# What is it and how do I kill it?



## silence882 (Feb 24, 2021)

Hi all,

I have microscopic insects on my orchids. Can anyone ID them from this photo?



And if so, what's the best way to kill them? I think they're causing damage:


Thanks!

--Stephen


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## Paphman910 (Feb 24, 2021)

Better spray with an insecticide. Looks like thrips!


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## abax (Feb 24, 2021)

Are you growing inside your home? If you take them outside until it dries, try Orthene 97% granular and drench the
growing medium.


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## NYEric (Feb 25, 2021)

Thrips.


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## silence882 (Feb 25, 2021)

Paphman910 said:


> Better spray with an insecticide. Looks like thrips!


Thanks!



abax said:


> Are you growing inside your home? If you take them outside until it dries, try Orthene 97% granular and drench the
> growing medium.


I grow inside so all treatment has to be done outside. It's only going to be 50 here for a couple weeks so I can only take them outside long enough to give them a quick spray.

I'll give them a systemic drench when we get a warm day in a couple weeks. Is orthene safe for bringing plants inside? I've also got liquid imidacloprid I can use for a drench.


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## abax (Feb 25, 2021)

It's probably as safe as any systemic insecticide once the potting medium dries.


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## tomp (Feb 26, 2021)

Be sure to repeat the treatment at the proscribed interval.


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## richgarrison (Feb 26, 2021)

if you are concerned with pesticides in your house, horticultural oils and soap sprays have enough effectiveness to use them ...and you can use them frequently as long as you can get your plants dried out enough... Martin Motes is a big fan of those home remedy's on a weekly basis to fit their reproductive cycle... I've been chasing thrips and mites in my greenhouse every week for a few months... even with actual miticides added to the soap and oil regiment, it's taken a while to see results.


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## silence882 (Mar 2, 2021)

Thanks for all the tips! I sprayed them with cyfluthrin and will do a systemic drench and second spray soon. It's supposed to be warm enough later this week to take them all outside for a day.

I've tried soaps and oils for treating insects in the past, but haven't had much success. My orchids are in a cabinet, so I don't mind using a small amount of insecticide on them.


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## southernbelle (Mar 3, 2021)

richgarrison said:


> if you are concerned with pesticides in your house, horticultural oils and soap sprays have enough effectiveness to use them ...and you can use them frequently as long as you can get your plants dried out enough... Martin Motes is a big fan of those home remedy's on a weekly basis to fit their reproductive cycle... I've been chasing thrips and mites in my greenhouse every week for a few months... even with actual miticides added to the soap and oil regiment, it's taken a while to see results.


Some thrips that attack orchids reproduce more frequently and require twice a week spray. I posted a great article from Anthura with photos to identify and treatment timelines, etc.


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## richgarrison (Mar 4, 2021)

cloudy tomorrow here... so my second spray of the week will be soap (palmolive green), merit, acephate, couple of drops of copper to keep the bad guys over night...

saturday was azamax, suffoil, and my every 5 week thiophanate methyl (Cleary's)...


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## orchid527 (Mar 4, 2021)

Many thanks to all involved in this discussion. It prompted me to pull out my 40x binocular scope and examine leaves on a few puny paphs. Low and behold, they were under attack by small red mites, much smaller than could be seen with a good magnifying glass. They didn't even leave a red smear when rubbed with a tissue. I spent quite a bit of time checking many of my plants and they appear to be confined to just a few of the paphs. Tomorrow I will be spraying everything. I feel like I just dodged a bullet. Mike


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## southernbelle (Mar 4, 2021)

Mike, Bad news, good news. Glad you found the buggers.


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## M.R. (Mar 5, 2021)

Defiantly thrips. Don’t bother with the nasty insecticides. I had a big problem last year with them. Went on you tube found a remedy using original listerene. Mix 1 to 1 with water in a spray bottle for topical application. It you may have transplant your plants. When I did mine I soaked them in them in the solution and was amazed on how many were in the media.


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