My First Round w/ Mealy Bugs

[Becca]

Hi Everyone!

I just received a couple of paph hybrids from my local orchid society meeting a week or two ago. The bottom leaves weren't looking so wonderful so today I decided to give them a good look over and unpot them. The roots were so so, but upon a closer look, I found some mealy bugs in the deep crevices of the lower leaves next the the stem (I can't think of the technical term at this moment, leaf axis?). I cut off the leaves that were starting to look bad, but I noticed mealy bugs in the next set of leaves. My question is, if I treat the mealy bugs and try and get the insecticide into the deep parts where they are hiding, will I risk having problems with stem rot?