I use Enstar II, orthene, and neem oil combined and get great knock-down,
long-term kill, and repellency all in one.

I recently tried the Bayer stuff alone and had pretty good knock-down in
three applications, but my heart still lies with Enstar II as a preventive.

--

Ray Barkalow - First Rays Orchids - www.firstrays.com
Plants, Supplies. Books, Artwork, and lots of Free Info!


"Rob" wrote in message
...
Gene Schurg wrote:
Rob,

It is interesting that you could be observing the same thing as I. Did
you
spray or drench with the Bayer product? Did you water between
applications
where the plants could suck up water without the chemicals?


I tried a drench (trash can and pump with hose) with just the bayer for
three consecutive weeks in early summer. That didn't work, or at least
not completely. When I added the IGR into the mix, it was applied as a
spray to the point of complete saturation of as much leaf surface as
possible (top and bottom), again for three consecutive weeks, within a
couple hours after watering the greenhouse in my normal way. I'm not sure
of the rationale of that, but I did have one. It made sense to water
before so that I wouldn't wash out chemical before it had a chance to be
absorbed, and I thought that perhaps the leaves would be more actively
transpiring right after a nice watering and more susceptible to absorbing
chemical.

Distance is supposed to have translaminar systemic activity (absorbed
through the leaves), which is one of the reasons I picked it. I don't
think EnstarII is systemic (I could be wrong). It is about the same cost,
but you have to buy a whole quart... They target the same pathway.

And actually, come to think of it, I used orthene instead of imidocloprid
for the first two weeks. Both have systemic activity. I was worried that
the bugs were becoming resistant to repeated imidocloprid treatment, and I
hadn't used orthene in a while. This way I was hoping to get the
resistant ones in the first two passes, and get the longer residual of the
imidocloprid on the last one. And orthene is cheap... Probably a stupid
idea.

--
Rob's Rules: http://littlefrogfarm.com
1) There is always room for one more orchid
2) There is always room for two more orchids
2a) See rule 1
3) When one has insufficient credit to obtain more
orchids, obtain more credit