What to do if midges get into orchids

Sciarides in orchids

Whiteflies in orchids

Thrips in orchids

Remedies for midges in orchids

For more than a year, orchid has been a favorite plant of flower growers. Cases when there are midges in orchids that harm the plant. Therefore, it is natural that getting rid of insects is necessary quickly.

Where are the midges in orchids?

Often black midges (their larvae) are brought with purchased soil. After planting flowers and watering them, quickly multiplying insects appear on the leaves. If they appeared in only one pot, very soon they would settle in neighboring ones, if the living conditions in them were suitable.

The most important condition for the reproduction of midges is high soil moisture. An insect is also capable of starting from the fact that the plant is watered too often and too much. In order to know what to do, it is important to understand what kind of midges appeared in the orchid flower pots.

Types of midges

It is important to know what kind of midges wound up in orchids in order to find an effective way to fight. To do this, it is worth taking a look at the appearance of insects and determine how often they planted plants.

Sciarides

Most often in small midges in orchids - this sciarides, black insects, 3-5 cm long. People call them the midge. In reality, these are fruit or mushroom mosquitoes that look like small flies. They lay eggs in the ground, after which worm-shaped larvae of white color begin to develop there. Sciarides do not harm plants, but they larvae feed roots of seedlings, weakened plants and seedlings. Places of damage become foci of rot and fungus.

Whiteflies

Sometimes white orchids are visible on orchids or photo flowers. But these are butterflies - whiteflies. They hide perfectly and are able to fly quickly, you just have to touch the plant. Most often these house plant pests dense leaves are not interested, they prefer the delicate skin of orchids. The insects themselves and their larvae feed on the juice of this plant, extracting it from the leaves. If not fight whitefly on indoor flowers, the plant withers, the leaves turn yellow and curl. Larvae and eggs of a light-colored insect. You can notice them under the bark, leaves or on their surface.

Thrips

In the pot with an orchid, another species is found - thrips. These are small insects up to 2.5 mm. They cause significant harm to all types of orchids. They resemble sticks with two pairs of wings folded on their backs. Most often they hide in the ground, prefer a nocturnal lifestyle, so it is extremely difficult to notice them during the day. To make sure that thrips settled on the flower, you can approach it at night. One of the signs of damage is dark spots on the leaves. These insects lay eggs directly in the leaves, hatched larvae begin to eat leaf tissue. As a result, the leaves darken, covered with small holes, die off. Such "midges" affect not only the leaves, but also the flowers and the roots.

Fruit midges

It happens that fruit orchids appeared in the orchid or onion. This insect, up to 3 mm long, eats sour fruits and vegetables, rotted plant debris. This insect can live in the soil, if you water it with tea leaves, sprinkle with tea.Half-matured peat or moss can attract midges. If the soil in the pot is too moist, one can expect Drosophila to appear soon. These midges do not harm plants, but the fact of their appearance indicates that the soil is too wet, which harms the plant.

How to deal with midges in orchids

In order to defeat the midge, it is necessary to find out exactly which insects settled in the pots. The answer to this question determines what needs to be done:

• Drosophila should be destroyed without the use of chemicals. You just need to remove what attracts insects to the plant: tea or moss, reduce watering. It is important to ensure that food debris does not sour or rot. Depriving food midges, one should expect their complete disappearance. To speed up the process, you can use Velcro for flies or homemade midge traps;
• Scyaride can be withdrawn, but difficult. In order not to bring the larvae together with the soil, it is necessary to use special soils that have been sterilized in advance. If the substance is prepared at home, you need to take care of its safety on your own. To do this, it is well shed with water, left to drain. After that, lay out in the cold for several days. You can not fertilize plants with thick coffee, tea, fish bones and others.

If, after the appearance of a new orchid in the house, the question arose of how to get rid of midges in orchids, you can use sprays to kill insects. They are treated with shelves, window frames, window sills. To get rid of the larvae, they use preparations for soil treatment - Bazudin, Thunder 2 and the like. For scaring away, you can put citrus peels, garlic, lavender;

• Whitefly butterflies can be expelled with insecticides, which need to be treated with plants every 5 days. Do it 3-4 times. They use Sherpa, Fury, Bazudin, Actellik, etc. You can wash the leaves with water and laundry soap. Monthly spill the substrate with plenty of water;
• If thrips turned out to be midges on orchids, they must be treated with Actillic three times in ten days. For prevention, the leaves of the plant must be washed every five days. Soil is shed every month.

General recommendations

If you get small midges in orchids, you need to get rid of them as soon as possible. The chemical remedy for midges in orchids is quite effective, but it can not always be used. Therefore, you should keep in mind home remedies that will get rid of midges.

• If small midges are wound up in the soil of an orchid, you can place an adhesive tape near the pot. To further attract midges, water tinted with yellow paint is placed next to it. The tape must be changed regularly, until the midges are completely removed.
• Without figuring out why midges got into orchids, you can simply transplant a houseplant into a new, safe, ground. Rinse the roots under running water. The plant itself should be carefully inspected, removing damaged parts. Land must undergo special treatment.
• If midges appear in the orchid, you can use a slightly pink solution of potassium permanganate. Water it remedy for midges until complete disposal of insects.
• To remove insects, rinse the plant in the shower. Water will destroy insects. This must be done every 3-4 days.
• Sprinkle with dry mustard. The “powder” should be updated every week until the signs of insect living have completely disappeared.
• Use river sand that is pierced in the oven. It is poured over the ground. If after a few days the insects still remain, the procedure should be repeated.

Now that you know what to do if there are midges in the orchids. It will not be difficult for you to rid your pet of small pests.