Scale - Oh my!

[cluelessmidwesterner]

I went to my first orchid society meeting this afternoon. They had some left over plants from their booth from the flower show there. They were selling them at a knock down price of $10 each. I steered away from the Miltoniopsis since as a beginner I'd kill on of those babies in a heartbeat and looked at the Oncidium Inter-generics. Finally I broke down and purchased a Odcdm. Wild Willie 'Pacific bingo'. Yes all the flowers were in bloom, plus it has decided to literally climb out of its pot and the leaves a bit worse for wear but for the price I thought I'd give it a go.

On the drive home with the sun light hitting the leaves I noticed it had scale. Wiped the leaf whilst sitting at a light and squashed the little free-loader. I had hoped it was dead but it very much alive since it caused wet spot between my finger. So as soon as I hit my back porch it got soaked with Garden Safe Fungicide 3 (because I don't need free-loading tiny livestock in the house).

My question is can I use Bonide Systemic house plant insect control on Oncidiums? The spray get those where the spray can reach but if there is some in the pot or hiding in a cranny I cannot treat I would rather get them early on before I have them marching through all the plants in the house like Sherman's army.

[fishmom]

The active ingredient is acephate. If you do a search for that on the board, you will see that others have used this systemic with good results. So the answer would be yes, you can use it. You might want to read the cautions though: Acephate General Fact Sheet

[Ray]

Three treatments at one week intervals. Each treatment must thoroughly wet the entire plant and saturate the potting medium.

[Orchid Whisperer]

Acephate is a chemical I would be reluctant to use indoors. I'd be more likely to use if outdoors.

BTW, thanks for the link Fishmom