Yes, I definitely remember when everyone thought it was a swell idea to
slather themselves with baby oil and lay out in the sun. I'm kind of
hesitant to try the oil for the same reason. For now, I think I'll take
the majority vote and bring the plants inside when they're flowering
during the summer. I have a humidifier built into my central
air/heating system, which is set to keep the humidity at a year-round
constant of 50%. Hopefully that will be sufficient for the cattleyas to
keep their flowers alive for at least a couple of weeks so that I can
enjoy them.

Interesting, I did notice today that the guttata hybrid I just brought
inside a couple of days ago has flowers that smell like cloves--which
is also reminiscent of what the lures to the Japanese beetle traps
smelled like when I tried them last summer. And on a (sort of) related
note, if anyone is thinking about using a miticide on their plants, I
would recommend steering clear of a product called Bonide. I have a
couple of cycnoches that were showing what I thought was the beginning
signs of a mite attack. So I bought Bonide at the local nursery, went
home and started spraying it on the plants. First I noticed that it
also had that familiar sweet clove-like smell. Then, to my horror, I
noticed Japanese beetles starting to alight on all of the orchids that
I was at that moment in the process of spraying. I immediately dropped
the Bonide, picked up a garden hose, and started spraying the orchids
to get rid of the apparently attractive aroma that the Bonide had. I've
since felt a small pang of guilt by picking certain sacrificial plants
in my yard and liberally spraying them with the Bonide in an effort to
get the marauding beetles to fly in that direction rather than go near
the orchids. Ugh, one more reason to finally write a check and buy a
greenhouse. I just have so few plants (less than a few dozen orchids),
that it seems like a waste of resources--besides, I'm too afraid that
my hobby will turn into an uncontrollable addiction if I get a
greenhouse!

Thanks very much to everyone who took the time to respond. I really
appreciate your help.

Kenni Judd wrote:
Steve: So far, knock wood, no beetles here.

The soap is not going to do you any residual good. It will kill the beetles
you hit while you are spraying it, that's all. Mostly same for the oils,
but I second Diana's caution about those. Are you of the age to remember
the sunburns produced on humans tanning with baby oil? Same idea.

I cannot recommend a specific chemical, but if you Google on "pesticide
labels" and your specific pest, you will find some. Chances are, most
(maybe none) will not be specifically labelled for orchids. No guarantee,
but _usually_ those labelled for "ornamentals" will be safe. Do a small
test run on a couple of your least favorite plants and watch them for a few
days before spraying overall.

Look around your premises for non-orchid "host" plants, too.

Until you solve the problem, bringing them inside sounds like your best bet.
Good luck, Kenni


"Steve Weaver" wrote in message
ps.com...
Does anyone growing summer flowering cattleyas have to contend with
Japanese Beetles? If so--and especially if you've found effective ways
of discouraging them from turning your flowers into a salad bar--I'd
like to hear from you. I have a couple of cattleya species (leopoldii
and bicolor) and a few of the hybrids derived from them that flower in
the summer. I've tried everything from "hiding" the flowering plants
behind other orchids and houseplants (all of which spend the summers
outdoors here in the Midwest where I live), to coating them with a good
amount of Safer's insecticidal soap, but nothing seems to work. Just
last week I had a guttata hybrid that I got to enjoy the flowers of for
a whole two days before they--like some horrible magic act--disappeared
because of the attentions of the beetles. Luckily another group of
budds on the same plant are still maturing, and weren't of any interest
to the beetles. Now I'm praying that the budds don't mature for another
week or two in the hopes that the beetles will have all died off by
then. Any advice (other than getting rid of the summer flowering
cattleyas to avoid the problem!) would be very much appreciated.