Some time ago Diana asked about hard bumps she found on her catts.

I finally found an example of the hard bumps I get on mine.

http://www.orchidtrek.com/thrip.scalea.JPG

http://www.orchidtrek.com/thrip.scaleb.JPG

These "look" like scale or mealies, but they are not. In the picture it
almost looks like you can see antennae, but they aren't.

These do not mash. They are hard like a wart, dug in like a blister in the
flesh of the lip.

Ever seen anything like this before??

After looking at the AOS mag I have come to believe there are thrips in my
collection, and that will bring me to my second question in a second.

But first, do thrips live/breed inside plant tissue?

I'm going to spray with OrtheneWP. In order to get this under control,
since today is a sunny day I'll water first then then apply the systemic.
Its winter and its cold in the GH (70 high, 59-60 low). I'm going to turn
up the heat so the collection is dry by nightfall. I've been keeping the
plants dry, because I don't want them to rot in the winter cold, however I
think I've been keeping them *too* dry and now disease has started in the
debilitated plants.

My second question is, *should* I water 1st then use the systemic? I'm
going to anyway, because I think it'll be a shock to the roots to be hit
with water AND chemicals at the same time, from a TDS standpoint, not from a
chemical standpoint. Granted this may decrease the uptake of the systemic,
but I just don't want to hit their dry roots with too much. I'm just asking
for next time. Since I'll have to do this again next week.

K Barrett

Yes, they lay their eggs in plant tissues.

http://www.firstrays.com/thrips.htm

--

Ray Barkalow - First Rays Orchids - www.firstrays.com
Plants, Supplies, Books, Artwork, and Lots of Free Info!

.. . . . . . . . . . .
"K Barrett" wrote in message
news:bVSQb.116299$5V2.588192@attbi_s53...
Some time ago Diana asked about hard bumps she found on her catts.

I finally found an example of the hard bumps I get on mine.

http://www.orchidtrek.com/thrip.scalea.JPG

http://www.orchidtrek.com/thrip.scaleb.JPG

These "look" like scale or mealies, but they are not. In the picture it
almost looks like you can see antennae, but they aren't.

These do not mash. They are hard like a wart, dug in like a blister in the
flesh of the lip.

Ever seen anything like this before??

After looking at the AOS mag I have come to believe there are thrips in my
collection, and that will bring me to my second question in a second.

But first, do thrips live/breed inside plant tissue?

I'm going to spray with OrtheneWP. In order to get this under control,
since today is a sunny day I'll water first then then apply the systemic.
Its winter and its cold in the GH (70 high, 59-60 low). I'm going to turn
up the heat so the collection is dry by nightfall. I've been keeping the
plants dry, because I don't want them to rot in the winter cold, however I
think I've been keeping them *too* dry and now disease has started in the
debilitated plants.

My second question is, *should* I water 1st then use the systemic? I'm
going to anyway, because I think it'll be a shock to the roots to be hit
with water AND chemicals at the same time, from a TDS standpoint, not from
a
chemical standpoint. Granted this may decrease the uptake of the
systemic,
but I just don't want to hit their dry roots with too much. I'm just
asking
for next time. Since I'll have to do this again next week.

K Barrett

Crap. I originally wrote f*ck, but decided to clean it up.

K


"Ray" wrote in message
...
Yes, they lay their eggs in plant tissues.

http://www.firstrays.com/thrips.htm

--

Ray Barkalow - First Rays Orchids - www.firstrays.com
Plants, Supplies, Books, Artwork, and Lots of Free Info!

. . . . . . . . . . .
"K Barrett" wrote in message
news:bVSQb.116299$5V2.588192@attbi_s53...
Some time ago Diana asked about hard bumps she found on her catts.

I finally found an example of the hard bumps I get on mine.

http://www.orchidtrek.com/thrip.scalea.JPG

http://www.orchidtrek.com/thrip.scaleb.JPG

These "look" like scale or mealies, but they are not. In the picture it
almost looks like you can see antennae, but they aren't.

These do not mash. They are hard like a wart, dug in like a blister in
the
flesh of the lip.

Ever seen anything like this before??

After looking at the AOS mag I have come to believe there are thrips in
my
collection, and that will bring me to my second question in a second.

But first, do thrips live/breed inside plant tissue?

I'm going to spray with OrtheneWP. In order to get this under control,
since today is a sunny day I'll water first then then apply the
systemic.
Its winter and its cold in the GH (70 high, 59-60 low). I'm going to
turn
up the heat so the collection is dry by nightfall. I've been keeping
the
plants dry, because I don't want them to rot in the winter cold, however
I
think I've been keeping them *too* dry and now disease has started in
the
debilitated plants.

My second question is, *should* I water 1st then use the systemic? I'm
going to anyway, because I think it'll be a shock to the roots to be hit
with water AND chemicals at the same time, from a TDS standpoint, not
from
a
chemical standpoint. Granted this may decrease the uptake of the
systemic,
but I just don't want to hit their dry roots with too much. I'm just
asking
for next time. Since I'll have to do this again next week.

K Barrett

I have never seen thrip damage that looked like the bump on your cattleya
orchid flower picture. Damage from thrip feeding and egg laying behavior
looks like streaks and flecks of off color tissue and thin, just below the
tissue surface very short burrowing-type marks and they are generally very
thin and hard to see unless there is a big infestation. Eggs and instars
are barely visible without magnification Adults are about 1mm. Nothing I
know to be associated with thrips makes a structure that large or soundless
like what you have described.

