GT - the insecticidal soap won't be effective against scale, though it would kill any juveniles in the crawler stage. You'll need a perfect oil (also called summer oil, light hort oil, all season hort oil), neem oil, or most effective, a systemic insecticide. I was going to contact you off forum to offer a suggestion, but you don't have an email link. If you're interested in how I treat scale, just drop a note. Al

Bea, check this thread out: http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/hoya/msg0823503130218.html. I had similar questions there, about systemic insecticides indoors. The short executive version is: I bought and used this (http://www.homedepot.com/p/Compare-N-Save-32-oz-Systemic-Tree-and-Shrub-Insect-Drench-75346/203112613) and do not regret it. I applied it back in August, once, to all plants at the same time, and in the more than two months since, I have not seen a single pest on my plants. I intend to repeat these treatments annually or more often if I see new pests. Note that Bayer has two insecticide formulas, with 1 and 2 active ingredients (not 3 or 4 as said above). This is a generic analog of one of those, with exactly the same active ingredient, but cheaper. You apply it to your soil by watering, so there is nothing to be spread to other rooms where your cats are. I've never used Orthene and can't speak about it.

LOL, Larissa, "I'd do anything for my 'chids" :) Once you get those reading glasses you are doomed, ya hear, DOOMED. They only work well at a certain distance from your eyes (at least once you've needed them for a long time). So after a time, even with them, you can only see the scale if you pick up the pot and hold it the requisite distance from your eyes. Alternatively you can stick your nose down to the plant, with or without magnifying glass. It's a penance, all right. My idea of Heaven is a place where I don't need glasses.

That looks like some mechanical injury - I see some on he first plant (looks like my I dropped and few leaves broke & it got scratched). The scale is oval in shape, comes off easily if you rub it with a moistened q-tip or cotton ball or soft tissue.