As far as I know, I have never seen a pest damage an orchid, with one exception. For some reason I see (rarely) mealy bugs on Phal. but no other orchid genera is ever involved. Is this something others have seen? The mealy bugs are easy to eradicate but still, I just wonder why they seem to only attack the Phal. I don't seem to have aphid or white fly problems and I think it is because of my liberal use of fans and my liberal use of those blue and bright yellow sticky strips.

Though this has nothing to do with orchids, I have on occasion seen scale on a jade plant but not adjacent tropical plants.

Mealies love to get into the tight spikes of small Ascocentrums and the beginning spikes of Neofinetia hybrids. Not a pretty picture if one doesn't pay close attention. One might admire some pretty blooms only to be greeted by a grinning Mealie sitting on top, winking at you.....

I have had a lot of trouble with scale insects on Cymbidiums.

In all my years of growing orchids, I have only had a handful of Cymbidiums. If any of them has/had scale, I haven't seen it.

My biggest problem is scale on the big catts.

Jim

Same here, Jim. I would be such a happy camper without scale.

Everything looks good when I water, then I grab a plant and look at the side towards the glass! I guess bugs like to stay comfy and a bit drier than that part of the plant which gets more flooded.
I think the key is staying on top of things, move things periodically and inspect and try to catch it before it gets out of control....hopefully.....remove that skin on those pbulbs if possible, all the way down to the rhizome, that's where scale loves to lurk.

I don't have too many Cymbidiums any longer, but years ago I used to soak them outside in the Summer a couple of times with Bayer's Rose and Flower Care, works very well as systemic. I still treat some of the Cattleyas in Summer with that stuff.