Eggs in my Dendrobium nobile

Hi all,

I was wondering if somebody might be able to identify these white egg things in my Dendrobium potting media, please?

It's potted in Westlands Orchid Potting Mix and seemed fine until I watered it yesterday. I usually sit it in water for a few minutes and then leave it to drain, but yesterday some tiny white things about half a millimetre diameter floated to the top. I panicked and dunked it in a neem oil solution for 10 minutes and let it drain again (I hope I haven't killed my plant ). I've been looking after this little Dendrobium keiki since January and it had been doing so well until now.

This morning the top of the potting mix is covered in these little white eggs. I've tried to take some pictures of them:








I think the mother plant might have eggs too, but it's not as bad as this one. I tried breaking some open, but they're too small to see what's inside.

I think for now, I'll dunk the roots in water to try and get rid of as much of these things as I can and repot in fresh potting mix. I'm worried that my bag of mix might be contaminated, so I've poured some boiling water over some mix and am letting it cool down to hopefully kill any nasties in it. I don't know if this is the right thing to do?

Any advice will be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!

 

Hi @Bioilogica I'm wondering if they really are eggs ... they seem to be variable in size. Possibly just small particles of perlite from the compost? When you soak it, perlite tends to come to the surface anyway.

 

Hi @CarolineL thank you, that's a really good point!

I wonder if it could be solidified neem oil? I don't think it's perlite, because the potting mix doesn't contain any and they seemed kind of squishy.

I repotted it and there doesn't seem to be anything suspicious in it now I'll keep an eye on it for a few days and see.