More Mealybug Drama!

So the little buggers are still around.  I have been meticulously spraying the plants with the Bayer Advanced Natria Insect, Disease & Mite Control. It gets rid of the bugs on contact and for a good 5 days afterwards, but they would surely find their way back.  I realized they must be hiding in the media itself.  I ordered online some Bayer 3-in-1 Insect Disease and Mite Control Concentrate.  This is a systemic poison with the main active ingredient being Imidacloprid (sold under the brand name of Merit), which has a very high success rate.  This insecticide is successful not only because of its chemical composition, but also due to the form in which it is administered.  It is fed to the plant during watering and in a few weeks, it makes the plant itself toxic so when the pests feed on the plant, they ingest the poison and die.  If this is what it takes to keep my orchids mealybug free, then so be it!

In the meantime, I took out each plant out of its pot and got rid of all of the media in the pots.  I  then carefully washed all the roots and sprayed each plant and roots with Bayer Advanced Natria Insect, Disease & Mite Control while out of the pot and left it to soak a good 10-15 minutes.  I then washed the pots thoroughly and let them sit in diluted bleach while the plants were being treated with the insecticide.  Once I was ready to repot, I prepared fresh new media, sprayed the insides of each ceramic and plastic pot with insecticide just in case any bugs were missed the first time and carefully repotted each orchid.  I also took the opportunity to sterilize the humidity trays and wipe the wooden coffee table well, even under its lip.  I didn't want to take any more chances with these resourceful and very tenacious little pests.

As I was treating the plants, I noticed Marilyn has grown a new root and leaf.  Audrey 2's roots are in much better shape and I also gave her a slight trim of a few dead roots.  Rocky is still hanging in there and appears to be doing much better.  The problem with Rocky is that he has so many nooks and crannies for the bugs to hide so he got an extra dose and time of pesticide goodness.  Vino had some great new growth, but lost 2 other leaves to the mealybugs .  I took extra time with him to ensure I got all the bugs.  Kalista was the worse off.  The bugs had established themselves in her delicate leaves and had infiltrated the media as well.  It was not pretty at all!

And lastly, Snow White's roots, unfortunately, had not only succumbed to the bugs, but also had dozens of black spots all over her roots.  Some type of fungus had attacked the weakened Phalaenopsis.  Since I didn't want the unidentified fungus to spread to my other plants, I painfully decided to toss it before it was too late.

I would say that the mealybugs won the last 2 rounds, but I came back with a killer upper cut and stunned them this time.  Let's see what happens in the next round?

More on Seramis Orchid Mix

So after trying the regular Seramis clay granules for houseplants for over a week and having good results; the media held the water longer, but remained aerated and the look and texture of the roots was improving, I decided to order my very own bag.  I ordered from www.seramis.com.  I found out that the distributor here in the US is located in Germantown, MD.  Additionally, I wanted to try the actual mix that was specific for orchids.

It turns out that Seramis in the US is now a subsidiary of Mars, the candy and pet food company.  Once I received my shiny yellow bag of media, I repotted both my Phals.  I left the mix dry until tomorrow morning when the orchids get their monthly dose of liquid kelp.  This batch of Seramis is mixed with some type of bark.  I am looking forward to continued good results and hopefully, having my Phals grow some new healthy roots.

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Update

Since I repotted both my Phals into the Seramis Orchid mix, I have noticed that Snow White's roots have plumped up significantly.  She's been in it, for about 2 weeks or so.  At first, I potted her roots very shallow and they were exposed to air for about a good week or so.  After that initial week, I buried most of her roots a bit deeper, but left the media nice and airy.  I made no effort to pack in the Seramis, but only to cover the roots.  I have been watering her every 3-4 days and in between, I have been spraying her leaves with a weak mixture of water and Superthrive.  Her roots are now nice and green and very plump.

Her roots had black rotted spots scattered through their surface and were stained
brown from repeated fertilizer application

Her air roots as well as the ones in the media are a nice healthy shade

Of course, as the roots improve, the plant also takes a turn for the better in regards to its physical appearance:

Her oldest leaf yellowed and died.  Since I purchased her with 3 flowering spikes, I decided to sacrifice the last of the flowers, which were about to die in a few weeks anyways.  I trimmed the triad of spikes down to the base to ensure the plant would concentrate on repairing itself rather than producing or maintaining old blooms.  Since then, she has also put out a new leaf in the center, which is growing at a good pace.

