Are Bugs Eating My Orchids?

I have two Orchids. In the Hot Humid weather I've been leaving them outside under the awing. I've notice that one of the plants leaves has been eating by something. What could be doing this and should I do something to the leaves to pervent it from harming the rest of the plant?

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Aug 04, 2011
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starstarstarstarstar 		More Than Likely, Look For Which Ones
by: Melissa

More than likely bugs are eating your orchids. Many bugs do.

Depending on where you live it could be a number of things. I know about bugs that eat orchids in my area of the world but there may be other bugs where you are that I do not know.

Things that eat plants here in Northern California are slugs, snails, earwigs and (rarely) rats.

For the slugs, snails and earwigs my recommendation would be to go out at night after it is dark with a flashlight and see if you can figure out which is the culprit.

How you treat it depends on what it is and your situation.

Slugs and snails I treat a couple of different ways. I can ignore them if it is not serious. Or I can use copper tape on the edge of the pots (this discourages them.) Or some folks will put out a saucer of beer and they are attracted to the beer and then they collect them. And I think sometimes they drown in the beer.

There are poisons for slugs and snails but I do not use them in my situation. I am not saying one should not, it is just not appropriate where I live. You need to be aware of the other animals when using pesticides.

Earwigs, are very prevalent here. Mostly I ignore them. (But I do live in the country). Some people will roll up newspaper and they will hide in the newspaper in the daylight and they collect them that way. And there are other pesticides. But since I do not use them I can not advise you about them.

If you do use pesticides, do your homework and follow the label instructions carefully both for application and safety.

So, your first action should be to find out what is eating them. Go out with a flashlight and once you know what it is you can develope a plan to deal with them.

Good luck!

Melissa
www.orchids-plus-more.com


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