If I may offer my two cents to the scale question, when I was actively growing all those years ago, (I was in my 20s), the one thing that would control scale in my collection was a weak solution of malethion. Readily available at any garden center, it was widely used in California to control the Mediterranean fruitful. I would paint it on the scale and they would be dead the next day. For a larger area of need a hand sprayer can be used. My collection at that time was fairly small. Maybe 15 to 20 plants and all small varieties. And mostly small phals and oncidiums with a few other exotics. When my home gets put back together from the damage from Laura, I will post some pictures of the photos in my album from that time. But I degrees. I can't offer advice on systemic pest control, but for roses I used a homemade nicotine solution (plug chewing tobacco in a gallon jug with water) with great success on aphids.
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