I recently had an outbreak of cattleya scale which can devestate seedlings
in a heatbeat and bring the big ones down without much trouble (and not just
cattleyas). There were also a few mealies around. I hit everything with
Orthene twice, 6 days apart, first time as a spray and drench, 2nd time just
spray. I followed up with Enstar II twice at control doses and again with a
preventative dose. I haven't seen any signs of infestation in 3 weeks -X
(fingers crossed). You can imagine how long this took for several thousand
plants. But at that point, what was the alternative? I know from now on that
all new plants, especially trades, get treated and isolated for several
weeks before joining the collection. This had been my general policy prior
to the infestation. I got lax. My fault. A reminder every-so-often is
necessary for some of us to get back on track. I had a bunch of trouble a
number of years ago with scale and mealies prior to "ant-proofing" the
greenhouse. Sealed and screened pretty tightly, the greenhouse gets some
spray around doors but usually that's about it. As for the anoles, I know I
lose some when I have to spray. But judging by the number of little ones
around a lot of eggs are in protected sand somewhere that keep popping out.
They're pretty good survivors. Best of luck. Hope this helps some.
Gary

"Diana Kulaga" wrote in message
hlink.net...
Hi, Gang,

Thus far, I've never had what I would call a *serious* pest problem. That
seems to have changed. I've been spotting mealies around the Phals and on
some other plants. I pulled an ailing Phal out of its pot and found the
roots infested with the things. Since, I've been repotting Phals like
crazy. And finding scale. Normally, I use straight alcohol, or, for
scale,
alcohol/soap/oil. Both are effective.

Now, however, I'm afraid I need to do something more, before the whole
collection has problems (found more scale today, on a couple of
Angraecums).
Today I picked up Malathion at HD, and on my way to the register found a
product called Organocide, which advertises itself as a
pesticide/fungicide,
and which is comprised of 5% sesame oil, 92% edible fish oil, and 3%
lecithin. I bought both products.

It's not that I'm completely averse to using chemicals (the Malathion),
but
like anyone else I'd rather avoid it if possible. Also, swarms of geckos
reside in the lanai where most of the plants are, and I don't want to
injure
the beneficial little guys if I can help it.

So my question has to do with the effectiveness of the Organocide, and
also
if I use Malathion can I water it through the medium? I need to do
something very soon; case by case isn't cutting it.

Anyone? Ah, I guess I'm just looking for a little reinforcement. Come
Monday morning I'll probably bomb the place with Malathion.

Diana