1. I have never had any luck getting rid of mealies with smoke or aerosol
bombs. I have always had to use a spray/drench routine repeated a couple of
times to achieve complete mealie annihilation.

2. In addition to the aerosol, Knox-out used to come in quarts which when
mixed with water made a very effective mealie spray/drench. I do not think
it is available any more as I though all diazinon products had been put out
of production. Duraguard (microencapsulated dursban) is also very
effective, but it has been moved to the restricted use list. Malathion and
sevin are effective against mealies, but I think greenhouse use labeling has
been removed from both. None of these chemicals should be used in a house
and their effectiveness is only as good as the spraying/drenching. Repeated
applications is required for all and mealie resistance is possible.
Imidacloprid seems to be the recommended replacement for diazinon and
dursban and it is labeled for mealies and greenhouses. I do not know how
effective it really is, but it is getting good write ups. The local Home
Depot and nursery centers are carrying many new products based on
imidacloprid and the price seems to be dropping.

3. If you have Phals, be careful with orthene this time of year. In the
plant, systemics are mostly moved to where the plant is actively growing and
for phals this time of year that is the new bloom spike. The concentrating
of orthene in the juvenile spike can lead to a much higher than normal rate
of color break flowers and other flower mutations. I avoid orthene from
Sept to April. I do not have much experience with orthene and paph flower
mutations, so you will have to rely on input from other growers.

4. Some members of this group have reported success on meallies with
enstar. I have never achieved any thing better than suppression with it
used alone.




"Ray" wrote in message
...
I have used both Knox-Out (microencapsulated diazinon) and
microencapsulated Orthene bombs. I am not convinced that they are as
effective as a good soaking with spray. It seems logical though, as it's
easier to apply a spray under leaf surfaces...

--

Ray Barkalow - First Rays Orchids - www.firstrays.com
Plants, Supplies, Books, Artwork, and Lots of Free Info!
.
"wendy7" wrote in message
news:t0%dd.56567$kz3.3630@fed1read02...
There is an aerosol bomb insecticide for use in greenhouses but
I lost the info. I know it was from somebody in our group & the cans
were very expensive & had to buy in bulk?
Hoping who ever it was reads this.

--
Cheers Wendy

Remove PETERPAN for email reply

Noochka One wrote:
Hi all,

I'm new to the group so if this question has been recently asked and
answered, please excuse me: Has anyone tried using a commercial "bug
bomb" such as Raid or Black Flag to treat insect infestations on large
numbers of plants? My collection of paphs has become infested with
mealbugs and nothing I use seems to be having any effect. Can anyone
offer any insight or suggest another method of treating these critters
in bulk?