Orchid Ailments – Caterpillars

Caterpillars, the childish stages of moths and butterflies, can make significant damage to orchid plants. One of the common garden pests known as chewing insects, which includes caterpillars, beetles and some worms, caterpillars are voracious feeders and can make a great deal of damage to the flowers and leaves of an orchid in a short period of time.

All caterpillars have chewing mouthparts, generally three pairs of true legs on the front of the body, and generally four pairs of unjointed soft fleshy projections called prolegs on the abdomen with a fifth pair, the anal prolegs, at the posterior end. The body is generally in the shape of a cylinder and varies from slender to robust.

Life Cycles

The life cycle of moths and butterflies is divided into four stages: egg, destructive caterpillar or grub, pupa or resting stage, and adult butterfly or moth. Adult females usually lay their eggs on the host plants, and may choose an attractive orchid for that purpose. The caterpillars start feeding at once upon hatching, and continue until the pupal stage is reached and they are rendered harmless to your plants. During the pupal stage, transformation to the adult moth or butterfly happens.

Controls

The first line of defence against caterpillars is prevention. Keeping the growing area clean and free of fallen leaves and debris minimizes the places for insect pests and their eggs and larvae to hide. Maintain a healthy collection by looking after the basic cultural needs of your orchids. Orchidists are an acquisitive bunch, but overcrowded plants allow pests and disease to spread through a collection much more rapidly than those given sufficient growing space. Regular checks of the undersides of leaves, especially during the spring and summer, may turn up moth or butterfly eggs that will develop into caterpillars. Simply pick off the eggs and get rid of them.

immediately caterpillars have found their way into your orchids collection, you must completely remove them as soon as possible, because they can cause considerable damage in a matter of days or even hours. For a smaller number of the pests, the pick-them-and-squash-them method is effectively. If you don’t want to crush them, you can drop them into a small bucket of water and let them drowned.

Beneficial or predator insects, those that hunts and eats parasitize insect pests, are another option for control. Braconid, Chalcid and Ichneumonid wasps parasitize caterpillars; they lay their eggs inside the body of various caterpillars, and their larvae hatch inside of and then fee on the caterpillar. Assassin bugs (Reduviidae) hunts and eats caterpillars. You can buy beneficial insects from suppliers such as Integrated Pest Management of Alaska.

In accordance with the Gardener’s Supply Company of Vermont, some fast and easy homemade repellents to keep caterpillars away from eating your orchids include solutions of water with one of the following plants added: onion, , chives,garlic hot peppers, and herbs think of the herbs basil, coriander, or peppermint. Put the leaves in hot water leave them their or mix in a blender and strain before spraying. These sprays can repel a very wide range of insects, these also including the the huge varieties of caterpillars. alternatively you may go for the salt and flour as a dust to dehydrate or suffocate many types of caterpillars.

If an infestation is severe or beyond the capacity of home-made remedies, the use of Orthene (acephate), in strictly according to the manufacturer’s instructions, is also a choice. Avoid using the insecticide on flower buds, as they may be damaged by contact. This is not a choice to be combined with the use of predator insects, because the pesticide makes no differences between the harmful and beneficial bugs. Remember, Orthene is toxic to humans and pets as well – always use appropriate safety precautions when handling insecticides.