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Old 11-05-2003, 07:44 AM
Jerry Hoffmeister
 
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Default White Fly - Ultra Fine Pesticidal Oil?

Sunspray works great, seems to kill just about anything including scale.
Works by smothering the buggers Someone in my local OS suggested using
mineral oil (buy it for 50 cents or so a bottle at your local drug store)
instead of Sunspray (it's expensive and a bit stinky) which I've been using
lately w/o any adverse effects that I can see yet and it still seems to kill
scale at least. I do mix it at the 2.5 TBSP per gallon rate and I throw in
some safer soap (usually at 1/2 the label rate just because I'm cheap)
mostly as a spreader / sticker.

The only problem I've seen is if you spray it on such that it doesn't dry
before the leaves get hot, you'll get some leaf burn especially on the thin
leaved species (Lycaste's, etc). I try to spray on cloudy days, in the
evening or very early in the AM (ha, right).

The lacewing suggestion should work as well but you'll have to be patient...

"Diana Kulaga" wrote in message
rthlink.net...
Hi, All,

Have discovered (and had verified by the Terminix guy) white fly in the

grow
area. My husband has some veggie plants in the area, and it started

there.
Very little evidence of infestation on the orchids thus far, and I want to
keep it that way.

On the veggies we used Sunspray Ultrafine Pesticidal Oil (98.8% paraffinic
oil + an emulsifier). The label says okay for orchids, and recommends a
solution of 2 1/2 tablespoons to a gallon of water. That seems pretty
heavy. Anyone used this or a similar preparation? Any other tips on
control of white fly?

Meanwhile, I'm on my way to the archives.

Diana