Joanna,

What is your reaction going to be the first time your 'tiny mite' Robert
finds and eats one of the lady bugs that doesn't follow protocol and dies on
the carpet instead of the window sill?

Bob

"J Fortuna" wrote in message
news:Xh7bg.10676$mU6.1961@trnddc07...
Thanks, Pat, Danny, Kenni, and Joe T!

Based on what you all said, I suspect that I don't have mites after all
(hopefully). I just looked carefully under all the leaves of this Phal
without a magnifying glass, and I do not see neither any mites nor any
damage. I may still get a magnifying glass this weekend and look once more
to be on the safe side, but so far at least the Phal in question looks
very healthy. I also tried the paper and circled dot method, and when I
checked again, all dots remained in their circles. And I know that we do
have real spiders in the house, so the web probably was from one of those,
as Danny suggested.

One idea that occurred to me today -- I was reminded of this by the
ladybug that I found the other day:

if I did have spider mites in the orchids after all, could I buy ladybugs
and let them roam our condo, or is that a really bad idea? I know that one
can buy ladybugs for this purpose for greenhouse use, but why not for in
the home?

Aside from having ladybugs flying around, occasional ladybug carcasses on
carpet or elsewhere, the fact that the ladybugs would eventually either
escape through cracks in windows or die, what other problems would there
be with using this solution inside one's home? Is the issue that this
would not be an effective method? I was thinking that this could be a
fairly low maintenance approach to orchid pests, since I would think that
it would be easier and take less time than taking each orchid and spraying
it thoroughly outdoors, or the homeremedies which one would have to find
time to apply several times. I was assuming that if I found mites on this
one plant, I would have to treat them all to be on the safe side, and
treating 51 orchids and 1 bay leaf plant would take more time than I have
got on an average weekend. Time is one of my lowest commodities nowadays
and so if/when I do have any pests in the orchids I would want to use a
method of fighting the pests that would take the least time, and was safe
for the baby and us of course.

Thanks for your insights!
Joanna

"Kenni Judd" wrote in message
...
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