Bees Bayer Systemic Pesticide

[dounoharm]

well, this thread seems to have gone too far with differences of opinion...there is no 'right or wrong' view that counts....we are at the mercy of the chemical companies and the policies of different governments and their studies...the basic facts are: there are horrible bugs that will kill your orchids and we must eradicate them....I feel the best way to handle sucking insects is to use a systemic insecticide...this type insecticide actually is absorbed into the tissue of the plant, when the insect takes a bite, they die....that is very fulfilling to me, it makes me feel good to kill the buggers that suck the life out of my plants!....topical application chemicals just don't do the job with scale and mealies, you can spray soap and alcohol from now till doomsday and they will still be there munching! their young and eggs are too small to be seen by the human eye, and they hide in every crack and crevice of your plant, and spread like wildfire!....if you have mealies or scale on one plant, you better treat every plant in your whole house, upstairs and down, because they are THERE!...now, for me, I just go and buy what is available in systemic insecticides...I like the imidacloprid chemicals, THEY WORK! but, if they change to another chemical, I will use that...I don't ask the bugs what they prefer to die with...and I don't debate with the bees either....I just grow my plants.....there are chemical engineers and scientists who know much more than I ever will who do that job...I think debating the POSSIBLE harm one chemical COULD MAYBE HAVE on honeybees is beyond the scope of most orchid growers and hobbyists....it has obviously stirred the ire of some people here, but that is not the purpose of this board, and we should all 'agree to disagree' on this subject and move on...please, no more soapboxes!

ps. I love you ALL and appreciate your input and opinions on the orchids, its all informative!