White furry bugs appeared on the orchid: how to get rid of parasites with a tail, photos and videos from flower growers

Pests on indoor plants are always a nuisance and additional trouble for a grower. A spider mite on an orchid is a special problem, because the arthropod pest is very small in size, and it is very difficult to spot it without a magnifying glass. Sometimes it becomes clear about the presence of ticks after a significant increase in the colony of parasites, which, under favorable conditions, form up to 20 generations per season.

Description

Looking closely, the velvety specks turn out to be insects. oval and color:

White;
Pinkish;
Or beige.
These bugs look like scattered flour.
Read also: Peach: varieties, their description, photos and cultivation features

It seems that they are sprinkled with flour... This insect is called a mealybug. You can see a photo of white fluffy bugs with a tail above.

There are more than 1,800 species of this pest around the world. We meet 5 types of mealybug:

Bristly;
Grape;
Citrus;
Root;
Comstock worm, found in Central Asia and the Caucasus.

Mealybug belongs to the family Hemiptera or arthropod worms.

Male and female are completely different from each other. The male is flying little moth or a front sight without a mouth opening.

But what we see on the orchid is a female, can measure from 2 to 5 mm. The velvety coating is a yarn of wax with which it surrounds itself to protect it from the sun and drying out.

For reproduction, a mealybug does not need to have a pair at all, that is, the development of an egg into an adult body occurs without fertilization.

Attention! Before breeding, females try to climb into secluded places, inaccessible to the sun and moisture. These can be leaf axils, buds or dry scales that form on orchids as a result of the death of old leaves.

What does a spider mite look like?

In the Tetranychidae family, there are up to 1270 arthropod species in 95 genera, distributed everywhere, with the exception of the harsh Antarctica. Representatives of about 35 genera parasitize on orchids, but there are several that are especially common.

Herbivorous mites feed on cell sap and actually kill the affected flower. They have microscopic dimensions - their oval bodies do not exceed 1 mm in length. Depending on the species, the color can be different - whitish, dirty yellow, reddish-brick or orange, in some species two dark spots are clearly visible on the back. The oral apparatus is a piercing-sucking type. Each of the four pairs of legs has five segments.

In the process of development, spider mites go through five stages:

eggs, as a rule, round, about 0.15 mm in diameter, white or orange-red, are laid on the underside of the leaf plate and covered with a characteristic thin silvery cobweb;
white or red larvae;
two stages of a nymph, often yellow-greenish;
imago, or adults.

In addition to the harm done to plants - sucking out juices, ticks also carry pathogens of many viral infections, as well as a dangerous disease of orchids - gray rot.

What is the danger?

The danger of being hit by the worm in the next:

Mealybugs are sucking insectsfeeding on the juices of the plant, while they inject poison. The orchid slows down its growth and development, the leaves turn yellow and fall off;
Female insect release a transparent sugar substance - honeydew, which serves as an optimal environment in which fungal infections develop. Extensive mealybug infestation is fraught with flower death.

Processing during flowering

How serious damage arthropods cause to an orchid during flowering depends on their number. When the cobweb spreads to buds and flowers, it means that the colonies of plant-eating animals have multiplied many times. If you find a problem on time, then you can do with folk remedies - alcohol, a solution of laundry soap, a hot shower. A blooming orchid will not suffer from this.

The white web is almost invisible. As soon as you catch your eye, you must immediately:

isolate the orchid from the home summer garden (it is better to process all the plants);
cut off damaged leaves from bulbs, buds and flowers;
get out of the soil mixture, clean the roots, remove dry parts, and process the cores and trunk with tweezers;
rinse in water with laundry soap, not forgetting about the window and curtains;
treat with an insecticide;
dry and transplant into a new soil mixture.

In advanced cases, when the orchid is completely infected, chemical poisons cannot be dispensed with. Unfortunately, they harm the delicate petals and the flowering stops. The main task in this case is to save the plant itself. Good luck when processing falls in the last phase of flowering.

Infection routes

Mealybugs attack weakened orchids contained with violations of conditions of care.

Shaggy bugs appear on the orchid due to poor conditions.

This happens when:

The lack of natural sunlight;
Low air humidity;
Winter - short daylight hours;
Moderate watering, especially in Cattleya, Cumbria, Cymbidiums, Dendrobiums and Dormant Carrots;
Plants overfed with nitrogen fertilizers;
Flowers arrived from distant countries, not treated with insecticides and quarantine.

