Identifying lice and fighting them effectively - this is how it works
All kinds of lice cause considerable problems for orchids. This applies to mealybugs and mealybugs, cup and lid scale lice as well as Aphids equally. By checking the leaves on the top and bottom every few days, you can find out about the cunning vermin in good time. Look out for these signs:
- Mealybugs and mealybugs: 1-5 mm in size, pink bodies are covered with white cotton balls
- Scale insects: 1-2 mm in size, females sit under rounded humps on the leaves, males are winged and mobile
- Aphids: 2-7 mm in size, green, yellow, brown or black, often stay on the underside of the leaves
also read
- This is how your orchids get rid of intrusive lice - tips for combating them
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- These pests target blue spruce - tips for combating them
By including high-proof alcohol in the countermeasures, you increase the success of the fight. First give the affected orchid a vigorous shower of water before quarantining the plant. Wipe the infected parts of the plant with an alcohol-soaked cloth. The small tank from
Scale insects or you can dissolve the waxy cover of mealybugs by dabbing the pests one by one with cotton swabs soaked in alcohol.How to take effective action against spider mites - tips on the symptoms
The second large group of vermin comes from the insect class of arachnids. Among the more than 1,200 species, it is explicitly the common spider mite (Tetranychus urticae) that targets orchids. Furthermore, the orchid spider mite (Brevipalpus californicus) has specialized in exotic flowers as a subspecies. You can recognize an infestation by these characteristics Spider mites:
- Common spider mite: 0.25-0.8 mm in size, colored yellow, green, orange or red, forms extremely delicate, white webs
- Orchid spider mite: 0.1 mm small, does not form webs, lives as a loner, only spreads slowly
- The most common symptom are speckled leaves with a silvery sheen
Once you have found these vermin on your orchid, shower the affected orchid thoroughly - if the species can tolerate it. To the Spider mites To combat them, biological insecticides based on neem oil have proven to be excellent in practice. If you are confronted with a die-hard colony of spider mites, an acaricide such as Spider Mite-Free Kanemite by Dr. Stähler, the vermin to finish off.
Tips
It may seem like a truism, but it still deserves your attention. One knowledgeable well-groomed Orchid develops a high level of resistance against vermin of all kinds on its own. Set up in a bright, warm location, dipped weekly in warm water and fertilized every 4 weeks, cunning pests and pathogens have little chance.