If they are not a scale type insect, I would say then that they look like
galls to me and galls can be associated with insect activity but they are a
plant tissue's response to an irritation of some kind, be it
bacterial/fungus/virus, insect, chemical or abrasion. I have never seen a
gall example on flower tissue before, so I can only point out that "gall"
are a catch-all term for what is in your picture and fits your verbal
description and the 'cure' for a gall depends on what's causing it. I have
never heard of thrips being listed among the irritants that cause plants to
form galls.

I can't say what it is, but I would *not* conclude it was thrip damage or
thrip egg laying damage from this picture of the bump alone. Since I don't
know what it is, I can't even begin to know what you can apply to stop it.
Is there a local entomologist near you or someplace you can send a sample?
Or even a microscope so you can see what it looks like under magnification?

I hope you can fix it whatever it is. ;-)

"K Barrett" wrote in message
news:bVSQb.116299$5V2.588192@attbi_s53...
Some time ago Diana asked about hard bumps she found on her catts.

I finally found an example of the hard bumps I get on mine.

http://www.orchidtrek.com/thrip.scalea.JPG

http://www.orchidtrek.com/thrip.scaleb.JPG

These "look" like scale or mealies, but they are not. In the picture it
almost looks like you can see antennae, but they aren't.

These do not mash. They are hard like a wart, dug in like a blister in the
flesh of the lip.

Ever seen anything like this before??

After looking at the AOS mag I have come to believe there are thrips in my
collection, and that will bring me to my second question in a second.

But first, do thrips live/breed inside plant tissue?

I'm going to spray with OrtheneWP. In order to get this under control,
since today is a sunny day I'll water first then then apply the systemic.
Its winter and its cold in the GH (70 high, 59-60 low). I'm going to turn
up the heat so the collection is dry by nightfall. I've been keeping the
plants dry, because I don't want them to rot in the winter cold, however I
think I've been keeping them *too* dry and now disease has started in the
debilitated plants.

My second question is, *should* I water 1st then use the systemic? I'm
going to anyway, because I think it'll be a shock to the roots to be hit
with water AND chemicals at the same time, from a TDS standpoint, not from
a
chemical standpoint. Granted this may decrease the uptake of the
systemic,
but I just don't want to hit their dry roots with too much. I'm just
asking
for next time. Since I'll have to do this again next week.

K Barrett

Kathy,

That is not what I had. What I experienced was on the leaves only; the
flowers were unaffected, though they were not as robust as usual. That's
logical to me; after all, if the plant hurts, the flower hurts. I used
Physan, and intend to repeat the treatment this coming week. So far, the
Physan seems to have stopped the spread of what you and others (and I)
diagnosed as fungus.

Unfortunately, I've had thrips, and their damage is nothing like the photo
either. Al described it perfectly - streaking, spotting, thin spots. In
any event, Orthene wiped out the thrips in good order.

I'm going to be very interested in what those spots turn out to be. "What
evil lurks............!"

Diana

Al and Diana,

When the REI says I can go back in the GH I'll take photos of another gall
on the midrib of a leaf (Blc).

'Gall' sums it up pretty well. I suppose I could go to the County Ag dept,
or better yet gety a microscope to look at this thang.

In the meantime, ick!

K

"Diana Kulaga" wrote in message
link.net...
Kathy,

That is not what I had. What I experienced was on the leaves only; the
flowers were unaffected, though they were not as robust as usual. That's
logical to me; after all, if the plant hurts, the flower hurts. I used
Physan, and intend to repeat the treatment this coming week. So far, the
Physan seems to have stopped the spread of what you and others (and I)
diagnosed as fungus.

Unfortunately, I've had thrips, and their damage is nothing like the photo
either. Al described it perfectly - streaking, spotting, thin spots. In
any event, Orthene wiped out the thrips in good order.

I'm going to be very interested in what those spots turn out to be. "What
evil lurks............!"

Diana

On Sun, 25 Jan 2004 17:20:07 +0000, K Barrett wrote:

Some time ago Diana asked about hard bumps she found on her catts.

I finally found an example of the hard bumps I get on mine.

http://www.orchidtrek.com/thrip.scalea.JPG

http://www.orchidtrek.com/thrip.scaleb.JPG

These "look" like scale or mealies, but they are not. In the picture it
almost looks like you can see antennae, but they aren't.

These do not mash. They are hard like a wart, dug in like a blister in the
flesh of the lip.

snip

K Barrett

One trick that works, if you have only a few on a orchid, is dip a Q-Tip
in rubbing alcohol, and touch the little blighters. They don't like it one
bit, and drop away, where you can pick them up and dispose of them.

-Daniel

On Sun, 25 Jan 2004 17:20:07 +0000, K Barrett wrote:

Some time ago Diana asked about hard bumps she found on her catts.

I finally found an example of the hard bumps I get on mine.

http://www.orchidtrek.com/thrip.scalea.JPG

http://www.orchidtrek.com/thrip.scaleb.JPG

These "look" like scale or mealies, but they are not. In the picture it
almost looks like you can see antennae, but they aren't.

These do not mash. They are hard like a wart, dug in like a blister in the
flesh of the lip.

snip

K Barrett

One trick that works, if you have only a few on a orchid, is dip a Q-Tip
in rubbing alcohol, and touch the little blighters. They don't like it one
bit, and drop away, where you can pick them up and dispose of them.

-Daniel