Thrips are the final insect to be covered here and to me, are the most insidious. Thrips are small, very small, and therefore difficult to detect. Usually, you see the damage before the thrip. Although thrips can and do cause damage to orchid plants, their preferred feeding ground is flowers and buds. There is nothing more heartbreaking than waiting a whole year for that favorite orchid to bloom, and find out that it has been defaced by thrips. They can even get between the folds of a just-opened bud and cause scarring or bud blast. As if they weren't hard enough to see, thrips can move quickly when disturbed and will hide under folds in the lip or where the petals and sepals meet. Although the insects have wings, being so tiny, they may just as frequently be dispersed by wind. One piece of common advice for managing thrips is to eliminate known host plants from around the orchid growing area. Here in Florida, gardenia is notorious for harboring thrips and orchid hobbyists are often advised to move or spray their gardenia bushes. Other host plants are ficus benjamina, camellia and magnolia.