Happy Report! Scales Dead!!!

[Happypaphy7]

So, I checked on my Paphiopedilum Armeni White yesterday.
All the tiny little ones and not so little ones looked dead. The live ones have this glossy surface while the dead ones look dry and even with white edges as some have their edges off the plant while the whole thing is still on the leaf.

A little background info.

This plant is packed with over 30 growths and four spikes in bloom with many more coming.
About two weeks ago, I discovered that it was suffering a major case of brown soft scale infestation. Soooooooooo many!!!
I panicked and removed as many as I could see using my nails and a toothpick. I could not reach many of the growths that are too tightly packed in, and many adult sized ones were near the base of the growths.

I had a bottle of (Bonide "Eight" insect control for home and garden, ready to use) which is 0.2 sulfur and 0.02 pyrethrin.

With gloves on, I literally sprayed the **** out of that thing, making sure all the leaves front and back, were completely wet with this stuff.

I repeated this a few days later. By then, the bottle ran out.

That was last week. I checked the plant and the scales looked dead then.

I obtained a bottle of 1.47% immidacloprid concentrate from friend sunday and used it as a drench on all my plants.
Armeni White was treated with this on Tuesday.

I checked the leaves again yesterday and the scales looked dead.

I'm not sure the spray killed them all first or immidacloprid kicked in this fast, but the bugs are dead!!!

I will of course keep my eyes on the plants though, in case there might be any survivors.

Actually I am going to a garden store to see if they brought back this Eight product. They didn't have it in my last visit last week.

I'm going to buy a few bottle. I wish it came in a bigger bottle.

 

[NYEric]

Good to hear. I would wash the whole plant off in the sink too. Good luck.

 

[Happypaphy7]

I basically washed the plant with that spray. No kidding!
Stores don't carry them anymore.
I'm just going to order a bunch more and apply a couple more times to make sure all the possibly hidden ones get killed.

 

[abax]

YAAAAAY!!! I love dead scale! Congratulations!

 

[Migrant13]

Good news. Scales are a darn plague. I have heard to space out the treatments each by a week to 10 days to account for any juveniles that are harder to see and may not have been hit on the first treatment.

 

[John M]

Congratulations on the successful treatment! I find that imidacloprid (Merit), is very slow to work; but, it's thorough. It works best by being taken up by the roots, not by being absorbed through the foliage. So, using it as a drench and a root spray for plants growing epiphytically works best. However, orchids grow so slowly (compared to many other tropicals and annuals, etc.), that it can take a number of weeks to see the results. However, the results are, in the long run, much better than with other sprays that are only topical sprays. I believe that Orthene is a good one to use for systemic effect from the absorbtion through the leaves; but, in my experience, it's not as good at getting ALL the bugs....leaving a few tough ones behind to repopulate the plant with an Orthene resistant strain. However, Merit (75% imidacloprid), seems to have 100% kill, it just takes longer.

 

[Happypaphy7]

As I said, I'm not completely sure what killed them. Pyrethrin spray or 1.47% immidacloprid.

I did soak all plants in immidacloprid dilution (1Tbsp per gallon of water) for good half an hour each.
So the plants must have taken up the chemical, and since most are relatively smallish plants compared to trees and shrubs as the bottle is recommended for, I would assume the poison is everywhere inside the plants.

I'm going to check the plants closely and spray them all again.
I ordered 2 bottles, free shipping. I should have ordered more probably.
They come in small bottle.

 

[Happypaphy7]

Congratulations on the successful treatment! I find that imidacloprid (Merit), is very slow to work; but, it's thorough. It works best by being taken up by the roots, not by being absorbed through the foliage. So, using it as a drench and a root spray for plants growing epiphytically works best. However, orchids grow so slowly (compared to many other tropicals and annuals, etc.), that it can take a number of weeks to see the results. However, the results are, in the long run, much better than with other sprays that are only topical sprays. I believe that Orthene is a good one to use for systemic effect from the absorbtion through the leaves; but, in my experience, it's not as good at getting ALL the bugs....leaving a few tough ones behind to repopulate the plant with an Orthene resistant strain. However, Merit (75% imidacloprid), seems to have 100% kill, it just takes longer.

Regarding your comment on Orthene.
It is interesting because Angela says the opposite.
After she and others mentioned that orthene stinks bad for a few days, I lost my interest.

This immidacloprid concentration smelled funny, but not strong, and I had to get very close to detect it. As soon as it was mixed with water, no smell.

The pyrethrin spray smelled funny. not good, not bad, just strange.

 

[Happypaphy7]

YAAAAAY!!! I love dead scale! Congratulations!

Yay!!!!! I know!
I'm not off guard, though, just in case there are some that are alive.

 

[abax]

Regarding insecticides, what works best for each individual
is the best thing to use. Orthene works long and well for
me, but that doesn't mean it works for everyone the same
way.

 

[John M]

Exactly right Angela. The effectiveness of any chemical will have a lot to do with the ambient temperature in the growing area, the humidity, the type of plants and the rate at which they absorbe water. Also, the population of insects in each growing area will have different tolerances for different chemicals, depending on which gene pool they originally came from. Around here, Orthene was the chemical of choice for many, many years. However, that has probably produced a population in my area that has built up some resistance.

My comments are only based on my experience. It doesn't mean that someone else (you), won't get different results. A lot of things will affect the outcome and each grower, each growing environment and each population of insects are different.

I'm just adding my opinion to yours and that of others, to help HappyPaphy make up his own mind and develop his own insect control regimen.....one that works in his circumstances.

However, one thing I'm trying to point out is that when using Merit, patience is required. A lot of people will spray and then the next day they're terribly disappointed if they still find living insects. But, Merit doesn't work that fast. Plus, the control of bugs is much less effective if you only spray Merit on the foliage and don't get it into the pots for the roots to take up. It works best as a drench and it takes a long time to work, when used on orchids.

HappyPaphy, the size of the plant doesn't really matter. If you cut down a bush or tree, it will begin to wilt in a matter of minutes to hours. If you cut a pseudobulb off a Cattleya, or take the top off a Vanda, or remove a fan of leaves from a Paph or Phrag and lay it down, bare-root on the bench, it will continue to look fine for many days. Orchids don't take up water as fast as other plants. So, chemicals that are delivered to the foliage from the roots, take a lot longer to begin showing their effect. So, you can still be finding live insects a week later. I finally learned to be patient when I'd continue to see live bugs a week or two later and I felt so defeated that I temporarily gave up. Then, a week or two after that (a month or so since the spraying), I'd notice that all the bugs are gone....it just took a long time for the chemical to reach the parts of the plants where the insects were feeding.

 

[Happypaphy7]

John, apparently plant size does matter because the product label has this table showing how much to use in the garden depeding on the size of trees.
It lists plants by height and diameter.
This is much weaker one at 1.47%.
Merit being so strong, maybe it doesn't matter?
but I think the larger the volume of the plant, the more it would be needed naturally.

Also, the other granular stuff that I don't like, at least not for orchids because the granules just fall through when watering, that product also has this little table showing the size of the pot and how many spoons to use.

And drying out and taking up water probably does not happen at the same rate. The 1.47% product label says for larger trees, it may take weeks to even a couple of months for the plants to take up and distribute the chemical inside their "body".

Patience, yes. I need more of that. lol