How to get rid of mealybug on an orchid - recommendations for caring for the plant

Good day. I just love to watch a blooming orchid. I can admire this beautiful flower in my house for half an hour.

Alas, because of my carelessness, I allowed her to die. Mealybug pretty quickly destroyed my favorite flower.

Later I learned about the actions that I needed to take when I first discovered this pest. I want to warn as many people as possible now, so I’ll tell you in detail how to get rid of the mealybug on the orchid. Do not repeat my mistakes!

Orchid Diseases - Causes and Possible Remedies

As has been said more than once, the beautiful orchids have become the darlings of many gardeners, which is due not only to the beauty of this plant, but also to the long flowering period. Not many beautiful flowers can decorate our home with their flowers for more than six months, as an orchid often does.

In case you notice a strange whitish tinge on the leaves of your orchid, you should not be afraid, you should act, because this means that your plant has problems that you can handle. We will tell you how.

The reasons for the appearance of such a raid can be most often two:

• the presence of a parasite on orchids called mealybug. It hides on a plant in the form of motionless tubercles. It is not so difficult to detect it, since it practically does not move, which also facilitates the fight against it, but even so, it can cause significant harm to your orchid before you notice it and begin to fight it;
• high humidity, which, in the end, leads to a disease such as powdery mildew.

In this case, plaque is more reminiscent of flour or some kind of white powdery substance. If you do not act immediately in this case, you put your plant at risk of death.

Ways to get rid of white plaque

In the event that your plant has suffered from the influence of a mealybug, you need to take the following measures:

1. the first step you must take is isolating the diseased plant from others;
2. how unfortunate it does not sound, but you will have to remove the buds and existing flowers;
3. we clean the leaves of the plant with the help of a regular cotton swab, treating all hard-to-reach spots so that the harmful plaque or insects do not stay there and cause new problems for you;
4. sanitize and thoroughly inspect the windowsill and everything around the place where your orchid was, since these malicious insects can live both on the plant itself and on surrounding objects;
5. the final stage is the thorough processing of orchids with insecticides, which are contained in such preparations as dimethoate pasration, malathion or diazinon. Proper treatment should take place in the form of spraying 3-4 times with an interval of 10 days.

If plaque has caused powdery mildew, you can do the following:

Avoiding Orchid Disease

In order to avoid similar problems, we recommend that you just constantly monitor your orchid, choosing the optimal content for it, while constantly rubbing its leaves, monitoring the purity of the plant.

One of the most common and quite dangerous insects that can significantly damage the health of your orchid is a mealybug.

The insects that are located directly on the flower and do the most harm are females. They practically do not move, becoming stronger in one place and forming around themselves a white coating, similar to a cotton one. It is this raid that is the most noticeable signal that there is a malicious insect on your orchid.

When you see a raid, you can also notice the insects that are located under it, which are the worms themselves, which you need to get rid of as soon as possible, since it is they that can cause many diseases of the phalaenopsis orchid.

The action of mealybugs has a really deep detrimental effect on the plant, since they suck out the juices from orchids, at the same time, injecting poisonous substances into the flower, which makes the orchids weak, their growth slows down, the leaves fall off and turn yellow.

If the defeat of the flower is long and strong, then this can often cause deformation of flowers and buds, as well as the marble color of the leaves with the appearance of yellow or red spots.

The main cause of these insects on orchids is suboptimal conditions. This means that these pests almost never appear on healthy plants that are immune to them.

In most cases, they affect plants that are already weakened, whose metabolism has been impaired for one reason or another. Often such a cause may be a supersaturation with nitrogen, which is also detrimental to the health of orchids.

It is especially necessary to be especially careful in the winter period, since it is the most dangerous from the point of view of complicating the creation of the necessary climate for the orchid, with the presence of proper lighting, fertilizer, temperature, moisture and the like.

What to do so that you no longer find out what a mealybug is:

• Firstly, you need to inspect all the plants that you bring home and put together with existing flowers, because this is one of the most common types of this insect falling into your flower collection. Thus, we advise you to carefully inspect all those flowers that you already have, and especially those that you have recently acquired.
• in order to protect your plants from any harmful influences, they should be subjected to regular inspection, which will help you prevent the appearance of “unexpected guests”.

Rules how to fight

From our own practice, we can advise the use of the following chemicals for processing plants for the final and reliable destruction of mealybugs: Dimethoat, Parathion, Malathion, Diazinon

In order to ensure the complete destruction of pests, these drugs will have to be used 3-4 times with an interval of 10-14 days.

