The First Defense Against Orchid Pests Is Cleanliness
As with any plant we like to grow, orchids attract natural enemies, including insects and other small creatures. Among these are red spiders, thrips, cockroaches, ants, woodlice, some beetles, and certain snails and slugs.
To grow orchids successfully, you must take measures to defeat these pests before they can damage your plants. There are particular measures you can take for each kind of pest. Your first line of defense against all of them, though, is cleanliness.
It is known that a certain percentage of imported plants inevitablly will have pests riding along with them.But even nursery grown orchids can have pests clinging to their roots, or hiding in their potting soil.
You really need to inspect every new plant, thoroughly, before allowing it into your home. Immediately kill all pests that you can find with the naked eye. If you neglect to do so, they will in time destroy the foliage, and possibly kill the plant entirely. The flowers also will be ravaged by these invaders, a frustrating outcome when you’ve lavised care and money on a plant.
If you already have orchids, you must treat every new arrival with some suspicion. It’s an excellent idea put it in an “isolation” room or other structure for the first few days. Do not rest until you have completely rid your plant of any insects you find on it.
Washing all of the leaves, roots and bulbs of a plant will leave little chance for pests to escape their doom. The best procedure simply consists of thoroughly and systematically cleaning the bulbs and foliage. Shake the plant out of the pot, cut away all decayed roots, wash the sound roots in clean water and then re-pot in clean containers using new material.
Done correctly, this is one sure way to eliminate pests that are often too small for anyone, especially novice growers, to even spot. Some pests could be found in the shape of eggs. Others appear as young insects but are so minute that you need a magnifying glass to find them in the foliage. Cleaning your plants, as recommended above, is the solution to destroying all pests from the start.
A good guide to orchid growing will have many more tips and suggestions for making sure that a pest doesn’t put an end to your prized plants. The most up-to-date guide to modern orchid growing, without a doubt, is Orchid Care Expert by Nigel Howard, which can be downloaded from the Internet. Howard’s wonderful guide will furnish a thorough immersion in the subject. Also, be sure to visit the Orchid Secrets web site, which has an ever-growing database of articles on many aspects of orchid cultivation.