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?

Vino is Being Bitten!

Lately, I have been spotting small holes on Vino's leaves.  The little holes do not ooze or are mushy.  There are not too many of them, but they all tend to be around the tip of the leaves and there were only about 3 leaves in total that had these small punctures.  After researching every type of pest I could find, I realized Vino did not exhibit any of the other tell-tale signs usually associated with parasites.  I also examined the potting mix carefully and there were no little creatures hiding in the media and no foul smell.  By the process of elimination, I came to the conclusion that one of my cats must be the culprit.  Since I have several, I was not sure which one was guilty.  By past history, I have narrowed it down to 2 suspects, but am still not 100% certain which one has been nibbling on the plant.

We have been training the cats to basically not go near the orchids for a few weeks now.  During the daytime, this is the case.  We have not had to use the squirter for about 3 weeks.  They learn fast to keep away when the squirter is used.  I just had to use it once or twice and the message was clear to them; stay away!

At night, the cats sleep outside of our bedrooms.  This is when the chewing on the leaves has been taking place.  It seems it is not a nightly thing or else there would be a substantially larger amount of holes on the foliage, but personally, I would like to see those occurrences drop down to 0.  I decided to try bitter apple spray.  I took a cotton ball and soaked it in the bitter apple solution.  I wiped the cotton ball all along the top and bottom of each leaf; similar to when I am cleaning the foliage with just water.  I then allowed the leaves to dry.  The bitter apple has a taste repugnant to dogs and cats and deters them from chewing on things by creating an unpleasant association with biting on whatever surface it is applied.  The one application I did this morning will lose potency in a couple of days so I will have to repeat this about 1-2 times a week for about a month to ensure that whichever feline is doing this gets the message loud and clear.

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Update (07/26/13)

I never did manage to catch one of the cat's in the act, but ever since the small fan has been on the job, there has been no additional damage to the leaves.  I figure that the culprit does not like the gust of wind in his/her face.  For now, that seems to have solved the bitten leaves problem...yay!

Vino's New Bloom

Finally, the new bloom is opening up:

It still has a couple of days to go, but it is a very pretty flower.  Now, I have two of them:

Vino in all his glory:

Sunday Morning Inspection

On Sunday mornings, I usually have a little more time to smell the flowers...Ok, I admit it; that pun was entirely intentional :)

Anyhoo, I noticed that Vino's new bud is coming along nicely and that the older flower is still holding up.  I may have 2 flowers at the same time.  It is quite exciting to have a sequentially blooming Paph since usually they only produce one flower at a time on a specific spike.

The bud is finally opening

I am thinking within the next 2 weeks or so, I should have another beautiful flower on display.

The older flower is still fresh and bouncy

I have been gradually moving his support clips to accommodate for the budding flower.  Every few days, I have been gently removing the clip and adjusting it so that the continual growth remains uninterrupted.  I am just happy that Vino is doing so well and that the culture is ideal for additional blooming.

Repotting a Paphiopedilum

This was my first time repotting a Paphiopedilum orchid.  I was a bit nervous since there were some very obvious differences.  First off, the roots were brown and hairy and a bit more scarce than on my Phalaenopsis.  They were all firm and some bark chips were stuck to the roots.  I couldn't get the bark chips loosened enough to remove them so I just left them alone; after all, there were only 2.  I don't think it's the end of the world.  I didn't want to start bruising and tearing the root system.

Since I was planning to go from a 3.75 inch pot to a 5 inch, I had to fill the bottom with small styrofoam pieces.  This would've worked for me since I also planned to sit the pot on top of a humidity tray, and I didn't want the media wicking the water underneath:

However, after very careful consideration, I ended up deciding to not use the new pot and simply repotted  Vino back in the green nursery pot he came in, but I did add a layer of styrofoam at the bottom as I had planned originally.  The new pot was simply way too roomy, and one of the things that most growers agree on is that Paphiopedilum's do not take well to being over-potted.  I decided to err on the side of caution rather than risk losing my beautiful new plant due to a stupid rookie mistake.

The new Paph and Phrag Imperial Orchid Mix arrived.  I replaced all the old bark chips with the new media on top of the styrofoam pieces.  In the end, this was the final product:

The nice thing about Orchiata is that you can use it straight out of the bag without soaking it so I decided to water Vino tomorrow morning before I leave for work since I did not want to have the plant sitting in wet media all night long.  I will also add a very diluted dose of liquid fertilizer to minimize any stress I might have caused due to the repotting.

I am glad I decided to go ahead and repot.  The old media was not holding the moisture at all.  In order to avoid over-watering I would simply hold off and water every other day, but even this, was a bit excessive.  I am really hoping the new mix will solve this problem.  I also plan to add a bit of sphagnum moss at the top of the pot to really seal that moisture in.

Orchiata Based Mix

Another interesting thing I discovered was that apparently Paphiopedilum plants can heal themselves.  When I purchased Vino, there was a leaf that had been sliced cleanly through as if it had been accidentally cut with a box cutter.  I surmise this happened when the shipment of plants came into the store and Vino was a victim of circumstance and sloppy impatient hands. 

So, last week, I did notice the leaf.  I felt I should leave it alone and wait to see what happened.  I really thought eventually, at least, the larger part of it would just yellow and fall off.  However, today when I was examining the plant, I noticed the leaf had now fused itself together at the site of the injury:

Orchids really are amazing plants!