How to deal with mealybug (felt) on a room orchid

Insects suck out juices from green leaves and stems, disfigure the elite of the flower world - orchids. It is easier to deal with the invasion of dangerous pests with chemicals, but it is not safe for humans and animals.

Before getting rid of the mealybug on the orchid, you need to consider several options and choose the best way.

Pest Description

Citrus and bristly mealy mealybugs depicted in the photo in the article harm the orchids. Soil species of this family of insects parasitize on the roots.

Among the people, these parasites were assigned the names “felt” and “furry lice”, reflecting the appearance of females.

What do hairy lice look like:

The color of the bristle worm is red or orange. On the back of the body, thin filaments similar to antennae grow. The body of a female citrus worm is pink or yellow. From above insects are sprinkled with flour or powder. This effect appears due to the many wax plates.

There are live-bearing species and species capable of reproduction without fertilization - parthenogenesis. Larvae move quickly, find a place to feed and prepare for molting.

Felt infection symptoms

Insects enter rooms with new indoor plants, cuttings and bouquets. Soil from the greenhouse, substrates from the store sometimes contain live females and eggs. Soil species are often found in the ground from a garden or vegetable garden.

Young shoots with orchid leaves of the Phalaenopsis genus are more affected by parasite attacks. Larvae hide behind the scales of pseudobulbs of certain species, for example, Cattleya orchids. Signs of soilworm infection are ash lumps on a substrate in a flower pot.

Pests feed on plant juices and inject their toxins into tissues. As a result, the development of shoots slows down, leaf blades turn yellow or red, fall off.If the plant is not processed on time, then generations of larvae and young females will destroy the orchid in a short time.

A careful inspection of the places of attachment of the leaves to the stem, the root zone helps to detect the problem. Insects secrete white filaments and a sugary substance that is noticeable on the outer and inner sides of leaf blades in the form of adhesive drops. Sooty fungus feeds on the sweet liquid, which is why the habitats of harmful organisms become dirty gray.

It is extremely difficult to cope with a mealybug protected by wax flakes from drying out, the action of powders or insecticide solutions. Each female lays eggs or gives rise to larvae 2-3 times during the season. At a temperature of 25 ° C, 3-4 generations of insects appear.

Physical methods and folk methods of struggle

An orchid is easier to clear of parasites at the beginning of infection. Inspect the habitats of pests: young shoots, leaves, peduncles. Egg bags with females are collected with a gauze swab. A cotton pad is moistened with tincture of calendula in alcohol at 70 ° and the plant is wiped.

To save an orchid from a mealybug, use one of the methods:

1. Insist 4-5 cloves of garlic in ½ liter of boiling water. Orchid is sprayed with a solution or only leaves are wiped on both sides.
2. Horsetail shoots of the field are poured with boiling water (1 tbsp. Per glass). The plant is treated with chilled infusion.
3. The pan is filled with raw potato peel and water, brought to a boil, heated for another 10 minutes. The solution is cooled to 40 ° C and indoor flowers are sprayed.

A soap-alcohol solution is used against orchids and adult insects on orchids. The product is prepared with 1 liter of soft water, 1 s. l liquid soap and 2 tbsp. l alcohol, strength 70 °.

The roots and flowers are pre-covered so that the solution does not get. The product is applied with a soft brush directly to the worm colony.

It has a detrimental effect on adults and larvae at a temperature of 35 ° C and above. A good result is obtained when using a hot shower for orchids (45-50 ° C).

Insecticides

To combat pest larvae, intestinal and contact chemicals are used. Young animals hatched from eggs or emerged from the mother’s womb are not covered with wax powder and threads.

Contact insecticide enters the larval body membrane and causes death. Thanks to intestinal-contact pesticides, the control of harmful insects has become more effective. After processing, all parasites that feed on the plant die.

Chemicals for spraying:

• "Fitoverm", "Vertimek" - enteric-contact insecticides of natural origin, less toxic.
• "Aktara" is a drug poisonous to a large group of plant pests. The working fluid is prepared from 2 g of powder and 2.5 l of water.
• "Calypso" is an insecticide that causes the rapid death of insects when using a solution of 0.5 ml in 1 liter of water.
• "Actellik" - a tool used on indoor plants in exceptional cases, with massive pest damage.

An insecticide that does not cope with parasites is canceled. Another drug is chosen and sprayed after 7-10 days. A strong tool is considered "Actellik."

