Definitely.
Difficulties locating AzaMax- substitutes?
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Pete and Terry: no laminated printouts (yet)
. You crack me up, Pete! You know me too well!! But, I do have those on the wall, for my light hours and temps chart for each month that came to me from one terryros! I don’t like having to keep any more than I have to in my brain at this point so I have often needed things (like St. Aug charts) in a ready access folder and something like my light, temps and fertilizer charts that I refer to monthly or more, ‘laminated’ (now framed) on the wall. Some of it has been so repetitive over time, it has stuck in my brain, but I often double ck myself.Thanks, Terry, for the vote of confidence re this. If nothing else I am a detail person. But I can say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing and I pretty much know my limitations in this area, so try to seek reliable info. Having grown hybrid tea roses (before orchids) for 20 years which require spraying religiously every 2 wks in VA to keep them clean of black spot and other fungal, etc. diseases I had to learn, because once you get black spot it cannot be eliminated, only controlled. So I determined never to get it and was successful until I became ill and could not keep up my routine one year. And with thrips, mites, aphids and beetles it was a rare spray that did not include the addition of some insecticide to the spray.
Like our local orchid societies, at that time the local rose societies were a wealth of info, thankfully, because this was before the internet days. They had put together charts, similar to the St. Aug charts but with a lot fewer chemicals (one sheet) similar to the Specialty Chemical sheet St. Aug has. Their sheet indicated which chemicals to alternate that had different modes of action so no resistance of pests or disease developed which was crucial with repeat sprays every 2 weeks. They even purchased the professional concentrated chemicals in bulk and repackaged them in smaller affordable quantities for members. So when I started having, first scale, then mites, then thrips on my orchids I pretty much knew what to do except it was very challenging because of growing indoors. I don’t use orthene indoors, which I knew well for use outside for instance. But Safari (generic, Alpine way cheaper) and Azamax, etc. were new to me. So I was alternating Safari and Merit (imidacloprid) assuming (never assume) they had different modes of action when I really had no idea what kind of chemical Safari was. I was a bit lazy on that one.
A woman in our Va Orc Soc works for the EPA in pesticide labeling and gave a presentation where I learned about IRAC and all pesticides now being labeled by group. So it is now easy to be clear when you are alternating two that they indeed have different modes of action. Lord only knows we don’t need to develop pesticide resistant thrips!! So when I had not been successful in controlling them with the previous chemicals, I looked at the St Aug sheet and wanted something systemic, not harmful to blooms and specific for controlling them (not suppressing) without high toxicity and that’s why I settled on Overture. Only negative was price because of the volume but this is where as a society we can help each other use this type of thing. Sort of like those who get large quantities of virus test kits and cut the price in half for a group.
Pete and Deborah, as indoor growers like I am, what are the ways in which insects have gotten in to your plants?
Mostly from additions to the collection. Not just orchids but I have a few foliage plants as well and they always seem to be the starting point. I do try and treat anything I bring in now but sometimes it’s not enough and I need to completely repot and change the soil. Also keeping my windows open. I feel like mites in general will always have and opportunity to start in the collection with windows open.
I know the scale came in on plants years ago, before I quarantined new arrivals. Now I quarantine for a month drenching when I first get the plant. With mites and thrips it’s sorta hard to tell. I think thrips can come in from the garden unseen as the thrips on orchids are tiny, not like the thrips on roses which were readily visible. Thats why it took me so long to get a handle on them as I couldn’t figure out what they were.
Having a renewed interest in hydrangeas a couple of years ago, I discovered they can have things they can piggyback so I try to do orchid work before garden work now.
I had two interesting things last year that were not harmful. On a Phrag I got that came from Hadley’s collection thru Woodstream I checked the run off with 40 power (don’t ask me why???) and saw nematodes. Plant was healthy. Long story but determined they are beneficial and probably a result of the plant needing repotting before Bill got it and divided. The other thing in my cattleyas that desperately needed repotting were Orobatid mites. Tiny, again only visible at very high power. Freaked me out because they were outside the pots in the tray, so plentiful in number. I thought they were dirt/dust, but when I wiped with damp paper towel and looked with 40 x they were moving!! Tiny round black balls. I finally identified them as they became adults and you could see mouthparts/legs. Beneficial mites that feed on decaying organic material (old mix). No harm to plants. So I don’t worry about those but have worked hard to catch up on repotting from when I had my surgeries that year. And I’ve stopped looking at run off!!! Also had very small snails in one plant that went 5 years without a repot. I didn’t notice them, no damage, but gave the plant to Patrick who did and treated with slug bait. So as a precaution I put slug bait in all my pots. Moral of story: repot every couple of years, which I need to do anyway, because Paphs/phrags need it and my catts grow out of pots that fast. I’m transitioning from Orchiatta to Rexius mix where I can because needing to repot so often, there is no advantage to Orchiatta for me.
This is my inexpensive 40x magnifier. Use it like a loupe. Hold it up to your eye and bring item up to it. Amazing what you can see and identify with it as it's lighted and shows things clearly. $9.99 on Amazon.
Having a renewed interest in hydrangeas a couple of years ago, I discovered they can have things they can piggyback so I try to do orchid work before garden work now.
I had two interesting things last year that were not harmful. On a Phrag I got that came from Hadley’s collection thru Woodstream I checked the run off with 40 power (don’t ask me why???) and saw nematodes. Plant was healthy. Long story but determined they are beneficial and probably a result of the plant needing repotting before Bill got it and divided. The other thing in my cattleyas that desperately needed repotting were Orobatid mites. Tiny, again only visible at very high power. Freaked me out because they were outside the pots in the tray, so plentiful in number. I thought they were dirt/dust, but when I wiped with damp paper towel and looked with 40 x they were moving!! Tiny round black balls. I finally identified them as they became adults and you could see mouthparts/legs. Beneficial mites that feed on decaying organic material (old mix). No harm to plants. So I don’t worry about those but have worked hard to catch up on repotting from when I had my surgeries that year. And I’ve stopped looking at run off!!! Also had very small snails in one plant that went 5 years without a repot. I didn’t notice them, no damage, but gave the plant to Patrick who did and treated with slug bait. So as a precaution I put slug bait in all my pots. Moral of story: repot every couple of years, which I need to do anyway, because Paphs/phrags need it and my catts grow out of pots that fast. I’m transitioning from Orchiatta to Rexius mix where I can because needing to repot so often, there is no advantage to Orchiatta for me.
This is my inexpensive 40x magnifier. Use it like a loupe. Hold it up to your eye and bring item up to it. Amazing what you can see and identify with it as it's lighted and shows things clearly. $9.99 on Amazon.
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Thanks for the recommendation on the magnifier. It will be better than mine. I think I am helped somewhat by seldom getting a new plant and never having an orchid outside. However, I need to be on guard and have the treatment solutions available.
Yep, I never take any plants outside just because of the threat of insects, but if mice can make their way into my basement where my grow room is, then so can bugs. My room has no windows, but even though has it's own door, is near (less than 5 feet from) an exterior door, so... I open the door to my room at night to let the temps drop overnight to the basement ambient temp, because even though my lights/heater go off, if the door is closed, the temps don't drop below 72. Open, I can get down to 62 in winter which is cool enough to bloom the paphs.
