Thank you, Sheila, for sharing this important info. There is always a need for a "Plan B". You gave me just what I need to know...in case of....

I "treated" my collection by the garden hose for the 2nd time today; the first treatment was on the 13th starting with a full container. Today, I began using the half-filled container. In the future, before I begin spraying, I will "top off" the reservoir holding the concentrated product to give an uninterrupted flow of solution.

I hope that my efforts will be rewarded by fewer insect hassles in December!

--Stitz--

eeks, everyone, sorry about my honeybee concerns but I always read up on insectides when it comes to bees.

I looked up Bayer Advanced Insect Killer which contains the active ingredient Imidacloprid.

It makes honeybees "deranged". Here is the Wikipedia link.

Imidacloprid's effect on bees

The information is in the first paragraph and in the information under Toxicology.

Soapy water is supposed to really help with insects, same with insecticidal soap. Would this be a viable alternative instead? I have also read how canola oil are very effective in suffocating insects.

I tried doing more research on more gentler controls. I found this but don't know if it's hokey-pokey or if it really does work?

orchidsamore link

The only reason why I am thinking this may not be hokey pokey is that in the rose garden world we do know that certain foliar sprays really help alleviate against fungus and other diseases and makes the plant less appealing to certain insects. But again, I am a total newbie to orchids. I just thought I'd try to throw out some ideas for more gentler alternatives.

I don't spray the Bayer on my orchid flowers but rather use it mostly as a soil drench. Therefore, I think its effect on bees will be minimal in my GH. And it's even safe enough to spray on your pets for fleas. Also known as Merit.

But if anyone can come up with something safer that actually works on scale, I will be glad to try it out on my plants -- Q-tip applications aren't feasible for me.

Regarding pets and imidacloprid (Merit & certain Bayer products):
Advantage is a concentrated solution of imidacloprid for topical application in dogs and cats.

Q-tips? :) I gave up on that a long time ago. On the occasion when I choose to do precise applications of alcohol, I use small paintbrushes appropriate for model airplanes.

--Stitz--

uh, guys, you are very! mistaken about Merit. Merit is meant as a topical application to the neck of the pet so that it can't lick the medication! It can get a dog very sick. Vets hate flea collars and ask pet owners to use Sentinel oral tablets instead. Flea collars are known to cause kidney problems and health problems.

My lawn company used to spray Merit as a grub killer but thankfully switched to Acelepryn instead. When they used Merit on my lawn last year (I was a new homeowner and didn't know any better) I found a few dead birds after the application. Also my dog got very sick for an entire month with diarrhea. She is a border collie and catches frisbee (frisbee lands on the grass) I had actually waited after 2 days of rain before playing frisbee with her, but she still got very sick. It was not until an entire month had passed that she got normal stools.

here is the link about the bees

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imidacloprid

Here was the link I should have posted. AAARGH!

Anyway I'll try to do more research on the scale problems...

correct link for Imidacloprid

I use it and will continue to do so if needed !
My greenhouse , does not contain bees or dogs or anything except plants. Thanks for the information Shelia .. Gin

Hey Gin, good to hear from you!!!

My spraying is also on plants in the GH. I have used Worm Tea (found it possibly better at dealing with mold & fungal issues than with the bugs), Neem Oil,Oil of Cinnamon & even taken an infested plant, placed it in a large 2 gal baggie along with a cotton ball soaked in RAID. One plant in particular had each of these treatments spaced 3 days apart for a two week period. Killed the scale, but it's still doubtful that the plant will survive. DH keeps saying,'put that plant out of it's misery & chunk it'! I've used the toothbrush and alcohol, probably a few other things I've forgotten too. When I have one or two plants, I'll try anything.

We live on a ranch & are very much aware of the dangers of misuse of chemicals...dangers to the enviornment & the animal kingdom, which of course includes us! About 12 yrs ago, an area rancher died as a direct result of chemical sprays.

That said, tomorrow I'll spray the plants & hopefully say goodbye to the scale before they claim another plant.

I would like to thank everyone for at least allowing me to write/express my concerns. I do hope everyone will be very careful with that particular insecticide when using it in their greenhouse. If that chemical leaches out into the ground through the hose it will kill earthworms by the way.

Sheila, I appreciate your efforts to try other means especially! That is what we're talking about in terms of integrated pest managements. You try all the "gentler" means, the Cinnamon, the worm tea, etc. and only when it gets critical do you resort to something stronger.

