Blc. Owen Holmes 'Mendenhall' AM/AOS X Blc. Plum Pretty 'Black Magic' has ants

[eaglssong]

Looks like two of the three I received recently have new growth that surprised me this morning. Now that's happy news.

The bad news? One of them (the one in these photos) has ants all of a sudden. I tried a misting with water, a drop of dish detergent, and some neem oil, but that's not getting rid of them, so I guess I'm going to have to just totally repot (if I can get all the old medium out of it).

So, do I understand correctly that I should let the roots soak in this mixture? I sure don't want to hurt any orchid, but especially one with beatiful new growth.

[clintdawley]

Soak away!

An hour submerged will not harm it

[eaglssong]

Thanks Clint. Thankfully, no sign of ants on the Leopard!! But that too has a wonderful spike forming!!

[Cjcorner]

Good Luck with the ants...maybe some ant traps in the area might help too. Down here in Florida, if you don't have bugs...they haven't found you yet. lol

[eaglssong]

Connie, I'm sure this problem is due to all the heavy rain we've been having (I think the beanie can go into the closet now). What's funny is I don't see any ants anywhere but on this one plant, and walking on the pot of course.

I don't want to start messing around with it today, because it's late, but I'll check again tomorrow, and if I see anything moving, it's a gonner!!

[eaglssong]

Well, I just checked the plant, and noticed two small ants. One on the new growth, and one on the pot. Guess there's no choice but to repot her. I just dread the thought. The last one of these I tried to repot had so much styrofoam and medium compacted into the roots, I couldn't hardly get it out. That one is now in s/h (along with whatever I couldn't remove). Seems to still be standing, so hopefully it's happy. I will probably go s/h with this one too. <sigh>

Keep your fingers crossed that I get all the little buggers. They're going to be very hard to see if they escape into my black kitchen sink.

[Brutal_Dreamer]

Well, I just checked the plant, and noticed two small ants. One on the new growth, and one on the pot. Guess there's no choice but to repot her. I just dread the thought. The last one of these I tried to repot had so much styrofoam and medium compacted into the roots, I couldn't hardly get it out. That one is now in s/h (along with whatever I couldn't remove). Seems to still be standing, so hopefully it's happy. I will probably go s/h with this one too. <sigh>

Keep your fingers crossed that I get all the little buggers. They're going to be very hard to see if they escape into my black kitchen sink.

Anne, repotting this one will not solve the ant problem. The best way to get rid of the ants is to take the plant outside and pour malathion (mixed according to label) through the pot. The ants know that this orchid will produce food, so they will not move away because of new mix. As Gin says - Take no prisoners !!

Cheers,
BD

[eaglssong]

Bruce, I was going to do a root soak in water, dish detergent, and neem oil. Wouldn't that be sufficient?

I don't have any of that other stuff.

[Brutal_Dreamer]

Bruce, I was going to do a root soak in water, dish detergent, and neem oil. Wouldn't that be sufficient?

I don't have any of that other stuff.

Probably. I simply go ahead and use the malathion 55% since it is available locally and I know that I will not have to re-treat the same pot twice. But, with fewer orchids, and growing indoors, you are probably good to go with the mix you plan to use. Since I grow in a greenhouse - not attached to my home, I can use stronger chemicals without the same difficulty as growers have who grow in their homes.

Cheers,
BD

[eaglssong]

Thanks for the help Bruce.

So far, I haven't seen ants on any of the other plants, including the other one with the new growth. Of course, when your eyes are as old as mine........... LOL I'm going to give the neem solution a try, before getting into more serious stuff. Working outside here would be difficult at best, and I hate to use heavy duty chemicals indoors. I'm not even happy using the neem oil, but at least I have that handy.

I'll keep you posted on how well it works.