I have used rubbing alcohol for several years, with about 200 plants (most never get scale). I don't scrub with a brush, just spray on, but to break the life-cycle, spray a few times over a 15-20 day period. I find mealy bugs worse than scale and rubbing alcohol works well for that as well. Sometimes mix a little insecticidal soap with the alcohol.
Errol Toronto At 08:46 AM 5/22/2007, you wrote: >Hi Errol - > >Rubbing Alcohol is good if you have a small collection in the house. If >you have a rather large collection in a greenhouse, you need a different >solution because alcohol doesn't kill the adult scale unless they are >scrubbed with a toothbrush. This is the time of year I start >experiencing scale in the greenhouse. I try to stay on top of the >problem by inspecting as much as I can. I found a cattleya just >yesterday that had boisduval scale. > >I am wondering what you all do about boisduval scale. The other scale >seems fairly easy to eradicate. Boisduval scale seems to be drawn to >certain plants (especially fragrant cattleyas in my collection), and >once the plant has it, it will have scale again and again, no matter how >often you inspect or scrub the plant. I have gotten into the habit of >throwing plants out unless it's one that I truly LOVE. > >If anyone has any suggestions, I would love to hear them. > >Denise Nash, near Ann Arbor, Michigan > >Errol Porter wrote: > > >Why use Sevin, in my opinion all these chemicals are potentially dangerous > >to people, pets, etc, when you can use rubbing alcohol to control scale, > >mealy bugs etc, rubbing alcohol being quite safe. > > > >Errol > > > > > >At 12:25 AM 5/22/2007, you wrote: > > > > > >>Has anyone used Sevin (=carbaryl) on Cattleyas and relatives? Safely? > >> > >> John Waddington > >> > > > >_______________________________________________ >the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD) >[email protected] >http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com _______________________________________________ the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD) [email protected] http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com
