Merit systemic may have caused this on my Miltassia

[silken]

Thanks all for your comments and helpful information. It sounds hopeful that my orchid will return to normal next year. The odd bloom looks normal even as the others are blooming strangely!

glengary54, you are right, mine does look exactly like 'Diplomat' I looked at a photo from last year's blooms to be sure there weren't streaks and spots from the Merit overdose. It's the spitting image! Of course I know that because it came to me as a NOID, I can't label it as such.

My granules came with the instructions to dissolve in water, but I know I used a fair bit more than recommended. I just couldn't eradicate the scale until I did so and I figured it was a risk worth taking.

If I remember I will update this thread next year or when it re-blooms. Thanks all.

[Brotherly Monkey]

who sales a spray formulation of merit, and is it effective when used in such a manner?

The reason I ask is that I could only find it in granular form, when packaged for plants, and read that it doesn't work well as a spray

[silken]

Ours was bought from a seed and feed store in large quantity for our society. The instructions on my container of granules say to mix with water. It doesn't dissolve that well and must be shook regularly when applying. It's a systemic so really belongs in the media, but supposedly spraying it on the leaves will help eradicate bugs (scale in my case) from the contact and get things under control sooner than waiting for the plant to absorb it from the roots.

[Brotherly Monkey]

Originally Posted by silken

Ours was bought from a seed and feed store in large quantity for our society. The instructions on my container of granules say to mix with water. It doesn't dissolve that well and must be shook regularly when applying. It's a systemic so really belongs in the media, but supposedly spraying it on the leaves will help eradicate bugs (scale in my case) from the contact and get things under control sooner than waiting for the plant to absorb it from the roots.

so you can buy any type of granules and mix them with water?

PS what is the concentration of your granules, and what are you mixing to?

[silken]

Originally Posted by Brotherly Monkey

so you can buy any type of granules and mix them with water?

PS what is the concentration of your granules, and what are you mixing to?

Sorry for taking so long to answer. I don't know about mixing any type of granules to water, but those are the instructions with mine. It is 5% imidacloprid. My mixing instructions are 1 tablespoon to 1 gallon. below is something I copied from a website:

Using imidacloprid

Imidacloprid is a very effective, broad spectrum, [B]water [/B]soluble** insecticide for use against soil insect pests such as white grubs, crane fly, mole crickets and lawn moths like sod webworm. Different products are available for ornamental pests such as aphids, scales insects and thrips and for structural pests such as termites and carpenter ants (see Specimen Labels below).


Just as an update to my strange blooms-The 9th and last spike has just bloomed and all 4 blooms on that spike are clear and normal looking so I am hoping next year all spikes will bloom this way.