tiny moving black dots in conservatory
 

Hi, I'm new to this group.

I have a conservatory attached to my house with about 60 orchids. Over
the past year or so, I've noticed bunches of tiny black dots - smaller
than a pinhead - that cluster on the ledges and walls. The largest
concentration is on the wall opposite where my plants are. I *do* have
a few plants that have tiny black spots on the leaves, but the spots
are flush with the leaves unlike these things. Can anyone tell me what
these may be and how I can get rid of them? I did a massive cleanup,
but they reappeared 2-3 weeks later...

Many thanks,
Laura

Ants? Thrips? Fleas? Regardless, one treatment will generally not solve
the problem -- few if any insecticides are effective against any of the
critters in all their stages. Anytime you have bugs, you should expect to
spray 3x at appropriate intervals, so you kill the adults, the teens and the
children ...
--
Kenni Judd
Juno Beach Orchids
http://www.jborchids.com
wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi, I'm new to this group.

I have a conservatory attached to my house with about 60 orchids. Over
the past year or so, I've noticed bunches of tiny black dots - smaller
than a pinhead - that cluster on the ledges and walls. The largest
concentration is on the wall opposite where my plants are. I *do* have
a few plants that have tiny black spots on the leaves, but the spots
are flush with the leaves unlike these things. Can anyone tell me what
these may be and how I can get rid of them? I did a massive cleanup,
but they reappeared 2-3 weeks later...

Many thanks,
Laura

Thanks for the reply. I'd really like to identify these things - they
don't look like anything I've been able to find a picture for on the
net - they look like poppy seeds, only smaller - just little, tiny,
black balls with no sign of legs, etc. I just looked up thrips and
that's not it. Is there a type of scale perhaps that might look like
this and live in colonies away from the plants?

Laura

"LauraReeling" wrote in message
ups.com...
Thanks for the reply. I'd really like to identify these things - they
don't look like anything I've been able to find a picture for on the
net - they look like poppy seeds, only smaller - just little, tiny,
black balls with no sign of legs, etc. I just looked up thrips and
that's not it. Is there a type of scale perhaps that might look like
this and live in colonies away from the plants?

Hi Laura-
I wonder if what you are seeing are the spores of the artillery fungus,
Sphaerobolus stellatus? This is a tiny fungus that lives on wood such as
mulch. The spore is ejected from the fungus and is commonly seen adhering
to vinyl siding or greenhouse glazing. You can do a google search for
artillery fungus and see pictures of the discharged spores on siding. Once
discharged, however, they are not mobile- in fact, their stickiness can make
them somewhat difficult to remove.
Bill Landers

Laura,

From what area are you writing? Could make a difference.

I recently saw some tiny black dots clustered together. When I put on my
reading glasses it appeared to be ants. According to the exterminator, they
are "Carribean crazy ants" and very hard to control. Gad. What fresh h**l is
that?

Diana

Hmmm, could be I'm only assuming they're moving due to the spread.
This sounds the closest to what I've been seeing. Thanks for the info.

I'm in the Boston area. These things don't move visibly - Bill's
suggestion about the artillery fungus sounds closest, although from
what I've read so far those spores are supposed to be difficult to
remove and what I have is not - just difficult to control.

Many thanks,
Laura