Parasites are extremely rarely live on healthy orchidssince they produce antibodies that repel insects.

Reasons for the appearance

Dry and hot indoor air contributes to the appearance of mites on indoor plants. And they are brought in by chance with the wind, on clothes, they can be brought from the store along with a flower. Once in a comfortable microclimate, insects actively reproduce and spread to other indoor plants. Insufficient watering, low indoor humidity (30–40%) and temperatures above + 25 ° C accelerate this process. With an increase in humidity, the development of larvae begins to slow down - this feature can be successfully used in the fight against spider mites.

Ways to fight

In order to prevent the spread of mealybugs to all pets, it is necessary not only to water the plant, and each time carefully examine it for the presence / absence of pests.

If this did happen, then:

The orchid must be urgently isolated, be sure to check the nearby plants;
Remove visible worms with cotton swabs by wetting the sticks with vodka, calendula tincture or water;
Arrange a hot shower of 40 - 50 degrees for the orchid, which is destructive for the mealybug;

Folk methods

When there are no chemicals at hand or there is no desire to use them, you can prepare folk remedies:

Garlic tincture... Crush or grate 5 cloves of garlic, pour 0.5 liters of boiling water, leave for 4 hours, filter, grease the leaves and tubers with a brush with undiluted solution;
Vodka with soap... For 1 liter of water 15 gr. liquid soap and 10 ml of alcohol or 20 ml of vodka. It is applied to places of accumulation of insects.You must first try on a small area of the orchid, as there are plants that are very sensitive to alcohol;
Oil solution... 1 liter of warm water, 2 tablespoons of olive oil, mix thoroughly and spray the flower;

Folk remedies help fight mealybugs at home.
Horsetail decoction... 100 g Pour horsetail with 1 liter of boiling water, cool to 40 - 50 degrees, spray the orchid.

After these procedures, you must carefully dab the leaf axils and a growth point.

Mechanical cleaning

It will be very problematic to get rid of mealybugs without mechanical cleaning. What is it:

With a damp swab or cotton swab we clean the orchid from visible pests;
If the peduncle or buds of the plant are affected, it must be cut and discarded;
From old leaves, dry scales remain on the stems / pseudobulbs - they need to be removed, as there may be clutches of eggs or the worms themselves. Remove the latter with a damp swab;
Mealybugs love settle on young leaves or orchid sprouts that have concentrated a large amount of amino acids. It is quite difficult to remove the pest from there. You can try to do this with a toothpick or soak the orchid removed from the substrate in a soapy solution - the worms themselves will crawl out of there;

At home, you can remove the mealybug yourself.
If the plant is sympodial, remove the covering leaves from the young pseudobulb, they still do not live long.

Important! The orchid must be transplanted into fresh soil by treating the roots with an insecticide or one of the folk remedies. If the lesion is extensive, treat the plant with a fungicide.

To prevent re-infection - windowsill, glass washed with detergentx funds, curtains are erased. You can treat the plant with fungicides.

Chemicals

Chemicals are produced in two forms:

Granules or sticks... This is not suitable for orchids because of the composition of the soil in which they grow and the content of fertilizers in the preparations themselves;
Liquids or emulsions... Oil emulsions are applied to areas where insects are sitting. But you need to know: since the oil clogs the stomata of the plants, this causes the flowers to die in large areas of the pest.

In turn, liquid preparations are divided into:

Contact - damaging pests in contact with the insect itself, effective only on young individuals. These include Fozalon;
Gastric - enters the stomach of the worm through the mouth opening. Aktelik, Aktara, Vertimek;
Systemic - when using this agent, the plant absorbs it into itself, becoming poisonous to parasites. Phosphamide, Rogor.

Substances acting on the mealybug:

Malathion;
Diazinon;
Dimethoad;
Parathion.

To ensure you get rid of the mealybug, it is necessary to carry out 4-5 treatments every 7-10 days with drugs with a different active ingredient. During the processing period, the flower should not be kept in bright sunlight.

Symptoms of orchid infestation by ticks

Visually, the presence of arthropods is difficult to detect without armed with an optical device, due to their microscopic size. A characteristic feature of the settlement of spider mites on flowers is the appearance of a silvery cobweb on the underside of the leaf plates. If you press it lightly with some object, a reddish liquid substance from crushed eggs is formed.

