In order to keep your orchids healthy and disease free you must know the potential sources of disease and prevent it before it happens. Sometimes orchid leaves can appear to have little bugs living inside of them and it looks like these bugs are running visible trails and tunnels through the leaves after they hatch. This may be the work of a type of annoying insect, otherwise known as a “leaf mining insect” and often called a “leaf miner” .
A leaf miner can be one of many different insects where the larval stage lives inside and eats the leaf tissue of your orchid. They are regarded as pests by most gardeners because they cause damage to the plants and and are hard to control with insecticides. They are hard to reach with insecticide and pesticides because they live inside the plant leaves where they are protected.
Most leaf mining insects are moths, flies, and beetles. The leaf miners who usually infest orchids come in the form of small white grubs. These bugs that live inside the leaves of your orchids are protected from many predators and can evade the natural defenses of your orchid plant by feeding inside of the tissues of the leaves and only eating the layers that have the most nutrients they crave- cellulose. Damage can occur when the leaf miner is feeding on the plant and allows disease causing fungi or bacteria to enter the leaf.
The best way to get rid of leaf miners is to cut away the damage they have already caused in your stems and leaves and then apply a systemic pesticide.
Here are several other natural solutions you can use to fight leaf mining insects.
Strategically Timed Spraying
In order to have success at getting rid of leaf miners on orchids you have to spray the orchids at the correct time when the larva are hatching. If you spray too early or late this method of killing the leaf miners will not be effective. This is because the spray will not reach the larva inside the leaf. You have to wait until they expose themselves to get access to them.
So when is the correct time to spray your orchids for leaf miners? To find out you need to cut off an infected part of your orchid and seal it in a zip-lock bag. Then you wait until you see the black bugs or flies start to hatch. When you see the black flies start to form is the correct time to spray your orchids. You should spray them every day for the next week or two just to be sure you the are all gone.
Neem Oil Spray Mixture
The best way to use neem oil to treat your orchids for leaf miners and other insects and pests is to mix it with water and a small amount of dish soap. A good combination ratio is to mix about a liter of water with a teaspoon of dish soap and 2 teaspoons of neem oil. Mix this up well and then use this natural remedy of neem oil spray on your orchid leaves during the time when the larva are hatching (as you can see in your zip-lock bag). It is best to use the zip-lock method for timing and then spray with organic need oil mixture when the time is right.
Sometimes the need oil can become solid so you may need to melt it before you mix it up. You should spray both sides of the leaves of your orchids. Spray the leaves every day during the leaf-miner hatching timeframe.
This mixture can also get rid of other bugs on your orchid leaves. The spray can start to break down after about a day so mix up a new batch tomorrow.
Sticky Traps
A natural way to keep leaf miners from attacking your orchid leaves is to use yellow Sticky Traps to catch the adults before they lay their eggs. It is always better to take preventative measures so that the problem never occurs in the first place and sticky traps for leaf miners can help you do just that. There are several brand of sticky traps you can find online that help catch the adult leaf mining insects. These can work because they will catch the bugs before they lay their eggs. Catching the insect will prevent the insects larva from infecting your orchids leaves and stop them from creating the openings and tunnels that leave your orchid at risk of diseases.