Tips for working with drugs:

If soil pests are detected, the orchid is transplanted. The roots can be treated with an insecticide after cleansing from the ground. The flower pot is washed with water, rinsed with a weak solution of pesticide. Adhesive tapes are hung against winged males near light sources.

Infection prevention

Viral, bacterial and fungal diseases of orchids often develop in plants weakened by the attack of harmful insects. Conditions for the spread of parasites occur when crowded indoor flowers.

The condition of the orchid deteriorates with an excess of nitrogen in the soil, improper watering.

Pests or disease are less likely to affect home flowers, which are properly looked after. Orchids are watered only when the soil is dried in a pot to a depth of 1 cm. If water drains and fills the pan, then it is emptied. Dead leaves, debris from the surface of the substrate in the pot are removed. Regularly wash the windowsill and shelves with flowerpots with hot water.

In summer, when windows and doors are opened, the larvae of the felt are brought into the windows of the lower floors by gusts of wind. Flowers in the room are periodically inspected and immediately isolate suspicious specimens. Beginners are quarantined - placed separately and monitored.

When symptoms of a mealybug infection appear, they are immediately sprayed with the infusion of an insecticidal plant or with Fitoverm solution.

Mealybug and orchid control methods

The family of semi-winged totals 2,200 species, fortunately, not all of them chose the orchid. If you look closely at your plant, you will see droplets of sticky dew on the entire surface of the sheet plate, this should cause you anxiety.

The mealybug on the orchid can be seen in the axils of the leaves or in the buds, these places are my favorite. The insect looks like something shaggy, which is why it is called "shaggy louse." Males do not feed and have wings.

Causes of infection

In order for the mealybug to begin to develop, it is necessary:

• The presence of a parasite;
• Conditions for the development of the parasite.

Mealybug into the house you could bring with new flowers. When buying flowerpots, or taking as a gift, we do not always peer closely, and sometimes it is simply impossible to notice. And after some time we understand that the parasite is already at our place.

It also happens with purchased land. As if the manufacturer did not assure that the soil is clean, give preference to proven brands, and before using the soil, carefully examine it, the parasite cannot be missed.

Therefore, applying all these techniques, we will not allow him to feel optimally. A banal, daily spraying delays oviposition, or even completely stops it. But the dry air, on the contrary, is very loved by the worm.

Worm Control

If you noticed a mealybug on indoor plants, how to fight at home and not destroy a single plant, you will be prompted with instructions attached to insecticidal preparations.

The following drugs are most effective for controlling a worm:

"Actara." The drug is quite toxic. For processing, you can use it with a large plastic bag. Put a flowerpot in a bag and process it with a spray bottle, tie a bag and leave for one hour.

Watering the plants under the root with a prepared insecticide solution will also respond with a good effect. In the ground, this drug remains for up to two months, and all this time it will carefully fight the worm.

For watering, you need a solution of 1 g of the drug per liter of water, and for spraying the same solution, dilute five times.

1. "Admiral." The drug is hormonal, contact-intestinal action;
2. "Tanrek." The wide spectrum of action of the drug also works successfully with mealybug both when spraying and when applied to the soil with irrigation. Ampoules with the drug of 1.5.10 ml will satisfy any requests of flower growers. After processing the plants, they will be protected for 20 days;
3. "Spark double effect." The active substance cypermethrin in the company with permethrin quickly and effectively infects the gastrointestinal tract of the insect;
4. "Apploud." Suppressing the synthesis of chitin, the drug successfully fights both sexually mature insects and young ones.

Not chemicals

Mealybug orchid phalaenopsis, and their treatment (with photo) can be carried out only with highly effective insecticides.

Horsetail, calendula, onions and garlic, their citrus solutions, infusions, decoctions are ineffective. The worm may not like smells, but it does not die from them.

A completely different thing is a soap solution, a suspension of sunflower oil and water. By forming a film on the plant, such substances choke on the insect, and it dies.

Biological products

If a mealybug on an orchid has been seen more than once, how to get rid of it at home, so as not to use chemicals?

Among the effective means in the fight against mealybug the following drugs.

Paralyzing an insect quickly leads to its death. However, the drug itself also quickly collapses in water and soil, this must be taken into account when preparing solutions. Being a fourth-generation drug, completely harmless to warm-blooded.

They can process plants even in a living room. Insects stop feeding after 3-5 hours, on the second day they die.

However, the effect of stable purity from the pest lasts for 20-30 days. 2 milliliters of the drug dissolved in a glass of water produces a lasting effect against parasites.

