Eeek, scale be-gone

Maybe you'll recall my earlier post about the soft and hard scale one of my plants was infected with. I sprayed it with the yellow bottle (don't know if I can name it here) and sprayed it a second time 10 days later. I thought I had done a good job and killed all of them nasties and removed the dead ones with a toothpick.
Today (17 days after the last spraying) I freaked when I was giving the plant a detailed inspection. In a leaf that is curled up a bit I found them; soft scale and a single hard scale. I don't know if these are dead and if I missed them during the clean up or if they have recovered and are growing again. Nevertheless, I sprayed the plant again. I'm worried though that I'm damaging the plant with this much of the chemical that gets stuck on the leaves and medium every time I spray. Does anyone have any bad experience in terms of plants going bad because of the use of the yellow (S.E.A.) bottle instead of the actual scale?

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Three wrong doesn't make a right; three left does make a right.

Hi Richard,

Usually scale is very hard to get rid of once it takes hold in your collection. No matter what brand of spray you are using, if you are using it correctly, it should not hurt your plant. We usually keep the plant separate from the rest of the collection (if possible) and spray it each time we watter until no signs of the scale is present. Just remember to protect yourself when using any poisons.

Cheers,
BD

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We could learn a lot from crayons: some are sharp, some are pretty, some are dull, some have weird names, and all are different colors....but they all exist very nicely in the same box. ...Hmmm? .

Hi , Be sure and coat (soak) any( hard ) scale with spray and wipe them off on a soaked tissue , some people use clear nail polish to coat them when first seen a friend told me about a man at the Oklahoma show not long ago he had a presentation, photos showing hard scale , even after spraying the immature scale was alive under the adult scale. Thinking the adult is dead and flicking them off scatters the %^$&%$ ... kids . I use a systemic on any new plants the product in a blue bottle saying it protects for 30 days (don't believe that )you can get it at a box store , use 3 times at weekly intervals . Remove any dried sheath or other coverings . Take no prisioners .. Gin

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Never put off until tomorrow what you can avoid all together.

Gin and BD have given you some really great tips...I'll go one step further..

The large armored scale must really be scraped off with a finger-nail or Q-tip. I usually just soak a Q-tip in alcohol and rub in on the scale until it is finally drops off of the plant..

Good luck and be vigilant! These suckers can spread like crazy in the warmth of your house.

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I took a taxi from LA to Venus in 1985.

It's been in a room all by itself for the last 2 months. It doesn't get as much good light but then again I'm doing the other guys a favour. Thanks for the advice, it's definitely helpful to know that even though the top shell is dead some stay alive underneath. I'll keep on spraying until I'm sure there is nothing left. I always waited until the plant was dry again before removing the dead ones, I guess that wasn't very smart. I'll make sure to be ready with a q-tip right after spraying.
Thanks again.

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Three wrong doesn't make a right; three left does make a right.