Boisduval Scale. Ugh. How do I get rid of it.

[BrassavolaStars]

Hello All,


Suddenly I have this gross looking, white moldy looking stuff on a few plants. It is especially thick at the leaf base and near the eyes on a Cattleya.

After a little research I found it is a type of scale. It was all over a few plants. How do I get rid of it before it spreads? How dangerous is it? It was like someone dipped my Cattleya in moldy powdered sugar.

[Roberta]

Have I mentioned that I detest scale???

You can start with soapy water and an old toothbrush to remove as much as you can. Then spray with an imidacloprid preparation like the old version of Bayer's 3-in-1 if you can find it... otherwise go for what it's been replaced with. Repeat treatment once a week, preferably alternating with something else like a pyrethrin-based formula so that you don't create resistance. Longer term, if you went to go with the big (and expensive) guns I have found that a 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of the granular Safari sprinkled on the top of the medium (where it will slowly dissolve) gets the systemic into the plant pretty efficiently... maybe treat again in 6 months, but once the new growth has incorporated the stuff the scale seems to stay away. Scale loves Catts... be aggressive and persistent. Lesser treatments won't work any more than temporarily.

[BrassavolaStars]

Originally Posted by Roberta

Have I mentioned that I detest scale???

You can start with soapy water and an old toothbrush to remove as much as you can. Then spray with an imidacloprid preparation like the old version of Bayer's 3-in-1 if you can find it... otherwise go for what it's been replaced with. Repeat treatment once a week, preferably alternating with something else like a pyrethrin-based formula so that you don't create resistance. Longer term, if you went to go with the big (and expensive) guns I have found that a 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of the granular Safari sprinkled on the top of the medium (where it will slowly dissolve) gets the systemic into the plant pretty efficiently... maybe treat again in 6 months, but once the new growth has incorporated the stuff the scale seems to stay away. Scale loves Catts... be aggressive and persistent. Lesser treatments won't work any more than temporarily.

I think I can get ahold of imidacloprid and pyrethrin. I have the Azamax too if that would work at all. They really did a lot of damage to one of my Cattleyas.

[Ray]

Boisduval scale is one of the hardest pests to eradicate.

Once I resorted to a mix of imidacloprid, acephate and Kinoprene (insect growth regulator).

I have two suggestions: 1) Forget the home remedies; use commercial insecticides right away, and 2) Drench the living hell out of everything - all plant surfaces and flooding the pots - and do 3 treatments at one-week intervals.

Don't wimp out.

[SouthPark]

Boisduval scale is explosive on my chilli plants. They have done their massive fair share in decimating my chilli plants over the years. Imidacloprid is explosive on boisduval scale. Basically when I use imidacloprid, it really is sort of like payback time. The boisduval don't actually know or understand their own destructive power though ----- so it's not their fault. They're just surviving like we do.

But ----- because they appear to not just feed a bit on a plant, but instead has the tendency to wipe out a plant real quick, then we have to do something to protect plants, that's for sure.

[rbarata]

Imidacloprid/thiacloprid is the way to go.

[Fuerte Rav]

Originally Posted by rbarata

Imidacloprid/thiacloprid is the way to go.

Hello rbarata
What Brand name do you get it under in Portugal? Most products I see here are labelled in Spanish and Portugese so I guess we have the same stuffs available but I've not seen anything with 'cloprid' as an ingredient.
Thanks in hope, and desperation![COLOR="Silver"]

[Roberta]

One challenge with Imidacloprid is that it may not be easily available... because it kills bees (when sprayed all over the place) it has been taken off the market in many places. I know it's true in California, don't know about the rest of the US. (Before it disappeared, I bought several bottles of Bayer's Advanced 3-in-1) Don't know the effectiveness of the new formulation that replaced it. But neo-nicotinids in general are in that class of systemic insecticides that are at issue. (I apply it very surgically to specific orchids, where bees don't go... it's the broadcast spraying that gets the good bugs as well as the bad) So good luck... it's a good pesticide, but like most of the ones that work well they have a downside that gets them banned.

[rbarata]

Originally Posted by Fuerte Rav

Hello rbarata
What Brand name do you get it under in Portugal? Most products I see here are labelled in Spanish and Portugese so I guess we have the same stuffs available but I've not seen anything with 'cloprid' as an ingredient.
Thanks in hope, and desperation![COLOR="Silver"]

Hello FR
It's called Calypso (Bayer) but it is already forbidden by the UE. I can get it because there's some stock left.

[Fuerte Rav]

Thanks, I'm off on a hunt on Monday to see if I can find some stuck at the back of a shelf in some little out of the way shop!