Tiny brown bugs in sphagnum moss

[etcherkate]

I wonder if someone can help me identify my orchid pests? At least two of my plants have tiny, almost microscopic brown bugs scurrying around in their sphagnum moss. I have a very young paphiopedilum that doesn't have any visible damage on its leaves. There's a tiny bit of white powder on the leaves that looks to me like dust and not insect residue. A bulbophyllum also has bugs, and there does appear to be some damage on the top side of the newest leaf.

These are indoor plants that live on improvised humidity trays. Unfortunately, they're pretty close to a heating vent that blasts all day long.

Any idea what these disgusting critters could be?

[orchidsarefun]

Are these a beige/ brown colour and 1/2 the size of a pinhead? Do they move rapidly? Are they active at certain times only? I noticed after watering, around mid-day and at night. Most importantly are they aggressive? By that I suggest you put your finger on the rim of the pot and they should 'attack' your finger.
If the above are characteristics, let me know.

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[Manu]

With no image or description, amount of legs etc is hard to say, but that could be a small spidermite infestation.... I hope for you it's not I've been fighting them hard for the past few months and they keep coming back. Catch a few bugs and look at them under a magnifying glass you should be able to determine what they are.. good luck

[jkofferdahl]

Whatever they may be, a good dusting with diatomaceous earth, followed up with a few more at weekly intervals, should take care of them.

[etcherkate]

Originally Posted by orchidsarefun

Are these a beige/ brown colour and 1/2 the size of a pinhead? Do they move rapidly? Are they active at certain times only? I noticed after watering, around mid-day and at night. Most importantly are they aggressive? By that I suggest you put your finger on the rim of the pot and they should 'attack' your finger.
If the above are characteristics, let me know.

Sent from my LG-H901 using Tapatalk

This sounds exactly like the bugs on my plant, except there's no way I'm letting them attack my finger!

Not knowing what to do, I sprayed the moss with hydrogen peroxide after noticing the bugs. When the moss is mostly dry, by blowing on the moss I can get the bugs to show themselves.

---------- Post added at 06:43 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:23 PM ----------

Originally Posted by Manu

With no image or description, amount of legs etc is hard to say, but that could be a small spidermite infestation.... I hope for you it's not I've been fighting them hard for the past few months and they keep coming back. Catch a few bugs and look at them under a magnifying glass you should be able to determine what they are.. good luck

They're so fast, I'm not sure how I could catch them! I've noticed the occasional web in the past...maybe I should not have ignored them.

[orchidsarefun]

Seems like you have what I had - and these only appeared in my plants potted in sphagnum moss - in army quantities ! No bark potted plants had them.
I took samples and photos to my local Ag Extension office, I had the AOS look at photos. Turns out nobody could really identify them, other than to classify them as "mites" and not necessarily harmful.
I was told that they were likely predatory because of a unicorn-like horn they had. Well I said that could also be used to suck plant sap too !
The problem with treatment was that I didn't know what they were feeding on. There was no visible damage to plants. Safe systemic insecticides are not generally available for indoor use and I wasn't keen anyway. Others are topical which means you have to get at them when they are moving around. This infestation also happened in Winter which added to the treatment problem.
The only thing that worked - for me - was neem oil - sprayed when they were active. At least I think it worked because numbers of them dropped visibly. I also fed them to my butterworts in vast numbers. They were easy to catch between fingers and 'felt' hardish. It took about 3 months to eliminate 100% from the one plant stand. Then I got them in another room with plants. These didn't multiply into an army and have been taken care of - either naturally through lack of food ( ? ) or in my plant spraying rotation.
Another thing - I had bought a huge block of sphagnum moss and I put this in the garage over Winter to kill critters that may be in the moss.
I still don't know where these came from but - 2 years later this Winter - I haven't had a recurrence. My butterworts are the only ones missing them !

[etcherkate]

Originally Posted by orchidsarefun

Seems like you have what I had - and these only appeared in my plants potted in sphagnum moss - in army quantities ! No bark potted plants had them.
I took samples and photos to my local Ag Extension office, I had the AOS look at photos. Turns out nobody could really identify them, other than to classify them as "mites" and not necessarily harmful.
I was told that they were likely predatory because of a unicorn-like horn they had. Well I said that could also be used to suck plant sap too !
The problem with treatment was that I didn't know what they were feeding on. There was no visible damage to plants. Safe systemic insecticides are not generally available for indoor use and I wasn't keen anyway. Others are topical which means you have to get at them when they are moving around. This infestation also happened in Winter which added to the treatment problem.
The only thing that worked - for me - was neem oil - sprayed when they were active. At least I think it worked because numbers of them dropped visibly. I also fed them to my butterworts in vast numbers. They were easy to catch between fingers and 'felt' hardish. It took about 3 months to eliminate 100% from the one plant stand. Then I got them in another room with plants. These didn't multiply into an army and have been taken care of - either naturally through lack of food ( ? ) or in my plant spraying rotation.
Another thing - I had bought a huge block of sphagnum moss and I put this in the garage over Winter to kill critters that may be in the moss.
I still don't know where these came from but - 2 years later this Winter - I haven't had a recurrence. My butterworts are the only ones missing them !

Your experience with mites sounds a lot like what my plants are enduring. I'm only encountering the mites on the plants potted in sphagnum, not in the ones in bark mixes. I treated a plant with neem oil a few years ago and assumed (probably because of the smell) that it was unsafe to use in the house--but after a quick search online today it appears that I was wrong.

I'm glad to hear that you managed to get rid of your infestation! Maybe this is the excuse I needed to splurge on a carnivorous plant!