it is still ok. The adults are small flies with dark brown bodies. The young, or maggots, are whitish with black heads. Avoiding over watering and removing rotting material will usually control these insects. |
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A: Aphids or plant lice are small insects that live in colonies. They feed on plant juices causing the plant to become stunted and distorted. They excrete large amounts of honeydew which causes sooty mold to develop. They are only 1/16 to 1/4 of an inch long, pear shaped, white, green, yellow, black or brown. They are very slow moving and have a hornlike processes on the posterior end of the abdomen. Most aphids are female and they reproduce with out mating When a colony becomes overcrowded winged forms appear and fly to the next plant to establish a new colony. |
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A: The bad thing about these mites are the damage is usually considerable before they are detected. Most mites are so small they are very hard to see. Some species spin very fine webs that you can see. You can check for mites by rubbing a white cloth over the suspected area. If mites or eggs are present there will be brownish streaks on the cloth. Watch for stippling, blanching, or a silver-like appearance on the foliage. The first signs are the silvery areas that will eventually turn brown and sunken. The leaves will also turn yellow and drop off. Mites damage plants by removing the sap and the chlorophyll from the leaves of the plants. |
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A: White flies are minute sucking insects with white powdery wings. They can occur in very large numbers and are found on the undersides of leaves. The larva are 1/30" scales which are legless and translucent. The adults and nymphs suck juices from the plant and secrete a sticky, sugary substance called honeydew. Sooty mold and black fungus grows on the honey dew. This also attracts aphids and spider mites. Their feeding can also spread viral diseases. You can catch adults on yellow sticky traps. Spray with insecticidal soap or attract native parasitic wasps. |
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| A: One of the best and least expensive book I have found is from the AOS. It is called Orchids and Diseases. |
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A: Cleanliness is the best prevention. However, sometimes nothing seems to work and you must do something about the insects. There are many insect sprays on the market today. I would be sure and test the spray on a small area before spraying the whole plant. Many of these sprays are very poisonous so care should be taken when using them. I try and not use the poisonous sprays unless everything else fails. Here are two recipes I have used successfully on my orchids. Try a small area before using it on all your plants. In a gallon bottle mix: 1 pint 409 Cleaner 1 pint rubbing alcohol Fill remainder of the bottle with water, fill spray bottle and spray the infected plant. In a pint spray bottle: Mix half and half water and rubbing alcohol and add 1 tsp liquid dish soap. |
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That's all I have for now.
I hope this information has been of some help to you. Keep those questions coming in and watch this list grow. |
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