Question

insect on cattleya lea   QUESTION: Hi Wayne King,

Could you pls identify the insect found underside of cattleya leaf in attached photo?

I'm thinking of soaking the whole plant in neem oil or malathion solution.

Now, I have cut off all the leaves which have that insect.

Or shall I discard to prevent from spreading to other orchids.

Thanks in advance,
Nwe Lay

ANSWER: Nice photo.  These are spider mites. This appears to be a new infestation with no signs of the webbing as of yet. Since this does not appear to be a serious infestation I recommend that you simply locate he visible insects and remove them with a q-tip soaked in isopropyl alcohol. You may need to repeat this every week or two as additional insects appear.  Yes, they can spread to other plants so isolate the plant until several weeks have passed since you last observed mites on your plant.

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QUESTION: Hi Wayne King,

Thanks for the prompt reply.

This spider mite is quite different from what I seen in phal leave which are tiny. I have never seen this kind of spider mite before. They are big & very difficult to remove.

I cut off the affected leaves already.

Right now I don't have isopropyl alcohol, can I use neem oil to spray the remaining leaves?

Thanks,
Nwe Lay

Answer
Neem oil plugs the respiratory system and therefore is a contact insecticide. It must come into contact with the mite.  I'm not an entomologist so I can't be sure that what you have is a beneficial mite called a predatory mite which feeds on other mites.