Can someone tell me the best way to treat this nasty thing? I think I have disloged a mature one, but I am seeing spots of immature ones at the base and underside of the plant. Wasn't there last week. I looked it up in Lance's book but he really only discusses how to treat armoured scale. Can I just alcohol swab these suckers? Should I repot into clean mix?

Thanks very much. I just get SICK when I find a pesty problem! :disappointed:

Can someone tell me the best way to treat this nasty thing? I think I have disloged a mature one, but I am seeing spots of immature ones at the base and underside of the plant. Wasn't there last week. I looked it up in Lance's book but he really only discusses how to treat armoured scale. Can I just alcohol swab these suckers? Should I repot into clean mix?

Thanks very much. I just get SICK when I find a pesty problem! :disappointed:

If they are actually soft scale, then they will be pretty easy to kill. You can use alcohol. I'd spray the plant down pretty well, and make sure you do it several times over the next few weeks. Spray the neighbors, too. And perhaps take a few shots of ethyl alcohol for the grower, to relieve tension.

I would definitely repot. If this does get out of control, Orthene seems to work pretty well. I've only had soft scale a couple of times, but they seem to be easier to get rid of than mealies.

Thank you very much, Rob, I was hoping you were still around. The neighors have just been given the all clear, but I will probably treat them also. I hate treating, even with alcohol and dishsoap when I have no evidence of a problem, but this little one sits next to my baby vietnamense and my (really pricey) baby stonei.

I'm really happy to hear that these are easier than mealies, in your experience.

What really frosts me is that this plant is from the same vendor that I got my (overpriced) Phrag. ecuadorense division from and I've battled mealies on that one since it arrived, just the occasional one but still. Can it really be a coincidence that the ONLY plants I've had issues with since November are this vendor's plants? :mad:

Alcohol and H2O should work if not use tweezers every couple of days and pull each little bugger off for the rest of the year :poke:

Alcohol and H2O should work if not use tweezers every couple of days and pull each little bugger off for the rest of the year :poke:

Damn pests....thanks Tadd also!

EEIIiKKKK!

Any way to post a photo to see what it is and what to look for?

Thanks!

Sorry Susan, mine've been wiped off the face of the earth at this point. Hopefully for good! The roots were small to begin with. I actually am treating now as I am my PEOY baby, which has a new root by the way, but when I repotted this tonight, I was not happy w/ the roots and put it in sphag, with the sickies on an isolated shelf.

I looked it up in Lance Birk's book and as I said above, he has a great picture which helped me to identify it perfectly, but there were no instructions on how to best treat.

I'll try to find a pic online...ok, I looked... but actually, (no one say a word) Lance's pic is the best I've seen. It looked just like what I had.

I've gotta break down and get his book!!

An more experienced grower in my local club uses a mixture of cayenne pepper and alcohol. He adds some cayenne pepper to alcohol and let it sit for a few hours and then strains. Adds a few drops of soap and some water. Then spray the plant, you may need to have some ventilation. I have a bad problem with aphids early on and I ried everything, but nothing worked until I tried this concoction.

I've also heard of some good reports with something called ultra-fine oil.
Which has been available at some of the better garden supply stores.

I've gotten tired of fighting mealy's and scale 1 at a time with alcohol. I'm trying mealybug destroyers. (They are like ladybugs). They've been loose in my greenhouse for about a week now. I'll keep you all posted.

Anyone else with experiences with beneficial bugs feel free to comment.

Do these mealybug destroyers only eat mealy bugs? What happens when the mealy bugs run out? Neat idea though, I was thinking maybe a few small frogs in Heather's house would help clean it up a bit! :poke:

if you get sick of wiping them off individually, just enstar the bums. it'll set you back 70-80 though.

mealybug destroyers (Cryptolaemus montrouzieri) are pretty good but they only lay eggs in the cottony egg sacks of the citrus mealybug. i typically have long tailled mealybugs on/in orchids. (make sure you don't kill the baby mealybug destroyers thinking they're mealybugs.)
after the mealybug destroyers eat most of the mealybugs (they don't seem to take 'em all out), they'll go after aphids or other soft bugs. if they find none and they can leave the immediate area (the greenhouse), they will and look for bugs to eat. if they can't and there aren't enough bugs to eat, they die of starvation.
lacewing larve are good, though can bite and it hurts a little. i get them in hexcells and put a few on each plant.
i've been using Rhizobius lopanthae (another beetle) for scale and they've been effective.