Another thing people forget is that chemicals are easily spread by wind. If you stand outside, never! will you get a perfectly still day. When my Dad applied Sevin to the foundations of his home, he wasn't even spraying his garden, but that Sevin wiped out the honeybees and bumblebees that used to love to visit his gardens (he is a no-spray gardener). His constantly blooming garden used to be filled with bees until he applied that Sevin to the house foundations. I am thinking that the wind had carried out the chemical to his flowers.

Again, I would be very careful! with Imidacloprid for the people who are continuing to use it.

By the way, Sheila I found this link from Bonide. This horticultural oil is supposed to stop mealies and scale. It is a horticultural oil. Lots of rose people use it, but again, I'd probably contact the manufacturer on the appropriate dosage for orchids. It has to be a super light concentration or else it becomes a dormancy spray, which is what you DON'T WANT! For roses, the control of mites, scale and mealies is crucial when preparing them to bring indoors or for dormancy preparations. I will be bringing my tree roses into my actual home and will be using this oil myself for the winter.

horticultural oil

Sometimes you have to bring out the big guns. One of the worst pests is Boisduval Scale. Not a problem if you only have a few orchids, but if you have more than a thousand......
I use horticultural oil as i go around and tidy and clean up my orchids, but you always miss a few scales and and they grow and multiply between inspections. Not good, particularly for Tolumnia and Cattleyas.
So i use this dreaded stuff a few times a year but note that my orchids are in enclosures.... Shade houses and glasshouses.
What to i use on the open garden? Nothing! apart from Dipel.

So horticultural is fine but the downside is that you have to cover every part of the plant. Very difficult in the typical crowded large orchid collection.

serenasyh

since you referenced my web site (OrchidsAmore) on the use of Vermi-Liquid I will expand it for you.

I am a commercial grower and have used nothing but Vermi-Liquid in the greenhouse for the last two years. It has to be the liquid from the worm beds not the compost tea being sold as 'worm tea'. Vermi-Liquid is the proper name and it was sold as worm tea until worm farms started putting the compost in water to call it Tea. The compost is not effective against insects and it is only a weak fertilizer.

I rarey see any insects on my palnts. We spray once a month and I have not had meally bugs or scale in the two years. It is very effective against thrips, but thrip eggs hatch every three days or so. You need to treat 3-4 times over a week to ten days to kill the newly hatching eggs. This is the same for most insects.

Most people stop the treament too soon, and while they killed the insects they let the new generation hatch.

Compost tea is a weak fetilizer but the Vermi-Liquid has a chemical in it called ceitanese. Ceitanese has only one characteristic in that it dissolves ceitain. It is harmless to us, but but ceitain is the skelton of an insect. To them it is fatal.

There is a great deal of research on the web about the use of worm tea. But it is the liquid that is referenced not the compost. most of it is about the beneficial effects of foliar feeding with the liquid.

The University of Ohio has several papers on its use for food crops.

It is millions of microbes in the solution that are symbiotic with plants. It feeds the plants and reasearch has shown it helps retain 30% more moisture in the roots of the plants.

The product is safe enough to drink, although, the thought of drinking worm ezcrement could make me sick. A customer's dog ate a 16 Oz bottle one day (plastic bottle and all) with no ill effects.

It is very effective against black spot on roses.

Effectively the ceitainese is like throwing acid on an insect. Large flying insect like aphids will leave the area. I had one spraying eliminate several thousand aphids on my roses. Poisons would take days to eliminate them but the irritation cause them to leave.

It will dissolve scale on orchids in one treatment. Scrape a live scale off a plant and crush it with your fingernail. It is green inside. After Vermi-liquid the next day when you do it again and the scale is brown dust when crushed. This is a very simple test to see the results.

It is the only thing we have ever found effective against the Asian Scale that attacks Sago Palms in Florida.

For those not opposed to poisons, Bayer Ant Killer is extremely effective against thrips. Thrips are the bugs that suck the jouice out of flwoer buds, especially Dendrobium and Vanda. When the bud shrivels and dies without opening it is a sign of thrips. They are very hard to see without a magnifying glass

The active ingredient is b-cyfluthrin. This is used in most commercial greenhouses as on ingredient of an insect spray. The nice thing about the Bayer is that is is a granular powder that can be applied directly to the potting medium. It then works as a slow release systemic poisen and you do not have to worry about reapplication. It is very effective against an active thrip attack. I do not find that the amount used was critical. We have used it on some highly infected plants in the gardens by sprinkling some of the granulars on the medium.

I do not know how effective it might be against other insects.