Moving outdoor bloomers inside

[Cinderella]

Just wondering what others do in this situation....

When an orchid you have been growing outside flowers, how do you go about spraying it before bringing it into the house for display so that you don't bring in a whole mess of bugs?

Last time I waited until the bud was fully open, I put a couple of baggies over the flower to protect it and I sprayed it with insect soap to hopefully kill off anything that was living in the media. Any other ideas?

[bench72]

errr... I get so excited about seeing flowers that I just bring the plant pot and all the insects in

sorry I'm not more help...

cheers
tim

[Jmoney]

depends on where you're putting it. if it's in a room all by itself, and you don't reuse the water and stuff, I wouldn't bother spraying unless you saw something.

[uncasteeb]

My plants outside or in g/h are sprayed with a systemic fungicide/insecticde anyway so after a check i bring them in.Baggies idea seems a good.

[Diane]

I'm sort of between Tim and Steve - I spray on a regular basis with a fungicide/insecticide, but when one is ready to bloom I just bring it inside and if there any crawlies they get smashed!

[orchidaddict789]

It's safest to spray. If you don't, then check for those bugs, do some squishing, and keep an eye on the plant for a while and resume squishing if any more bugs appear.

[Gin]

I also spray on a routine basis , Just have a few vandas outside , when they spike I grab em and run for the porch , was too late on one something plucked the green buds out I use a lighted magnifying glass ,anything that moves gets safers . Gin

[Lore]

It's safest to spray. If you don't, then check for those bugs, do some squishing, and keep an eye on the plant for a while and resume squishing if any more bugs appear.

My sentiments exactly. Not that I've had to bring any bloomers in yet, but when it's time for that, the above quote is the main plan.

[iscarus]

I agree. Do spray before bringing anything in, better safe than sorry. If it's in bloom, make sure you spray with "bloom friendly" stuff, it would be a bummer if you blasted the bud by spraying........

[Cinderella]

Bloom friendly would be insecticide soap? I'm not spraying with any "real" chemicals anyway, since I'm pregnant. However, somebody took a bite out of my most recent bud.