I got tired of the sprays.... so...I am testing beneficial nematodes.
Not because I am anti-chemical, but because I got a plant from
a greenhouse and it infected my collection with a chemical
resistant pest. They know it is resistant, and didn't even say
anything. Despite my repotting everything that comes into my
place, this somehow had taken a hold last year. The BN's have
only been in the collection for a few weeks, so I am not proudly
proclaiming victory yet, but since the temps have been in
the mid 80's for a few weeks, and things look promising.
Claims to hunt down and kill over 250 types of pests. Safe
to pets and humans, and since I only have about 400 plants,
only runs about 30 bucks. As long as there is a food source,
they live, if not, they die off.

Good luck.. the constant chasing of pests can be annoying.

Crystal

--
http://home.comcast.net/~xtals/orchid.htm
"Diana Kulaga" wrote in message
hlink.net...
All,

I have had some probs with fungus and also, this month, either thrips or
aphids. (I vote for aphids, because I can usually see thrips.) The
streaks
in flowers on a few plants made it clear that some beasties were at work.

We treated with Physan, at 2 tsp/gal, first, before we noticed the bug
problem. A week later, we treated with Orthene. Having used Orthene
before
at label recommended dilution and seeing leaf damage afterward, I asked a
very successful local grower what strength he uses; he said 2 tsp/gal
(much
less than the label recommends, but you can't argue with his success).

The leaves on our Vandas sustained a good bit of damage right after the
treatments. They look scorched in places. Any help at all for this? I'm
really at a loss now.

To make matters worse, I recently bought a mature Asctrm. from a friend.
What happened to it is the subject of another thread. Yuck.

Diana