BUGS!!

This may need to be in the flower forum BUT I need help STAT.

I was just inspecting my orchid and there are little bugs crawling on the roots. I saw 2 or 3 while I was watching it. I've never EVER had bugs on my houseplants before and I don't know what to do.

After I saw these bugs, I checked all the other plants and they looked fine. Also, none of my house plants are close to each other. All on different surfaces and at least.... 6 ft apart.

1.) Do I need to still isolate the orchid? It's still chilly here so my other house plants are still inside and I don't really have any "safe" places for them that's isolated.

2.) Are there any homemade mixtures I can put together to deal with this immediately?

I'm totally freakin' out right now so any and all help immediately is soooo appreciated!

Here are a few pictures

under the leaves

roots, where I saw the bugs. This picture sucks but, if you can see, there are some dead roots on the surface. They were like that when I bought them. I bought it at walmart which... yeah I know if ridiculous but it was only like... $11 bucks!

Should i try to cut those dead roots off?

They may be soil mites or springtails. Go get a package of "Mosquito dunks" at the garden center and put one quarter of one in your watering can. This will kill any in the soil. They feed on organic matter in the soil. You could also use a systemic insecticide.

What do the bugs look like?

find out what kind of bug first. Because some insect killers shouldnt be used for orchids, also sometimes depending on bug it takes different things to kill it.

I don't really know how to tell what kind of bug it is.

It's super tiny and white and seems to live in the soil. Every bit of research I did to try and figure out what they were was very vague so I've just attempted a quarantine for the moment.

So... again, they're super tiny, live in the soil, seem to only have the usual number of legs. They don't jump or fly and this is the first time I've noticed them. So far I've only see two two at one time. Most of the time, I just see one if I see any at all.

Are they fluffy looking?

they're kinda too small to look fluffy.. so I guess I would say no that they don't look fluffy. If i had to describe their teeny tiny bodies, I would say they are slightly tear drop shaped, not like the segmented bodies of ants.

If you've only seen 2, try wetting a q-tip with alcohol and touching the bugs. That should kill them.

Well, I would do this. I would throw away old soil and get new, either get new pot or disinfect old one. While doing this I would wash off the roots in tepid water and the plant itself. I would use Bayer's Rose and Garden or insecticidial soap. Use as directed. If it is mealybugs,which are most common for orchids, they cause alot of problems if they get on other plants, and they do fast. Don't put the orchid in full sunshine or it can hurt the plant while using the insecticide or washing of the plant.
Recheck your plant every 5-7 days and spray plant again, this is very important. You need to do this 3-4 times(every 5 -7 days) so you can get the whole life cycle of the bug. (or do as the package says)



This message was edited Apr 29, 2010 7:06 AM

Thanks everyone for the advice! I think I will go ahead and do the replant and wash idea. I was going to do all the plants in mid June but I think this bug situation constitutes doing it early for the orchid.