At what point do you toss?

[Tindomul]

I tend to let things agonize for a while. I have though, learned recently that it is better to toss out something that is completely infested. In your situation, I might be tempted to toss. Good luck with your PhD. Congrats on that.

[ramonypony]

I used to try to save every orchid and would be upset when one got sick. Eventually I adopted a set it and forget it attitude, if they're having a problem (fungus for example) I'll do my best to treat it by cutting leaves or whatever and then I leave it alone and let it figure it's own life out. 😁 I have 150? something chids now and go to school so I can't baby them anymore. And I generally have more success with them the less I intervene. Pests are another story because if you want to keep the plant you have to keep up with it to get rid of them (or keep them under control.) The only way I will straight up throw one away is if it's got an aggressive rot or has killed itself (*ahem* bifoliate cattleyas.)
I killed a Twinkle because I didn't keep it wet enough, I've learned that I have to keep oncs in small pots in moss or they will slowly die here. Salixx had the right idea with the plant hospital, moss is really a great media for rescuing sick or weak plants if you know how to use it.

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[Mocres]

Originally Posted by bil

Spot on. I do think it pays to have an arsenal of chems to hit the plants HARD and fast when the need arises. A good pesticide (I like Imacloprid as a systemic, and Chas 48 as a flamethrower -- ie a contact killer for bad cases) a serious fungicide like Mancozeb powder (which doubles up as a dessicant powder) and a serious mite killer.

I don't mess about with so called natural remedies, because those mostly just buy the bugs time to do real damage.

Bil, please, could you tell me the commercial names of those products? I'm in Spain, so I will probably be able to buy them, but I fing it very difficult to do it based purely on the generic name... Chemistry is not my thing.
Thaks a lot.

[bil]

Originally Posted by Mocres

Bil, please, could you tell me the commercial names of those products? I'm in Spain, so I will probably be able to buy them, but I fing it very difficult to do it based purely on the generic name... Chemistry is not my thing.
Thaks a lot.

Well, the firstt thing is, locate a place that sells fertiliser and pesticide in bulk quantities.

Now comes the problem. Spain has brought in rules that you have to go o a course ad get a phytosanitary card. I keep menaing to get one, but I have always had a problem in getting to a course.

So in the meantime, I have a friend with a card and he buys me stuff.

Te important thing is, that you get GENERIC stuff. Imacloporid comes under a different name every time I buy the stuff, so you ask for 'Imacloporid GENERICO porfa'. It is the difference between ppaying 100+ Euros for a litre of Cnfidor, or 25 euros for a litre of generico.
Chas 48 is the only name that stuff has. Do be careful as both will burn, but Chas is really nasty.
Mancozeb fungicide. Buy it by the 500g or kilo sack. It may well be 10 years worth, but it's so much cheaper than buying sachets..
The acaricide, I have no idea other than 'Acaricido generico'
Make notes of how much a litre to dose. Imacloporid is 1cc per litre, Chas 2ccs per litre, and I can't remember the amounts for the acaricide and the fungicide.

Keep them in a safe, cool dark area that is lockable.
I like to have one spray for them and another for herbicide (generic glyphosato) a fraction the cost of roundup and every bit as good.

Oh yah, I found a place that sells 20.20.20 fertiliser, by post, at 30 euros for ten kilos. (inc postage.) Tell me if you would like the address.

[Mocres]

Thanks a lot! I think I know someone with a phytosanitary card, so I'll ask him to buy these things for me.
Both my plants and me are very, very grateful.

[u bada]

I'm all about tossing. In my past orchid life I had way too many, like close to 1000 and i lived in apartments, moved with them from nyc to SoCal in a big truck. Oh the stress. then life changes hit and I let go of them and started afresh 3-4 years ago and this time around I'm not at all interested in plants that don't succeed in my conditions with the amount of care that i can provide (I freelance and freelancers work double time hours really). It's just not worth the stress! So just reiterating what others have said, ha!

and any slight disease is certainly not worth it, even if it's mildly special of a plant. First off, chemicals may do the trick but set back a plant, but it's already set back from decline, so that's a double set back. So let's say it gets better... might be 4-5 years before you see a bloom! and with the crazy world who knows if we have even 4 years! (that's my morbid humor for ya.)

but definitely congrats on your phd...

[charlesf6]

I guess I should just chuck the Dendrobium I was shipped last night with scale infestation then?

[Leafmite]

Scale. What I do is to get a few cotton balls and a bottle of isopropyl alcohol and I soak the cotton ball with the alcohol and use this to clean off the scale. I check every day for a couple of weeks. That usually takes care of it. In very few cases, it won't and you will need to use a systemic.