Leaving my Plants Behind, the Woes of Going on Vacation

I am by no means complaining in the least.  I am grateful to be getting the time off from work for me and my children to be able to enjoy 5 full days away from home.  I am just trying to figure out how not to come home to a dead plant(s).

One of the things I am a bit worried about is how Vino will fare when we go away on vacation for a week in the near future.  I know Petaluma, the Phal, will be fine.  Her media is fresh and her pot is a nice size to retain moisture.  However, Vino, my newly acquired Paph, is in a small 3.75 inch plastic pot, and the media doesn’t look as if it has been changed in a long while.  When I made my purchase, the salesperson watered Vino.  The next morning, I did my usual "feel test" by sticking my finger into the middle of the substrate and feeling around.  It was barely moist.  I knew then there was no way I was going to be able to get away with leaving this plant to fend for itself for a full 5 full days.

I spun this around many times in my head and attempted to come up with ways to seal in moisture like adding sphagnum moss as a topdressing and soaking the pot for a good 10 minutes the morning before I leave.  But, if the media could not perform for a full 48 hrs, I doubt these small tweaks would be sufficient to hold out the entire length of the getaway. 

Things had to change quickly so I decided to order a small bag of specialized Paph mix from my friends over at Repotme.com.  I decided on their top of the line stuff, the Paph and Phrag Imperial Orchid Mix.  I really wanted to make my own mix, but by the time I got through formulating my preferred selections, I would be paying over $40 for a bag of media alone, and that is without adding on the cost of shipping.  That is way too expensive for me, particularly since I will only have 2 plants at most by the end of the Summer, and right now, I only have the one.  The mix I did choose is composed of all ingredients I would’ve picked if I had made my own concoction, but the small bag of the Paph and Phrag Imperial Orchid Mix was much more reasonably priced.  It is primarily made up of Orchiata, which is a newer media to the USA stirring up a lot buzz.  One of the things that makes it different is the fact that it can be used straight out of the bag without adverse effect.

When I do receive my order, I plan to repot Vino right away.  I am going to water my Paph with some diluted fertilizer enriched water, and I do still plan to add some presoaked sphagnum moss at the top.  I think all these steps will not only acclimate Vino quickly to the new potting mix, but help not make the repotting too traumatic, as well as accomplish my main intended goal; seal in that precious moisture until I get back from my vacation.

New Paph Bloom

Being so new to orchids in general and even newer to Paphs, I noticed Vino had something going on in the back.  Of course, I can't claim to have seen this in the store.  I was more intent on being able to pick out a Paph from a Phrag (Phragmipedium orchids) since they look so similar.  However, the care is very different.  Phrags need a lot more constant moisture and usually require additional lighting while Paphs are more akin to Phals.  I figured since I have been doing well with my Phals, I would be able to make a Paph happy.  It was clear to me that in my household, Phrags would be high maintenance plants...no thanks!

I also realized that once I got home, the tag that was in Vino's pot at the store, mysteriously disappeared.  I think this was an honest mistake, and that the salesman was just trying to make the plant look as pretty as possible for me.  I will try going back on Monday, and if I can't get another one from another of the leftover plants from the same stock, at least to jot down the information for my records.

So, once home, I began inspecting my new plant and found this:

I asked more versed orchid growers and it was identified as a new bloom...more flowers on the way...hey!!! One of the interesting things about Paphs is that they are grown from seeds, so no 2 are exactly alike.  The other interesting thing about them is that they usually only put out 1 flower at a time.  I will have to wait and see what ends up happening, but either the flower I have now will die off and  the new one will bloom or I will have 2 flowers on the same spike.  Either way, very exciting.

Paph Orchids

12:00 pm
First, let me fully admit I have caught full on Orchid Fever.

"You can get off alcohol, drugs, women, food and cars, but once you're hooked on orchids you're finished. You never get off orchids ... never."

                                  - Joe Kunisch, Commercial Orchid Grower, Rochester, New York

I guess, luckily, I don't have the space at home to grow a large collection although I have spent more time than I care to admit thinking about how to make it happen.  It's funny how you start looking around your house attempting to map out ways in which you can move stuff to accommodate a shelf or two near a window, etc.

In the interest of keeping my still young addiction in check, I decided I only have room for 1 more orchid so I better make it count.  I am on the hunt for a Paphiopedilum or Lady Slipper Orchid or "Paph".  I am going to go and check out the numerous aisles in the plant district and see if I can find any.  Off the top of my head, I don't recall seeing any, but then again, I have never actually looked for one, either.

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5:00 pm
So I did go to find my dream orchid, and asked about Paphs, but none of the stores had them.  Then, I went into one store, which coincidentally was the same store, I got Petaluma from, and they had them....just a handful of plants though, and surprisingly, they were tagged.  I managed to talk the guy into taking $5 off and once he agreed, they rung up my chosen plant.  Meet Vino, my new Paphiopedilum Parisienne Venus:

Don'tcha just love that mottled foliage?

I'm in love!

I then stopped by Jamali and picked up a new decorative pot in chrome, some jade stones, and a humidity tray also in chrome.  Besides spending too much money, I also discovered I have room for one more Paph on the tray...oh, my!