Bug ID please
 

Hello all I found these bugs on my Stelis Rubens while watering this morning. There were 4 total all on the same spike they do not appear to be on any of my other plants.

I picked these off and squashed them but I'm sure there will be more.

Attachment 118750Attachment 118752


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Mealy Bug.

Don't play around. They can take over in a flash, and do serious damage.

Looks like photos I've seen of mealy bugs. :(

Oh, you beat me, Ray. ;)

Thanks for the info. Best treatment please?


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I've dealt with mealy bugs a few times. And yes, I can also confirm that they spread like wildfire. Imo, the best and most effective course of action is to treat all your plants with a systemic insecticide, containing imidacloprid or other active ingredient from the same family, and repeat the treatment a few times. Even when you think they're gone after a first treatment, they're likely still lurking (like eggs that hatched in the meantime) I'm not familiar with the products available in the US, though I know Bayer makes it, and the name mentions something about roses or trees.....

I've removed the infested plant and put it outside for now and will start treatments. Thanks


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---------- Post added at 10:05 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:49 AM ----------

I'm learning still so I don't know what I don't know....the plant has been in my collection for about a month so do I assume that it was the vector. Once under control can you actually get rid of them or are they like some reef pests (predatory nudibranchs for example) that require long term management? Is it less of a problem with mounted orchids?

Acephate is my "go to" systemic insecticide, but I do rotate with imidicloprid, as well.

Imidacloprid goes by several trade names and can be easily found, it is the most widely use insecticide in the world. So watch for chemical resistance and rotate different insecticides. It is a systemic, which means the plant takes in the chemical and distributes it through out the entire plant, therefore protecting the entire plant. Imidacloprid is a neonicotinoid (made from nicotine) and works on the insects central neverous system. Much more toxic to insects than to mammals because of the way it bines to the insects neveres. Many say it is one of the contributing factors to the decline in bee populations ( bee colony collapse disorder).

Thanks for the input all. I was able to do some reading on treatments. I have a pesticide with imidacloprid in it. We don't use any pesticides in our garden, but it's commonly used in reef keeping to dip corals to kill pest/predatory inverts in weak solution.

I'm still interested to know everyone experience with treating the surrounding plants. My collection is housed mostly on tiered racks so I'm certain that I need to treat the orchids that are housed below and near this one. How about the ones above it? I've got some warm growers mounted that I don't want to leave outside right now for too long as it's cool at night in San Diego.


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It's likely you have them on other plants, but you don't know which ones. Many people would treat the whole collection. Others would isolate and treat that one plant and examine everything else every day. If found on another plant most would treat the whole collection.

They live on a wide variety of plants so they might be on house plants as well.