Joanna -- I am not one of the fortunate ones who can see mites with a
magnifier, but the damage is easily visible, even to me. If you have them,
and don't want to take them outside for a real spray, as Pat suggested, then
you are going to have to treat more than once (I generally figure at least
3x). The oil sprays are pretty effective, with a little soap added, as long
as you get good thorough coverage. Alcohol also works, and may be easier to
spray into all the little nooks and crannies. The thing with all of these
home remedies, however, is that they only kill the mites they touch. Miss
one pregnant female, or a breeding pair, and they're back off to the races
in no time. Kenni

"J Fortuna" wrote in message
news:koZag.7292$Go6.5195@trnddc04...
Ok, unfortunately I am beginning to suspect that my orchids do have mites!
:-(

1) the honeydew -- I have seen some on the corners of the leaves of the
one that has had lots of honeydew in general
2) there was a spider web on this orchid as well

What do I do now? Please remember that I live in a condo, so spraying with
pesticides is not an option. Also how quickly do I have to act? I do not
know whether I will have time to treat all 51 orchids + the bay leaf tree
in our condo this upcoming weekend (not sure whether I ever will have the
time to do it come to think of it, given my 5 months old). The orchids
generally appear healthy for now, but I know that if they indeed have
mites this won't last. Yikes!

Given the two points above, is there any chance that it's not mites after
all? Even a remote one? How do I tell for sure? I would so like to avoid
having to treat my entire collection, but I don't want to loose it either.

Joanna