paph. fairrieanum natural cure for scale
 

Hi every one at O.B. I've been growing orchids for about 25 yrs. My collection has a fairly wide range. I like to concentrate on species. Every thing from leafless dendrophylax to vanda. My paph fairrieanum which I've had for about 5-6 yrs. has developed scale. It still grows and flowers well, so I would like to eliminate this pest as safely as possible for the plants health. thanks for the help.

Use a little alcohol (I forget if it is rubbing or grain...). It'll kill them and make them easy to remove. You can use neem oil I think too.

Rubbing alcohol will control them, but not eliminate them. If you don't want to use insecticide I'm afraid that's the best you can hope for.

alcohol vs. insecticide
 

Thanks for your advice. What if any insecticide would you use? I worry most about damage to the plant . Does it have to be specific to orchids? Also one last question. Do these little buggers just live on the plant or can they also be found in the soil?

paph. fairrieanum natural cure for scale
 

They also live in the media. I have used Bayer 3-1 successfully with all my orchids. It is a systemic insecticide. It will require 2 treatments. The instructions say to wipe off insects you can see, and then spray tops & bottoms of leaves. Follow that by drenching the media with it. It's not a product I use often, but when dealing with scale I bring out the big guns.

paph. fairrieanum natural cure for scale
 

Thanks so very much for your help.

a systemic is the ONLY way to actually ELIMINATE scale and mealies....the larvae of those two are so tiny and numerous that you cannot possibly kill them by hand individually with alcohol or even insecticidal soap....there is no other option if you want to actually rid yourself of them....I advise treating every single plant, orchid or not, in your collection as they are most probably infected....repot and dispose of every bit of old media, as there are most likely larvae in the media and will re-infect everything...as you don't really want that systemic in your household environment, best to spray outside and IN THE SHADE, using these products in direct sunlight will damage your plants!...if you cannot spray outside in adequate ventilation, place your plant/plants in a large plastic leaf bag to spray....dry your plants in the shade, then repot.....USE PLASTIC GLOVES! you don't want this stuff on your skin!...for the second and third (I recommend at least 3 treatments) spraying, you don't need to repot, just spray thoroughly....I mix the systemic with insecticidal soap or even a bit of dish soap as a 'spreader-sticker' to adhere the insecticide to the plant for best results....good luck!

paph. fairrieanum nat cure for scale
 

Wow. That's a day's worth of work. But better safe than sorry. Question? About 80 % of my collection are on mounts. Should they also be treated? there's no signs of any infection. Of that 80, 60% are bare root on a slab .

If you have good eyes and do not see any bugs on the plants, you do not need to spray.

Just deal with the ones that are infested because sooner or later, these bugs will spread.
Check first the plants that are sitting close to this infested fairrieanum.

I had one cattleya with scales, which I eventually tossed, but the bug only spread to a tolumnia that was right next to it. Nothing else had bugs for the course of one year.