It is even more difficult with flat beetles - their presence becomes obvious when the colony has already significantly increased in number. However, an experienced orchivodist, looking closely, will notice small white specks on the leaf plates, as if from pricks with a thinnest needle - this dies off the leaf tissue at the bite sites.

Over time, the dots merge into large spots, which then turn brown, and the leaf finally dies. It is quite possible to see the same injections at the base of the stem, in the axils of the leaves, the main thing is to carefully examine your orchids so as not to miss the time, after which it is no longer possible to try to save the plant.

Prevention measures

You can face a mealybug infestation if you don't stick to optimal conditions of detention orchids:

Humidity;
Temperature;
Shine;
Preventive measures.

For an orchid, it is necessary to constantly carry out preventive measures.

Important! Mealybug spreads at low humidity and temperatures of 24-27 degrees, mainly in winter.

You can get a full-blown epidemic if you don't pay attention at the first manifestations of infection:

Sticky drops;
White bloom;
Yellowing of the leaves.

To prevent infection necessary:

Observe the optimal conditions for growing orchids;
Keep the plant clean, that is, regularly, at least once every 2 months, wipe the leaves and tubers with wet tampons. You can moisten them in a solution of succinic acid, 1 tablet per 1 liter of water, you get a double benefit;
At each watering, carefully examine the flower for the presence of white bloom and sugar drops;
In spring and autumn, carry out preventive treatment with insecticides or acaricides. You can spray with a solution of Neem oil or apply folk recipes;
When purchasing a new tropical beauty, observe precautions:
If there is white bloom, drops of syrup or yellowing of the leaves, refuse to buy;
Remove all dry scales left over from dead leaves;
Place the purchased plant in quarantine for 2-3 weeks, after pretreating the flower from pests.

Small tips for optimal content:

Provide good lighting in accordance with the type of orchid;
Optimum temperature for keeping the plant;
Regular ventilation of the room, but without drafts;
Timely watering and spraying;
Do not overdo it with nitrogen fertilizers;
Ambient air humidity;
Preventive examination and treatment.

Types of mites parasitizing on orchids

In addition to spider webs, on orchids there are flat beetles or false spider mites that do not weave a cobweb and reproduce in other environmental conditions. It is quite obvious that you can choose the right way to deal with arthropods only by understanding and determining for sure the correct species that has settled on an orchid.

Indeed, some mites prefer dry air and high temperatures, while others, on the contrary, develop normally and give birth to offspring in conditions of high humidity in the room with relatively low thermometer readings.

The most common types of spider mites on orchids are:

Common (Tetranychus urticae) - soft-bodied arthropods with a convex upper and flat lower part of the body 0.4–0.6 mm long in females and 0.3–0.45 mm in males. Larvae with three pairs of legs, transparent, pale greenish to greenish brown in color with two dark spots on the sides. Adult wintering females acquire an orange-reddish color at the beginning of autumn and already have 8 legs.
Carmine (Tetranychus cinnabarinus) - adults are dark red or burgundy brown with an elliptical body. The larvae and eggs are reddish, and the nymphs are yellow-green.
Turkestan (Tetranychus turkestani) - in size and anatomical structure does not differ from the common tick, the color of the calf is yellow-green, in wintering females in autumn and early spring it is bright red.

Flat mites differ from arachnoid mites anatomically: their body is dissected with transverse sutures into parts - anterior, posterior and middle. The following types of flat beetles or false spider mites, as a rule, settle on orchids more often than others:

Phalaenopsis flat mite or Phalaenopsis flatling (Tenuipalpus pacificus) - first described on Phalaenopsis, but, despite its name, it parasitizes on many types of orchids. An extremely small pest - the reddish body of the female barely exceeds 0.3 mm, and the male usually reaches no more than 0.25–0.27 mm. It differs from the greenhouse flat-calf by the presence of two antenna-shaped setae on the back of the abdomen. Eggs are red, oblong, larvae of the same color, six-legged. A very secretive arthropod, in comparison with its other relatives, hides on an orchid in shaded places that it rarely leaves - in foliage folds, at the base of the stem and young roots, in the axils of leaf plates.
The greenhouse flat beetle (Brevipalpus obovatus) is a terracotta-red arthropod with an ovoid body, covered on the back with a mesh pattern. And eggs, and larvae, and nymphs are colored in different red shades, therefore, in the environment of orchivods, it is often called a red flat mite.
The oncidium flat tick (Brevipalpus oncidii) is a small arachnid with an oval orange-red body up to 0.3 mm long. Their eggs are also reddish. In addition to direct damage to leaf tissue, it injects toxic saliva into plant cells.

