Pests!

Pests

PESTS

Ok, the orchids have been outside since around late April and have just come inside the greenhouse. I've found a few plants with mealy bugs and scale (thank you ants for farming these little pests). Not to mention I've seen spiders (I have to fess up I have a real fear of spiders, but don't intentionally kill them), a wasp or two, one honeybee (very rare) and signs of something boring in the pear branches onto which I have mounted a few orchids. The "boring critter" is very small and there are pin holes in the wood and they are pushing out fine saw dust. They don't appear to bother the orchids, but the saw dust is annoying and messy.

So yesterday (Sep. 20), I took my trusty Q-tip saturated with rubbing alcohol and did my best to get rid of the mealy bugs. I then took a cloth saturated with rubbing alcohol to wipe & remove the scale from the leaves (staghorn fern and 2 small orchids). Later in the afternoon I closed everything up, turned off the fans and set off a Raid fumigator bomb. What I like about these is that they do not leave an oily residue behind and the fog penetrates deep into cracks. The active in these Raid fumigators is Permethrin.

My plans are to repeat the above every week for 6 weeks. I just don't want a surprise in the dead of winter to find out I've got some major nasty.

I'm really not happy with the effectiveness of the Permethrin. I have found scale on a couple of plants that I had manually removed the scale in addition to the Permethrin treatments. I switched over to Bayer Advanced All in One Rose and Flower Care (the diluted stuff and not the concentrate) this past weekend. Obviously I turn off the fans, wear gloves, long pants and sleeves when I spray this stuff. We will see if it does the job. On a positive note I THINK I have the mealy bugs under control on at least the one problem plant (an Epidendrum that is in spike).

October 24, 2008 - The Bayer Advanced All in One Rose and Flower Care seems to be doing the trick. I think both mealy bugs and scale are under control and they may all be cleared up. I'm definitely going to wait before I declare the greenhouse completely pest free. I will still see a beetle on the floor scurrying between paver cracks from time to time, but no obvious signs of damage on anything. I'll definitely be on the lookout for signs of unwelcome dinner guests on my orchids.

A couple of weeks ago I was opening up the greenhouse to let it air out and lower the humidity. I had the rear vent open and opened up both doors. It was a pleasant day so I decided to just grab a chair and sit in the greenhouse to enjoy it a little. About 5 minutes after opening up the doors I had an unexpected visitor. A squirrel came in the front door and and took an immediate right near my Passion flower vines, Sobralias and my Phragmipedium. It looked like he was carrying a pecan in his mouth. Before he had a chance to make his way inside very far I told him "Get out of here". To my surprise he turned around and left....along with his pecan. I'm really glad I didn't go back in the house after opening the doors. I could have come back to real mess. Even worse would be if I had come back while he was inside and I blocked his exit (squirrels can get spooked and go nutso trying to escape....THINK pots and pots of orchids in the way). Another scenario that would have been bad is if I had just closed him up in there until the next morning!

Also I have nothing but good things to say about the Bayer spray. It is over 2 months since the mealy bug & scale problem and they all appear to be gone. Note that I said "APPEAR". I just hope that they do not come back.

December 18, 2008 - I had not mentioned that a couple of weeks ago I had a number of green caterpillars munching on my Brugmansia. I manually pulled them off and threw them out in the cold. I had considered giving them as food to the preying mantis, but I had sprayed the Bayer Advanced All in One Rose & Flower Care a couple of months before. Obviously it wasn't hurting the caterpillars, but they were also eating a plant loaded with tons of toxins in the leaves too. I didn't want to chance hurting the mantis.

January 31, 2009 - That Brugmansia is a real pain in the whazoo! I just noticed that it's got spider mites on it. Grrrrr!!!!! It's right next to a Sobralia and they sometimes touch so I'm going to have to give it a through exam for the latest pest! Guess I better head to Home Depot and get some of the Bayer Advanced again (if it's good for spider mites).