Scale

[Brenda Aarts]

Yes thumper, understand your concern about the oil as it does leave a light film on the leaves...of course I won't be experiencing your kind of heat till June or so!!!

[nhman]

Although the oil may HELP, I believe that one should resort to more powerful measures should this more naturopathic solution fail.
The use of a pesticide in an infection that threatens a collection is - in my opinion - justified.
I would suggest that, as we would do in humans, try the "simple" and less invasive measures first, and if they should fail, go with the bigger guns.
Just remember the life cycle of the enemy that you are dealing with - and with scale, you may need to treat at least twice on a every 10 day cycle to get the pest and its progeny.
Good luck.

[quiltergal]

This is a great thread guys! Lots of great information here. I've been using Bonide systemic granules. It works but not as well as I'd like it too. For one thing it's not designed to work in chunky medium. It has a tendency to wash right through the pot. A drench would probably work better. Think I'll try the Bayer Advanced. How do you kill the eggs? Just wait for them to hatch and take their first sip of poison?

[mojomick]

The Bayer 3 in 1 seemed to work well for me. I only drenched the affected plants and so far so good. I haven't seen any side effects to the plants. I will keep it in case I get any new ones on other plants but so far so good. Betty

[cday2inflorida]

Eureka! I finally think I might have gotten a handle on this darn thing. I saturated everything on the porch. I drenched cedar baskets, potting mix and pots. I Covered ever plant from top to bottom.
It's still kind of weird that only a few plants were affected. Mainly, specie Laelias? I'm thinking they might just be the most stressed on the porch for some reason? I'm not moving them of that porch. I'm not taking that stuff elsewhere...but I did move them back into deeper shade and might think about repotting them in a few months.

[vmax3000]

Yea! Thumper, keep up the ! I've got to commit to the battle, but the weather has been really erratic and when it is overcast/misty, I don't think spraying something will actually help. I've got black sooty powder on a couple of plant leaves, as it is.

[cday2inflorida]

I get the black sooty stuff on a couple of things. It seems to gravitate towards gardenias and my Michelia figo (I love that plant)..thanks Vanessa

[vmax3000]

I must confess that I never went to get the Bayer product. Instead, while I was ordering some potting media from rePotme.com, I noticed their "get off me" brand of bug deterant/death dealer and thought I would try it. I received it a couple of weeks back and started applying it weekly. The spray seems to have worked, and really well. I have been dealing with pill bugs (roly poly bugs) that climb up my vandaceous plants' roots and eat them. They have vacated the greenhouse, as well. I am pleased and surprised with what appears to be success in my perpetual battle with the bugs. Also, the greenhouse smells like cinnamon rolls for a few days after spraying...mmmmm . Well, just thought I would offer the update of my success with this product. Hope all are scale free and ant free and cockroach free, etc. and not feeling like they need to fire bomb their collection!

[Eagleluv]

I worked in the horticultral industry a number of years ago and when we had trouble with scale we used a Mineral Oil solution. I decide to look for that info for orchids and found this

Scale Insects on Orchids
Paul J. Johnson, Ph.D.
Insect Research Collection
South Dakota State University
Brookings, SD

Scale Insects on Orchids

ps. I discovered scale on a orchid, I picked off what I could see and if it persist will use one of these remedies.

[vmax3000]

Fascinating, really. I have used the hort oil before, but had run out. I will have to pick up some more, just in case. I haven't seen any scale in a while. Hopefully, that is because I have successfully treated and not because I simply haven't looked hard enough