Grr, seems like most everytime I get new orchids there is always some nasty pest involved. I watched these new orchids closely over the last several weeks, checking the undersides of the leaves and such. Sure enough tonight I glanced over and one of them was suddenly bursting at the seams with mealies! Ugh! I swear they just spring up overnight. Hopefully I caught it early enough before it spreads.
Out of curiosity how long do you all keep your new orchids in quarantine when you get them? I've had these orchids over 2 months before enough critters showed up for me to notice them. And the mealies didn't come from my other older owned orchids.
Sigh, at least mealies seem to clean up better than scale.I have about killed the orchid I got that had scale which took a several weeks to show up. The scale of course seems fine...lol, this one is going in the dump if they come back one more time...
Hmm oops dropped this in the wrong forum and can't figure out how to delete or move it...sorry

That's too bad about the mealies! Unfortunately the mealies are some of the sneakiest little boogers. It seems that they are the best at hiding. They can get WAY down in the leaf axles and by the time you see them they have usually made quite a happy home for themselves. I have lost a couple of plants to what I think started as mealy damage, and these were plants that were infected when I got them. I have only had this problem when purchasing from a big chain store like Lowes or HD and also when I purchased from a hobby grower in private. I usually quarantine my new plants that are not from a trusted source for a couple of weeks, and I watch them closely. I have a set of shelves that I use as my quarantine. My father in law likes to come over every once in a while and move all my quarantine plants, distributing them throughout my collection. he just can't help himself...:rolleyes:

Also...I have had mealies show up overnight. I had a plant in my window and one day I saw mealies on it. I knew it was not infected before. I went outside and realized there were mealies all over the bush outside my window! I think they crawled through the window space and on to my paph! :mad:

Sooner or later, the sellers will give them to you , one by one from the list.
It is harder to control when you have more & more plants too.
-first, one seller gave me spider mites.
-the next one gave me fungus gnat
-the 3rd one provided measlies (exactly like you, they don't come out right away, until one month after the purchase). I agree w/ Teresa, these things are so hard to destroy.
-the last one just gave me scale. This is terrible, because they send me the plants w/ scales on the leaves. They must be so busy that they do not even look at the plant.
I do understand their problems w/ a lot of plants in nurseries, kind of hard to avoid insects or control, I just wish I have more room to quarantine them for a long time.

Well, the poor thing has been doused in water,alcohol and soap and scrubbed where ever a q-tip fits. It's neighbors have received similar treatment.

I do have a lot of plants in the garden, maybe some of the pests come in the dog door?-lol!

We have tons of fungus gnats here outside and they seem to come out in the rainy season despite the cold. Luckily my collection inside seems to be controlled well enough with a couple of Drosera. They seem covered by the little gnats.

CPs will definitely take care of your gnat problem. I have a butterwort and a nepenthes and they seem to do a bang up job on the gnats. I wonder sometimes if I need more gnats to feed them.:rolleyes:

I pretty much eradicated my scale and mealies using the Bayer Advanced (Merit). I haven't seen one since. But I also almost eradicated a couple of plants too...next time I have to use pesticides I will use the least amount directed.

Seems like when I use Bayer Advanced for mealies, it only lasts a couple of weeks and they're back. They are so hard to get rid of!

Use horticultural oil (also known as ultra fine oil) once a week for a month straight (4 applications). It is a great method to kill off mealy bugs, and is safe for the environment as well.

Good luck!

Use horticultural oil (also known as ultra fine oil) once a week for a month straight (4 applications). It is a great method to kill off mealy bugs, and is safe for the environment as well.

Good luck!

Jason, have you ever had any problems using the hort oil? I have heard from more than one person not to use it. I have used it a few times with no ill effects, and found it very effective for mites and mealies. But naturally I would like to hear more about the proper way to use it and the potential problems. I would love to hear other's experiences.