Pests of orchids: saving our exotic beauty

Settled in your house, the exotic beauty is fragrant, pleasing to the eye. You do not get tired of admiring her amazing colors, their unusual coloring, amazing form. At the same time, you naively believe that your plant does not threaten anything in your apartment. Since all his natural enemies are far away in the tropics. However, this is a false calm. And in our latitudes the orchid can seriously suffer . Diseases and pests (photo, presented in the article, demonstrate their harmful influence) affects leaves, flowers, roots.

To hedge against possible troubles, do not forget about mandatory prevention. All parts of the plant undergo a weekly inspection. Regularly sterilize the substrate. For these purposes, a solution of potassium permanganate is also suitable . Many pests of orchids come to you with newly acquired plants. Therefore, we arrange newcomers with quarantine and treatment with any low-toxic universal insecticide.

Now let's deal with the main parasites threatening your tropical beauty.

In the ground and fallen leaves, tiny worms, nematodes, can live. Because of their microscopic size, the presence of parasites is only possible in the footsteps that they leave. These are brown or black marks on the leaves. These pests of orchids are afraid of high temperatures, so it is necessary to sterilize pallets and pots over a water bath. It is facilitated by formalin disinfection and treatment of the whole plant with a solution consisting of water and a tablet of "Decaris". And do not forget to carefully remove all fallen and dead parts.

The following pests of orchids in the home - the woodlice. They are happy to absorb young tender leaves. And these creatures live in the substrate. There it is moist and warm - exactly what is needed by these insects. In order to scrape the woodlice, it is necessary to lure them out of the pot first. To do this, we take a damp cloth, put a piece of apple or potatoes on it. We lay the bait near the flower, but do not water the soil for a day. Insects will leave their habitual habitation and in the morning you will find them on a rag. True, it is necessary to repeat this procedure more than once.

But the most common pests of orchids are thrips and aphids. Both those and others feed on the cell sap of the plant. And if you do not fight with them, then soon the flower will simply perish. Here you can not do without special preparations. It exterminates parasites "Confidor". You can recommend treatment with "Aktara". If you are an opponent of chemical methods of struggle, then use the biological preparation "Aktofit".

These same drugs are used to eliminate scabs and mealybugs. The latter can be traced by the characteristic white raid in the axils of leaflets. But the adult scutellum is a small waxy tubercle on the surface of the plant. These pests of orchids adore the dry hot climate. Therefore, we generously moisten the air, do not be lazy to arrange for our green pets a light shower, wipe and inspect all parts of the plant.

In the summer, when your beauties enjoy fresh air on the terrace or balcony, they can be inhabited by tiny snails or slugs. They must be immediately removed from the leaves and destroyed, because these gluttonous creatures will gnaw on leaves, stems, flowers, and even roots.