Fungal Gnats in my Beautifully Flowering New Orchids
15 days ago
last modified: 15 days ago
What to do? I received these gorgeous orchids from a friend, they are in full bloom, and they have fungal gnats! I was tempted to repot the plant right away as it came in some sort of moss growing medium which has been quite moist for the couple of days I have had the plant. But I don't want to loose the fabulous blooms on the new orchid! I grow my other orchids in mainly orchid bark.
I just watered my old orchids with water and hydrogen peroxide. And placed yellow sticky tape nearby.
Was thinking of rinsing the the new orchid with water with neem oil and hydrogen peroxide, and then dust the roots and moss with dematiaceous earth. Which might kill some of the gnats and larvae but also add more moisture.
Gut instinct tells my I should sacrifice the flowers and change the growing medium right now, but they are the most beautiful flowers l I have ever had......
I really need to be gnat free within a month or two, when I start with my garden seedlings indoors.
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14 days agolast modified: 14 days agoRelated Discussions
Bacterial, fungal?
Comments (11)Hi, t-bred. I can't give you a definitive answer, since I've never used such a product, but some thoughts that may help you figure out what to do: Oak Hill claims that Captan is both a bactericide and fungicide. Check out their website to see what they say about it. Don't know if that's true or not, but I was planning to try to get some locally, read the label, see what it said. Courtney Hackney in *American Cattleyas* claims that bacterial infections kill quickly, fungal kill much more slowly. Makes sense to me, since I know there are very fast moving, quick killing rots as well as slower ones. I have tried several times to grow Twinkles, and a couple of times succeeded for a year or so, but they all just lost their vitality after a year or 18 months, even if they had been thriving previously. I finally gave up on them. *Something* kept going wrong. This despite the fact that I have successfully grown other oncids for three or four years now. And yes, they had excellent light. The pbulbs grow very tight, close to each other. This is different from lots of other oncids, and I think this contributes to the problem somehow-- water or debris getting lodged between the bulbs maybe becoming a source of infection? Not trying to give you a total downer, just a warning that Twinkles in my experience are a little harder to keep vigorous -- and that might suggest some kind of fungal (ie slow-killing) thing. I didn't treat mine, and a fungicide might have turned things around. Can't say. Trying a product that has both makes sense to me, tho. I hope you'll post here about the outcome for your plant, either way, so people can learn more about growing these successfully. I know a number of people do grow them, and lots of people appreciate their beauty. Good luck....See MoreNew Orchid Owner Needs Help
Comments (2)Your orchids are not in very good shape, do you know what type of orchid(s) you have? Where are you in the US and what sort of growing conditions can you provide? The small black flies are probably fungus gnats....See Morecattleya orchids keeps rotting new shoots that come up
Comments (32)I've had this happen to me a few times over the years. I have never been successful saving the plant until recently. I'm curious as to the cause. I know it is said to be caused by a bacterial infection but I wonder if any real research has been done on it. When I moved a few of my plants from NY to Florida, one Catt was showing signs before the move. I cut off the infected bulbs and treated, but then I neglected most of my plants because there was too much going on. The infection slowed but each new lead would show signs and I'd cut it off. After settling down at a new house, I worked on the plant and wound up dividing it into three sections. I needed to cut so much off it literally came apart. I potted each section of about 3 bulbs each and stuck the plants under a tree, away from my other orchids and forgot them. Yesterday, I looked at them. They were dehydrated (no rain for over a month), they hadn't been fertilized in a year, but I noticed each bulb was forming new leads and roots. The plants were buried in oak leaves but appeared healthy. I'm still not trusting what I saw, am keeping them away from my other plants but all three pots appear recovered. So, I'm now wondering if - dehydration, oak leaves (change in pH) or just luck, seemed to work. If these survive, it will be the first for me. I'm thinking it might not be bacterial or even fungal. I'm leaning toward pH because I have always watered with RO but these plants only got rain. Any thoughts from those who have experienced what the OP is dealing with and any tips about what might 'really' cause it. Jane...See MoreOrchid needs repotting but won't stop flowering
Comments (23)Hi again Pat, There's no need to apologize for questions. It's what keeps the experts here on the forum-questions from a beginner ;) Good questions! Because orchids are epiphytes, that means they require a lot of air around the roots. Clay pots are porous, which provides the roots with ventilation. Plastic pots are not porous, however. That's why most people who use plastic pots create ventilation holes on the sides to provide extra ventilation. I don't believe roots actually have that much of a "preference" when it comes to what they attatch to. They will latch on to clay a lot harder than plastic, which means once an orchid that is potted in a clay pot needs repotting, the poor grower will likely have a hard time attempting to detatch the roots clinging to the clay. I don't think however that that means roots "prefer" clay to plastic. For your second question-yes, in the wild epiphyte orchids' roots do have room to spread. However, they also need to latch on to something in order to secure and anchor the orchid in its position, otherwise the plant will fall and will likely die. A small pot allows roots to attatch to the sides faster, giving the orchid a sense of security. If you attempt to pot a tiny orchid in a huge pot, the plant will have a hard time trying to find something to attatch to and will likely not do as well as a similarly sized plant in a smaller pot. Bigger pots also retain more moisture, and if the plant is too small the extra moisture sitting there unused could promote some fungal growth. Hopefully I didn't mess anything up in my explainations :p Again-good questions!...See MoreRelated Professionals
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