Scale on Flowers?

[chips]

I have this problem on one of my Phals. There is a sticky substance behind the blossom, right where the stem is attached. On closer inspection, I find this dark, round shape( looks like a half seed). I have plucked them off with a toothpick and refind them about a week later. The leaves are totally clean, no sign of stickiness, spots etc. My question is: Will scale attack only the flowers?

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Scale will attach to any part of the plant that's alive and it can gain access to.

[chips]

Can I spray the flowers? Should I spray? Presently I wiped down the leaves with Neem and picked off the scale with a toothpick, then washed off the sticky sap with a Q-tip and weakened dish liquid soap mixture.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Spraying the flowers means risking either loosing the blooms or badly blemishing them. It's up to you.

Scales tend not to be as persistent as mealies. So once you've picked them all off early, I think you should be okay.

I don't know what Neem is so I can't say anything about it.

The sap is normal. Sometimes orchids produce it. It's just sugars the plants have over produced and doesn't need.

[mclyle]

I used Neem Oil, but you cannot make it ahead of time and store it because it breaks down. Too much is not good. I prefer to use 2/3 water, 1/3alcohol and a drop or 2 of dish deter. I soak a paper towel and wipe the leaves and drip where I can't reach. However, I recently had an orchid in full bloom covered in scale when I returned from vacation. I separated it from my other orchids (actually outside the greenhouse) and set it under a shady bush. I sprayed with Neem fairly thoroughly. Live or die, but I didn't want the scales!!! When the petals started dropping 2 weeks later I didn't see any scales. It's been almost a month now sitting under the bush, getting rain water and seems to be doing well. I also have a friend who swears by an Ortho pest control from local hardwear store. She has 100's of all kinds of orchids and uses it on all of them! I'll get the name of it. Good luck, McLyle

[chips]

Is it weird that there are no scale on the leaves just the flowers?

[mclyle]

In my opinion, they are there...you just can't see them. Baby scale is tiny tiny! Good luck!

[ssbphal]

Scale will spread very easily to other nearby ochids. If you can't move this orchid well away from the others treat all of them. A nice household remedy is 1/2 gallon of water, 1 1/2 TBL of liquid soup and 8 oz. of isopropyl alcohol. This mixture will last a long time. You can spray or wipe down your orchids if you notice any scale. This mixture will also cause the scale "to wipe away',