It is appropriate to purchase such a preparation for use in flower greenhouses, and Fitoverm is better for indoor floriculture, although the concentration of vertimec is higher and it needs 0.2 ml per glass of water.

Fighting a mealybug is difficult, but possible. During the discovered insect will not have time to harm, but you will have time to eliminate it. Be attentive to your queens, and they will delight you with their flowering for a long time.

How to quickly get rid of a mealybug on an orchid?

Those who plant orchids must have met small white parasites in the phalaenopsis. These pests are also called shaggy lice. They are fixed in one particular place and release wax secretions, somewhat similar to cotton wool.

Another harm caused to the orchid is that this pest leaves sticky secretions that can cause the development of black mold. Therefore, get rid of the parasite as soon as possible.

Preparation for processing

First of all, it is necessary to remove the infected orchid from the remaining flowers so that they do not suffer. Phalaenopsis should be carefully examined for the existence of mealybugs, and for prevention and your own peace of mind, you can treat them with fungicides.

Buds and flowers that are damaged by the pest must be cut. The lower the better. It is also advisable to remove infected leaves, at least if there are a lot of parasites.

New processes cannot be cut, as they are very important for the development of the plant. Therefore, the only thing that can be done in this case is to peel the sprout and remove about a centimeter from the top.

The mealybug living on the core must be removed with tweezers. This part of the plant should not be very disturbed.

As for aerial roots - you need to remove the plant from the pot and carefully examine each, then it is advisable to plant phalaenopsis in a new substrate. In any case, it is better to treat aerial roots with a weak insecticide solution.

Treatment

Now, directly on how to get rid of the mealybug on the orchid. For this purpose, it is necessary to process the flower itself and the place on which it stood. This can be done with soapy water, alcohol or plain water.

The surface on which the diseased orchid was standing should also be washed with soapy water, alcohol or water. If phalaenopsis was standing on the windowsill, you must also wash the window.

It’s better to immediately check everything carefully, and remove the mealybug, wherever it is, so as not to repeat the same work repeatedly, and not to lose plants, which, in general, are not easy to grow.

The use of specialized drugs

Many recommend using fungicides in order to permanently get rid of the mealybug on a room orchid. Thanks to such means, you can achieve a truly stable result. If you look at the reviews on the forums, it will become clear that a simple soapy solution or alcohol can cope with the pest only for a period of time.

When using them, you need to be extremely careful. Drugs can damage the plant, as they have a strong effect, and the plant itself, in turn, weakens due to the mealybug.

Opponents of chemicals can try folk recipes. These are various infusions (garlic, onion and citrus peels), horsetail decoction or calendula tincture.

The plant is sprayed with finished liquid, and if you make an infusion of onion husks, you can water the substrate with it. But folk recipes, according to reviews, do not work as well as chemicals.

How to get rid of a mealybug on an orchid

It is difficult to remain indifferent when looking at orchids blooming generously on the windowsill of a residential or office space! These tropical beauties fell in love with their diverse, plentiful and long flowering that decorates any home.

Most likely, the reason for this is the mealybug on the orchid. On how to get rid of this scourge, let's figure it out in order. Tips and tricks on how to water dracaena at home.

Signs of plant damage

Mealybug is a small (up to 0.8 cm adult individual) insect pest. Can live not only on indoor plants, their garden counterparts and even trees can also be affected by this scourge.

These insects are found in different species, but all of them, first of all, are pests, and in this case it does not matter at all what they are called "according to science."

The most unpleasant thing is that some species of these pests do not even need males to produce offspring, and some species are viviparous.

In addition, they suck out juices from plants, their metabolic products (the very sticky drops on different parts of plants) attract other insects to infected pets, and contribute to the development of fungal diseases.

In the end, the plant will almost certainly die if you do not start a timely fight with the worm.

Where does it come from

Most often, a mealybug gets into the house with new plants that you purchased or received as a gift. It happens that the substrate is infected with insect eggs.

Therefore, despite the inscription on the package “processed from pests”, before replanting orchids or other indoor flowers, warm the newly purchased soil in the oven. How to do this you can find on any site about growing indoor plants.

Therefore, when any new plant gets into your home, do not rush to plant it immediately with your other favorites. Quarantine it for a couple of weeks. That is, in some other place where there are no plants nearby.

Be sure to first examine it from all sides and make sure that no parasites live in any of its parts. Inspection should be done regularly, every 3-5 days. And only if for the entire period of quarantine you have not revealed any diseases or parasites, you can put your flowers in the general company.

How to fight

If you still find a mealybug on an orchid, you need to urgently decide how to get rid of this pest. If violets are grown, planting and care at home should be known.