Found on orchids and the root onion or bulb mite (Rhizoglyphus echinopus) - elliptical arthropods of white or light yellow color with strong brownish legs. Practically inaccessible to the view, since it parasitizes on the roots and at the base of the stems.

Shield and false shield

There are thousands of species of this insect in the world. However, these two are capable of hitting the orchid. Most often, the scale insect and false shield can be found on a plant of the phalaenopsis species. Examine the flower carefully. If on its leaves you notice small bumps of brown or yellowish color, then in front of you are adult female pests. If you knock off this growth, you can see the grayish body of the insect. The scale insect larvae are very small and mobile, they constantly migrate through the plant in search of the best habitat. The pest feeds on orchid juices and, with active reproduction, completely blocks the normal life of the flower.

How to fight:

Rinse the plant thoroughly under running water.
Examine the flower carefully and remove pests from all leaves and pseudobulbs.
Following the instructions, prepare a solution of actellic or phytoverm and process the orchid. Repeat the procedure after 7 to 10 days.
Transplant the plant into a new substrate.
Don't forget about prevention. Rinse foliage and substrate under running water for a month.

Thrips

If you notice that a small black stick with two pairs of wings folded on its back is running briskly around your exotic friend, it means that the exotic was attacked by thrips. The pest is practically invisible, because an adult barely reaches 2.5 millimeters. The insect is very dangerous, as it affects not only foliage, but also the root system and peduncles. Over time, so-called dressings form on the roots, and on the flowers there are black dots with round holes inside. The foliage withers, turns yellow and gradually dies off. Thrips lays its offspring in the leaf tissue itself. When the larvae turn into tiny greenish worms, they begin to actively absorb the plant sap.

How to fight:

Spray the orchid with phytoverm or actellik once every ten days. Repeat the procedure three times.
For 5 days, rinse the substrate and foliage under warm, running water.

What diseases do insect pests cause in orchids?

Moving from one plant to another, pests can infect phalaenopsis with viruses or fungi. There are several insect-borne viruses dangerous for dendrobiums - ring, tobacco, etc.Effective methods of combating viral diseases have not yet been developed, so the infected orchid has to be destroyed.

Fungi often grow in the secretions of aphids and other parasites. They cause black spots and rotting spots. To destroy the fungus, the orchid is washed with soap and water and sprayed with a chlorhexidine solution or fungicide. If the roots are damaged, the flower is removed from the soil for several days, the roots are treated and transplanted.

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Photo

Next, you can see a photo of a spider mite:

Biological characteristic

Ticks are part of the arachnid family of more than 54,000 species. They are microscopic in size and settle mainly in the upper soil layers, rich in decaying organic matter.

General description:

the body is whole or consists of divided parts with a border closer to the front, length 0.2-0.4 mm;
there is a protective cover in the form of a chitinous shell or a hard shield;
usually 6 pairs of legs, of which 4 are hind legs with claws and pedunculated suckers, a pair of anterior pincer-shaped chelicerae forming a piercing-cutting oral structure, a pair of pedipalps (leg tentacles) that are part of the structure of the oral organ.

Varieties

Most ticks are free-living, non-parasitic saprophages that feed on decaying organic matter. However, there are varieties that parasitize vegetation, represent a veterinary hazard to animals and transmit diseases to humans.

On orchids appear:

armored - prefers to settle in the soil, feeding on rotting parts of plants;
false, or white spider web - entangles the vegetative mass of the orchid with a thin white cobweb;
flat-bodied - the body is oval, flattened, bristly, yellow-red;
root - has increased endurance, retaining viability without nutrition for a long time, feeds on organic residues and underground plant parts, is very dangerous for orchids, because often invisible;
red spiderweb - is considered the most dangerous, because has immunity to the effects of chemicals, the color is in shades of yellow-red;
bulbous - settles mainly on pseudobulbs, the color is brown;
phalaenopsis - more often affects phalaenopsis in shaded places (leaf sinuses, near the base of peduncles, at the roots), but is able to multiply on other orchid varieties, the color is red;
greenhouse - looks like a phalaenopsis, but differs from the latter in a flat-bodied structure with a terracotta base color and a mesh pattern.

