sandra wrote:
Ewww, fungust gnats.....
What causes them, what should I do water less?
Momma fungus gnats... *grin* Fungus gnats are reasonably harmless,
but are a sign of decomposition in your potting mix. A little
decomposition is probably a good thing (a lot is obviously not). Fungus
gnats look a lot like fruit flies. I have a fungus gnat flying around
my office right now. Driving me nuts...

If you want something harmless, get some Gnatrol, which is a variety of
Bacillus israeliensis (I think). They give the little gnat larvae
serious tummy aches. They used to make a reasonable hobby size of that,
now you might have to buy a gallon.

Failing finding a suitable supply of gnatrol, you could just use sticky
traps. A yellow piece of cardstock covered with some rubber cement
works, or you can buy traps already pre-stickied. I see them at the
hydroponics store. The gnats like bright colors, and get stuck.
Doesn't get them all, but keeps them down to a minimum. You can get
yellow traps or blue traps. I think they are supposed to attract
different bugs. Not a bad idea to have some around to monitor pest
populations.

The potting medium doesn't look broken down, and a lot of my phals are
spiking should I repot?
These little animals are sort of tiny, my sister showed me a photo of
some mealy bugs yesterday, so they can't be it, and none of them are on
the leaves either.

See if you can find a picture of springtails on the internet. That
is my guess. They are effectively harmless, but kind of gross. Like
fungus gnats, they also thrive in decomposing potting mix.



--
Rob's Rules: http://littlefrogfarm.com
1) There is always room for one more orchid
2) There is always room for two more orchids
2a) See rule 1
3) When one has insufficient credit to obtain more
orchids, obtain more credit