Orchid is an exotic plant that is actively grown at home. For the culture to please its delicate and beautiful flowering, it needs careful care. In addition to watering, feeding application, it is important to carry out prevention from pests. Most often, the orchid is subjected to attacks of the tick. The article will tell you how to deal with these pests.
What it is?
Mite refers to arthropod animals, but not to insects. Their feature is high survival under various conditions. This is due to their small size and ability to eat degradable foods.
The appearance of the parasite
The length of the tick is 3 mm, making it invisible to humans.
Recognize pests can be torso, which is divided into two parts. Moreover, the division is not symmetrical. Also on the body of the animal is 12 appendages, 8 of which - legs. Even in the appendages are claws - suckers. The front pair is always a claw.
What parts of a flower can suffer?
Pests harm leaves, peduncles and buds. Ticks can often be noticed in the ground, but without a magnifying glass they can’t be seen there.
What do the affected areas look like?
On orchids damages have the appearance of pale yellow spots. Along the edges of the sheet plate there is dryness. All this leads to the development of a fungal infection, in which the spotting on the leaves turns black. If black spots were seen on platinum orchid leaves, then the flower is likely to die.
Description of pest species and photos
The following types of ticks can hit the orchid:
- Root. This is a small size spider, which has 3 pairs of legs, sharp mustaches, a large oval body. The parasite has a high stamina, so it can be without food for a long time. It feeds on the underground elements of plants and organic residues.
- False web. This parasite is 0.25-0.3 mm in size. Seeing it with the human eye is simply impossible. The color of the calf is from greenish to red. The mite spider web does not weave, so it will be possible to see it on orchids only after the colony grows.
- Red spider mite. This parasite does not die from drugs that are designed to combat them. The color of the calf can be red, orange and yellow.
- Bulbous. Tick this small and slowly moving. Its length reaches 0.3-0.6 mm, the color is brown, the limbs are spherical in shape, and the jaws are brown.
- Flathead. This is a small parasite, as its size does not exceed 0.3 mm. The body has an oval shape, strongly flattened, yellow-red color. All setae located on the body are also short.
- Armored. These are spider-like pests that inhabit the soil and feed on the dying off elements of the orchid.
Then you can see photos of varieties.
Root.
False web.
Red spider mite.
Bulbous.
Flathead.
Armored
Bite Diagnosis
If you look closely, then on the leaf plates of the orchid after visiting the tick there are small white spots, as if from injections with a thin needle. This is the death of the leaf tissue at the site of the bite. After a while, the spots merge into large ones, which then turn brown, and the leaf dies. The same shots can be seen at the base of the stem, in the leaf axils.
Step-by-step instructions on how to get rid of various pests
Spider Web
After detecting a spider mite on an orchid, you can get rid of it by several methods:
- Biological. It is enough to have several walls of predatory beetles that will destroy adult ticks.
- Chemical. Insecticidal preparations must be alternated, since parasites develop immunity to the agents used. In addition, one-time processing will be small, it will have to carry out systematically. Such drugs are effective: Metaldehyde, Thiofos, Actellic.
- Folk. To combat spider mite, you can use a decoction of cyclamen roots. Pour the tubers with water, boil for 30 minutes, insist for a day, and use the resulting filtered liquid to spray the orchid. To carry out processing every 5 days 3-4 times. Get rid of the spider mite will help the usual wiping orchid leaves with a cloth dipped in alcohol.
We offer to watch a video on how to get rid of spider mites:
Bulbous
As soon as this pest was detected, it is necessary to immediately change the soil in the pot. To get rid of the onion mite in the following ways:
- Folk. To use folk remedies is effective only at an early stage of the lesion, when the mites did not spread much. Suitable soap solution (20 g of raw materials per 1 liter of water). They can wipe orchids or immerse the flower completely in solution. You can try to spray the plant with a weak solution of potassium permanganate.
- Chemical. Florists apply insecticides of the general spectrum of action. But you can also use narrow specialization drugs that will only fight ticks - these are acaricides. To prepare the solution you need to use the instructions on the package.
Concentration can be made weaker, but not stronger, otherwise the opposite effect is possible. In the prepared solution, it is necessary to soak the flower, and send the roots back to the ground only when they are completely dry.
Root
This parasite is the most difficult and tenacious. It has a high capacity for recovery and reproduction. If the root mite was noticeable on the orchids, then all the affected parts of the flower should be urgently removed, and the cut sections should be treated with activated carbon powder. Affected plants must be isolated from other healthy ones. Immediately discard the soil, and disinfect the pot.
Folk remedies suggest using a decoction of nettle, which will not only eliminate pests, but also improve the immunity of the flower.
To prepare the solution, you need: take 700 g of fresh grass, pour 5 liters of boiling water and leave for 30 minutes in a dark place.
How to process a plant? This is done for 5 minutes, immersing the whole orchid in the broth. Ascaricides remain effective from chemical preparations. You can also use insecticoacaricidal drug against pests - Acaritox. Apply it strictly according to the instructions, and the frequency of processing - every 5-7 days.
Biologics are also effective against root mites:
- Verticillin;
- Summer resident;
- Nematophagin.
Flat plate
To quickly and effectively get rid of the parasite, it is better to immediately use chemicals - acaricides. Since ticks are not insects, it is useless to use insecticides.
Most commonly used:
- Aktofik;
- Fitoderm;
- Vermitek.
Folk remedies can be used those that were given earlier, but they are only effective at an early stage of infection.
Armored
After 3-5 minutes after the dive, it will be possible to see how the parasites begin to emerge. After half an hour, remove the root system from the water and put it to dry. Hold events 2-3 times to get maximum results. When the roots are dry, you can transplant the plant into a new soil. If chemical methods of control are used, then acaricidal preparations are effective, among which are:
- Karbofos;
- Sumiton;
- Actellic
In the store you can buy a predatory mite - Hypoasmis Miles. One package will be enough to completely get rid of parasites.
From the video you can learn how to get rid of the claw mite:
Disease prevention
To prevent the appearance of mites on orchids, you must observe the following preventive measures:
- Periodically dry the soil in which the flower grows.
- Spray the flower in a timely manner and make sure that the liquid drops do not stand in the leaf axil. Otherwise, the orchid will rot.
- Observe the optimum mode of watering.
- Ticks occur in a room with dry air. You can increase the humidity if you set a container with room temperature water for 2 days around the orchid. The water will evaporate and the air humidified.
Caring for an orchid is very difficult, especially when it comes to rocking pest control. The difficulty is that such small parasites as ticks strike a flower. To see them immediately and in time to eliminate is not always possible, so you have to resort to more aggressive methods of struggle when the accumulation of pests is already widespread.