Preventive measures

To minimize the risk of mealybug infestation on your orchid, take the following steps:

do not allow waterlogging of the soil and its oversaturation with nitrogenous fertilizers;
maintain cleanliness in the pot and outside it - remove debris and dead leaves in time, wash the surface of the pot and windowsill, coasters with hot water;
new plants are kept in quarantine for two weeks, carefully examining for signs of pest infestation;
install mosquito nets on windows to prevent the introduction of parasites by the wind.

To prevent the appearance of a spider mite:

regularly spray the orchid with increased dry air or maintain the required level of humidity;
fallen leaves are removed in time;
once a month the flower is treated with a weak solution of "soft" biological insecticides.

To exclude soil contamination by podura, you should adhere to the following rules:

purchase flowers from specialized trade departments;
do not overfeed the orchid with organic fertilizers;
provide it with good drainage, use breathable substrates;
maintain the required air humidity and proper watering.

The main preventive measure remains the implementation of the rules for caring for an exotic beautiful orchid, which requires a certain level of humidity, heat, lighting, and the composition of the substrate.A healthy plant is usually too tough for insect pests; they, as a rule, choose the most weakened specimens.

Have white furry bugs appeared on your orchid? Most likely, it is a mealybug pest. Under what conditions can it appear on orchids? What is the risk of the mealybug invasion?

We will talk about this and much more in this article, but for now we will find out what are the first signs of infection with this pest?

First, on the tropical beauty appear small velvet oval specks, there may be a few of them - 1-2 pieces. However, this is already a good reason to sound the alarm.

In the article, we will tell you in detail what to do if white hairy bugs appear on the orchid and how to get rid of them.

Root worm

This pest is one of the most dangerous for all plants. It is considered a close relative of the mealybug, but in the process of evolution, it preferred an underground lifestyle.

The pest is an insect with a body size of 1-2 mm. Therefore, with a small number, it is difficult to detect it. The rootworm prefers to feed on the roots of the plant. For the most part, it is localized in the center of the earthen coma, but in a small amount it can also be found on the root collar, crawling 5-10 mm above the soil level.

The danger of the pest is that it not only sucks the nutritious juice from the roots, but also injects specific substances into the plant tissues, which completely change metabolic processes in the tissues, which leads to a depressed plant state. To detect white bugs in the ground, orchids must be regularly inspected and, at the first sign, start a fight.

Risk factors

Mealybug affects weakened plants, practically without attacking healthy ones. Infection of orchids occurs in the event of metabolic disorders in the plant. There can be two reasons for this:

excess fertilization of the plant;
improper living conditions - lack of light and dry air (which is typical for urban housing in winter).

In both cases, the composition of the sap of the plant changes, which makes it vulnerable to the pest.

Helpful!

The optimum temperature for the reproduction and development of these beetles ranges from 24-25 ° C, so thermophilic orchid species are more likely to become their prey.

What to do to prevent pests from appearing?

In order to avoid the invasion of pests, it is necessary to carry out various preventive measures:

regularly inspect the plant for dark spots, growths, leaf and stem deformations;
place the flower in a place where there is no food (in particular, fruits and vegetables);
an orchid that grows outside (in summer), hang it at a height that is not accessible to insects;
regularly rinse the substrate with running water (room temperature), removing self-prepared top dressing from it (coffee grounds, tea leaves, etc.);
periodically let the soil dry completely, since some white bugs prefer moist soil;
place sticky tapes. One of the most effective remedies recommended by flower growers in the spring and summer;
process the leaves with a solution of alkaline soap (household).

In addition, it is worth remembering that regular flower treatment is one of the best preventive measures for the appearance of white bugs and insects other types.

White bugs often infect orchids. However, competent actions to destroy them and timely prevention will help restore the active growth and flowering of the flower, and in the future, prevent its infection.

How to get rid of white bugs on an orchid

Delicate tropical exotic orchids require careful care, in return they give original and long flowering. Not only to disrupt this process, but also to cause tangible harm to the plant, parasitic insects can destroy it.To effectively combat them, you need to identify them on time and correctly.