PSA: That "rare" orchid I found at a garage sale was actually infested with scale bugs

Found this beautiful Cattleya orchid at a garage sale in Portland three weeks ago for only 5 bucks. Thought I hit the jackpot because the blooms were huge and super fragrant. Brought it home, set it right next to my other plants on the shelf. Didn't notice anything wrong until last Tuesday when I saw this sticky substance on the leaves. Took a closer look and there were dozens of tiny brown bumps all over the stems. That's when I realized it was scale insects crawling everywhere. Spent the whole weekend quarantining and treating all my plants with rubbing alcohol and neem oil. Anyone else ever get tricked by a "steal" at a sale that turned into a pest nightmare?

3 comments

3 Comments

ruby_rivera761mo ago

Three years ago I bought a fiddle leaf fig from a lady on Nextdoor for ten bucks. She said it was just "dramatic" and dropping leaves because she moved it near a drafty window. Turns out it had spider mites so bad the webbing looked like someone draped ghost costumes over every branch. I spent two months rotating between neem oil, insecticidal soap, and finally just washing each leaf by hand in the sink with dish soap. The fig survived, but my pride didn't. That lady probably knew exactly what she was doing. Now I inspect every plant like I'm a customs agent looking for contraband.

troyreed2mo ago

That "hit the jackpot" feeling lasted about as long as it took me to realize I'd basically adopted a tiny brown armored army for my plant shelf (which is ironic, since I can't even keep a basil plant alive usually).

ben_nguyen2mo ago

The "tiny brown armored army" line got me. Sounds like you accidentally started an isopod empire instead of a plant collection. At least those little guys are hard to kill, right? Way lower maintenance than basil.