The horticultural oils also work by smothering the scale insects, so that you know
I think using it by the instructions on the bottle will be fine. add some dish washing liquid to it too. For neem oil it was 1 tsp per litre, but I think 2 tsp will be ok. Horticultural oils aren't as toxic as neem I believe

I think I'm missing a few words from your last reply. Smuggling? and so you know? sorry ....
FirstTimer

Doh! I used the wrong word... I meant smothering or suffocating

Thanks Smartie. You have been so very helpful to me. I want you to know I really appreciate the time you have spent sharing your expertise with me.
I finally found some CLEAR pots today...I had to drive out of town to buy them! I want the light to come thru to the roots and hopefully I will better be able to judge the amount of moisture in the bark mixture. That made me happy!
FT

Air is WAY more important to orchid roots than light is.

Thanks Steven, so the best way to get air to the roots? by using a bark mixture (of course) and to perhaps have slits up the side of the pots?
FT

Exactly, using bark is the way to get air to the roots. Having slits can be helpful, but not everyone has slitted pots, so it's not essential.
Definitely haven't clear pots will help you judge better.

Thanks for your valuable input!
Take care
FT

No problem.

Semi-hydro is also another way to keep your roots hydrated AND in air space. Visit the S/H forum for more information.

Yes it does look like scale. I found a few on one of my Phals a couple of weeks a go and picked them off by hand and treated leaves with a topical insecticide. I began to carefully check all of my plants for any type of pests and everything looked good for about a week and then I began to notice some pale areas on the leaves of my artshade cattleya. Thinking the discoloration was from the sun, I adjusted the plant to a shadier location. The next day I was amazed to see even more discoloration. I began checking under the leaves and was horrified to see several patches of soft white scale. I immediately took action and sprayed with insecticide, but within a few days the infestation began to grow. The colonies of scale had a strong foothold beneath the sheath near the base of the plant. The pseudobulbs were so close to each other that it was nearly impossible to remove the sheath without damaging the pseudobulbs. Suddenly I got an idea. I had an old electric water pik (used to clean between teeth) in the garage in a box destined for the thrift shop. Maybe that would work. If something wasn't done soon the plant would surely perish. First I removed the plant from the pot, carefully trimmed off the old roots, and sprayed the entire plant with a systemic pesticide/fungicide. About 30 minutes after treatment I hooked up the water pik and directed the pinpointed spray of water to all parts of the plant except the newly developing roots. I was able to blast off the dried sheaths along with the nasty critters hiding beneath. Tomorrow the plant will receive one more systemic treatment just to make sure it didn't get too diluted by the water pik spraying session and then a fresh potting. Hopefully this will work.