Audrey 2, on the other hand, is not doing so well at the moment.  I am watering her a lot more conservatively until she recovers a bit more.  I transferred her over to a clear homemade pot and made numerous ventilation holes throughout its surface.  With the new mix, her roots should recover nicely and she is already working on putting out a new leaf:

These roots are still off colored and still rather stringy

New leaf growing

So far, I would have to admit that the Seramis Orchid mix has been a positive addition to my culture!

Breeze Mode on Dedicated Orchid Fan

I have been finding that lately the media in my orchid pots has been drying way too quickly.  I am finding myself watering my orchids every single day.  Previously, I was using my new mini tower fan on its lowest regular setting (setting 1), but found that maybe the best solution was to start using it on Breeze Mode.  Don't get me wrong; I don't mind watering the plants so regularly, but from everything I have read, the media is supposed to stay moist for at least a couple of days.  This is particularly important for Snow White, who is still adjusting to being transplanted from Sphagnum Moss to a much drier bark mix.  I'd like to see if I can reduce the need for watering to about 2-3 times per week.  I think that would be a great compromise.

From my research, in the wild, epitphytes get rained on several times per week and dry out quickly with tropical breezes.  For the most part, this cycle repeats itself week after week.  So having the media dry out pretty quickly should not be a bad thing, but not to the point that the roots become entirely dessicated regularly and the media is bone dry in a matter of a few hours.

Tomorrow I will water them as I have been doing and keep the fan on Breeze Mode for the duration of the day.  I will then test to see if the media is still drying up completely or if some moisture is retained in the lower layers of substrate for a longer period of time.

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Update

I watered the orchids this morning at 9:00 am.  I left the fan on Breeze Mode, and by noon, the roots were still moist as pictured below:

Snow White's Roots 3 hrs after watering

I realized the media was a bit too loosely packed since there were some air pockets entirely devoid of media altogether.  I filled in the holes, but was careful to still keep the bark mix fairly loose.  This small change should help in retaining additional moisture as well.

The Newcomer to the Group

After losing Petaluma, I wanted to grab another orchid before the season was over.  I must admit at this point, the pickins were slim.  I went over to my favorite orchid shop and consulted my new friend there.  I asked him about the selection and was looking for a spotted white Phalaenopsis.  I was envisioning lovely magenta spots on a white background like this one:

But, as luck would have it, the 2 plants they had that looked anything like this were rather expensive and the leaves were in horrendous shape; the roots weren't very impressive either.  I didn't want to pay top dollar for an orchid that was already at risk for further problems down the line.  I tried to bargain with my friend, but since his supervisor was there, he was not as free to negotiate like before.  Instead, I opted to continue looking.

I then decided to simply purchase a white Phalaenopsis without the spots.  It is a more subtle type of beauty, but they are undoubtedly lovely nonetheless.  Without the spotting, the price also decreased, and I managed to get a 3 spike white Phalaenopsis with a well established aerial root.  The rest of the roots were a bit dessicated at the very top of the pot, but once I really thought about it, I realized it wasn't a bad thing.  Dry is definitely way better than soggy and rotting.  So I ended up choosing a new orchid to bring home.  I named her Snow White for obvious reasons:

Before repotting, the moss Snow White came in was packed really tightly and she had so many roots that I had to cut the plastic sleeve pot all the way down the middle to free her from it.   It also took quite a while as I patiently removed all the moss trapped within the well established and very crowded root system.  I did uncover some roots which were in the beginning stages of rot and although the roots at the very top were entirely hollow and shriveled, as you got deeper into the media, there were still spots where the moss was soggy.  Initially, as I squeezed the pot, trickles of water began leaking out.  This was not good!

Once all the roots were trimmed and that took a good long time as well.  It was difficult to discern which roots would recover and which ones were beyond saving.  I am still learning and I didn't want to cut too aggressively, but I also didn't want to leave anything behind that would invite opportunistic pathogens.  In the end, there were still a fair  number of roots left, and I made sure to also add that thick layer of styrofoam at the bottom to allow for really good drainage.  I also packed the bark mix rather lightly so a good amount of air would be able to circulate between the roots and cure any other roots which may have been on the brink of decline.

The flowers are really pretty although a bit small for such a tall plant.  I am not entirely certain if flower size is solely influenced by genetics or if culture determines the growth potential, or maybe, it's some delicate balance between the two.  I will definitely have to research this a bit more.  Only time will tell for this particular orchid, but for now, there are about 10 blooms which will open in a few weeks.

Right now, I just want to concentrate on keeping this Phalaenopsis healthy, and finally master the whole watering ritual now that I have my trusty fan to help keep my little growing area not only cool, but nice and aerated.