Will soap or alcohol hurt my opening blooms?

[SFLguy]

I use a bamboo skewer to measure how moist my Paphs are by keeping it in the medium with them. Today I pulled out one of the skewers and it had a little bit of mold (not too uncommon but it hasn't posed a risk and I usually soak those in alcohol) but was covered with these little brown moving dots. I don't know if they were there for the mold on the bamboo skewer or if there just underground (I saw none on any of the leaves)
I was thinking of soaking it in water and adding some soap or alcohol to kill the bugs but the Paph is almost ready to bloom and I wouldn't want to hurt it now, any ideas?

One of the buds on the Paph

 

[Carkin]

Sounds like soil mites to me, Oribatidae.


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[SFLguy]

That could very well be them, it'll be a shame if they're harmless but I don't to take the chance, besides, I don't want these guys breaking down the media

 

[gonewild]

If you put enough soap or alcohol on your media to kill soil mites or other walking critters you may very well kill your plant as a result.

If you are thinking of simply dipping the stick in a solution then that amount wont hurt your blooms.

Best to identify what the moving dots are before you try to treat them. Maybe no need to worry about anything.

 

[SFLguy]

If you put enough soap or alcohol on your media to kill soil mites or other walking critters you may very well kill your plant as a result.

If you are thinking of simply dipping the stick in a solution then that amount wont hurt your blooms.

Best to identify what the moving dots are before you try to treat them. Maybe no need to worry about anything.

I was thinking of dipping the pot in a solution of soap and water or alcohol and water for a bit too kill any bugs and then thoroughly flush it out

 

[SFLguy]

But I guess I'll wait it out and try to get one under a microscope first

 

[gonewild]

Alcohol dip could kill the root tissue and all the beneficial micro organisms.

 

[troy]

What is it?

 

[Carkin]

Is this a new plant?


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[Carkin]

If it's fairly new, I would be more concerned about what other critters could be lurking. But, if you've had it for a while and just noticed those "little brown dots" (probably soil mites), I wouldn't panic. It might be a sign that it could use a repot but no emergency.


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[cnycharles]

I think the dots are just after decayed stuff, and aren't going to be the cause of new decay. You could always dump the old media wash roots well and use new media, likely would remove problem. Stick likely will mold, maybe better to store it outside of pot and just check periodically for moisture then keep out (if you're really concerned about any rot)


Elmer Nj

 

[SFLguy]

What is it?

The plant? Paph. callosum
The bugs? Not sure

 

[SFLguy]

If it's fairly new, I would be more concerned about what other critters could be lurking. But, if you've had it for a while and just noticed those "little brown dots" (probably soil mites), I wouldn't panic. It might be a sign that it could use a repot but no emergency.


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It's not that new, I've had it since May, I guess I'll repot it after it blooms then, hopefully it's nothing then

 

[SFLguy]

I think the dots are just after decayed stuff, and aren't going to be the cause of new decay. You could always dump the old media wash roots well and use new media, likely would remove problem. Stick likely will mold, maybe better to store it outside of pot and just check periodically for moisture then keep out (if you're really concerned about any rot)


Elmer Nj

Yeah, I'm not really worried about the mold and the sticks aren't exactly expensive haha

 

[SFLguy]

I'm also not too worried about rot, I grow mine much drier than most apparently

 

[Carkin]

It's not that new, I've had it since May, I guess I'll repot it after it blooms then, hopefully it's nothing then

If you are worried you can keep it away from your other plants until you repot it. It looks like the bloom is already starting to open, I'm looking forward to seeing it fully opened!! I love callosum!!


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[SFLguy]

If you are worried you can keep it away from your other plants until you repot it. It looks like the bloom is already starting to open, I'm looking forward to seeing it fully opened!! I love callosum!!


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I'm calling for it to fully open on Friday though I might get shown up by the little guy and have it by tomorrow haha. The other bud is probably only a couple of days behind this one.

This was already growing isolated from my other plants so I'm not overly worried about it spreading.

If you want a peek at last year's bloom, here you go

 

[Carkin]

Oh, my...I love last years bloom!! That dorsal is outrageous! Now I'm even more excited about seeing this years blooms, two at that!


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[SFLguy]

Oh, my...I love last years bloom!! That dorsal is outrageous! Now I'm even more excited about seeing this years blooms, two at that!


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The dorsal makes me think of an Elvis haircut, I love it haha

 

[NYEric]

I got some scary dots/mites in a plant I got. It took me 2 weeks washing and spraying pesticides until I didn't see any more, that might be a lot for your plant to handle. Good luck.