For this, you can use both folk remedies and chemicals of various effects. To start a fight with a worm is worth machining the plant.

To do this, with the help of cotton pads, cotton buds, toothpicks or other auxiliary materials, you need to wipe the plant, trying to remove the maximum number of visible insects and egg clutches.

In the case of orchids, it would not be regrettable, it will be necessary to remove all the flowers and buds, it is most difficult to remove pests from them, and this is their favorite place of settlement.

Most often, mechanical cleaning of plants is done using a soap solution. You can do it using laundry soap or a kitchen dishwashing detergent. Such a solution can be poured into a container with a spray and spray the entire plant.

This method will help dissolve the greasy protective film on insects and their eggs, which leads to the destruction of their protective layer, drying out and death of insects.

Judging by the reviews of gardeners, alcohol, garlic infusion or citrus fruit zest are added to the soap solution, and some struggle with the worm infestation, even using nail polish remover.

It is also necessary to wash the windowsill and windows next to the infected flower.

Be sure to inspect the roots of the plants - the source of infection of the upper parts of the plant may lie there. Fortunately, at home, orchids are grown mainly in transparent pots.

If these methods of struggle have not cured your beloved “honey”, you will have to use chemicals, which flower specialists will help pick up. It can be such drugs as Dimethoate, Parathion, Malathion, Diazinon, Calypso, Spark, Admiral, Confidant, Actellik, Aktara and a number of others.

These drugs are toxic, and their treatment of plants must be done outside of enclosed spaces using personal protective equipment for the skin and respiratory tract.

Infection prevention

In any case, if you see at least a single mealybug on an orchid, immediately find out how to get rid of it and treat your plant, otherwise you just have to throw it away!

Orchid Pests

In any greenhouse or greenhouse, pests of orchids and other plants are destroyed by chemical treatments. After such disinfection, the number of dangerous insects decreases, but the likelihood that they will appear again is quite high.

Therefore, for each species with different time intervals, there is a repeated treatment with a drug that will destroy the larva during its transition to a more adult state, when the larva becomes mobile and begins to feed on its own.

Each insect species also has its own breeding potential, which allows the species to maintain its population at the maximum level.

In nature, the population is governed primarily by predators who hunt for insect larvae and eat them with pleasure, such as ladybugs and ants.

It is important to know that insects harm plants not only by sucking juice from their soft tissues, but can also be carriers of various diseases of fungal or bacterial origin.

Therefore, as soon as you notice any suspicious depressed spots or droplets resembling dew on the leaves of orchids, first of all, the plant should be checked for the absence of indoor insects.

If animals are detected and identified, you should not panic, because at present any gardening shop provides a wide range of insect pest drugs.

Most often, orchids, like other indoor plants, are damaged by such pests:

• mealy and root mealybug,
• scale shield and false shield,
• aphid,
• whitefly
• spider mite and flat-bodied,
• mushroom mosquitoes,
• thrips

and other no less difficult to remove harmful insects that can reproduce in our room conditions year-round. Let's discuss the most common of them and further methods of dealing with each individually.

Mealybug, in my opinion - the most difficult to remove sucking insect. Although outwardly he does not look like a scale insect, he is a close relative of it.

The described species lays eggs, wrapping them with wax threads not only on plants, but also in any secluded places, but next to the plant itself intuitively so that the grown larva can safely feed independently.

Damage is caused by vaginal larvae and adult females, which through a sucking mouth apparatus pierce the cover of plant tissues and suck out nutrients from plants.

Digestive enzymes secreted by worms during soft tissue prokusov get inside and negatively affect the metabolic processes of plants. The infected plant weakens and becomes susceptible to any secondary infections.

To combat these pests of orchids, you can use an enteric-contact insecticide. Be sure to carry out at least two treatments with an interval of 10-14 days.

Before using the drug, you should pay attention to the dosage indicated in the instructions. Basically, the description of the preparation indicates proportions from the calculation for fruit and vegetable crops, and they can be more sparing than for potted inedible plants.

Therefore, the dosage for indoor plants can be slightly increased. You can use a ready-made drug for pest control - Dr. Foley from pests.

During processing, you must follow the rules of hygiene, be sure to work in a respiratory mask and gloves. Also, with a diluted preparation, all window sills and racks in the room in which the plants are located are wiped.

To prevent infection of the entire collection, as these orchid pests are residually hardy and adapt to different conditions of existence; a newly acquired plant must be quarantined in a separate room for at least a month and a half.