Anyone ever submerge whole Phal in a solution to treat for pests?

[MattWoelfsen]

Whenever I repot a Phalaenopsis I also dunk the plant in a solution of Neem Oil and Sucrashield. I let the plant soak in this solution for at least 30 minutes. While the clock is running, I prepare the new pot, soak the planting material in tepid water with a dilute amount of Sucrashield and Neem oil..

After that, the potting begins. I remove the plant from the pot. The planting media should be easy to remove. Any material still clinging to the roots/plant will be removed when I rinse the enter plant in the kitchen sink using the spray mode that produces a gentle but strong jet of water.

Then I repot the plant.

There is a warning being promoted not to dunk other orchids in pesticide solution because it might spread the problem to the second orchid and so on. That seems to me counterintuitive. If a plant has a disease, and the solution is to dunk it in a chemical bath, if you have another plant that requires the same solution, how would the problem from one plant be spread to another plant when the second plant is already diseased?

[orchidsarefun]

Systemic solutions - normally non-organic - are absorbed into the plant and act long term. Dunking for an extended period may help in this. ( but may not help the environment/yourself, but that's another topic )
Contact solutions - normally organic - need only come into direct contact with the issue to work effectively. Extended dunking is pointless. Proper coverage is essential. In fact some people advocate washing off contact solutions ( like Neem ) when the plant leaves are dry. I don't, but do try and clean off residue when watering.
A tip - when treating for mealy bugs, using an organic solution, make sure you cover the roots too. I had a recurring problem on some seedlings until I noticed that there were tiny colonies propagating on aerial root tips.
Best of all is the fish solution !

[LisaK]

Thank you everyone for all the helpful ideas!! I'm repotting one today and I have some photos of the roots. There are some really hard brown spots on the roots. This is my first ever orchid repot, is it normal for roots to have little hard brownish black nodes on them?? Or is this hard scale on the roots of the Phal? I'm doing my best to remove them regardless of what they are. When I do I practically break the root. I don't see anything moving. One node has a hard white dot under it I can't remove. Per many peoples suggestions it is still soaking completely in water right now. I'm hoping to drown some pests.

[estación seca]

The brown spots are places where root tissue died for some reason. It is not a serious issue. Don't remove them.