Brown Scale on my Phals

[giovannarosa]

Hello all! I was wondering if anyone has had scale insects on their Phals. I seems I have been fighting them for a while by removing them with my fingers. I think I need to spray something. I was thinking of using malathion since I have it on hand. What have you used and how succesful were you? Any advice?

[Voyagenation]

Hi Joanna, I use Sevin Wp85. It may have malathion too am not sure. I have been successful with this. Hope it helps.

[zainal abidin]

Hi Joanna you can you malathion also ok but the smell terrible do it at night otherwise will interfere your neighbor, another alternative you can use alcohol (ethanol or methanol) use gauze after fully soak then clean the the affected side, another option you can use wet oil (petroleum base dissolve in water easily) then spray ing the3 plant accordingly. Good luck.

[Teena]

Joanna - I used Neem oil which I bought at a garden shop and I've also spent the big money, about $12.00, for a spray bottle of organic pest control oil. Both are non-toxic for you and the environment and get rid of the little beasties very well.

martha

[kiwiorchids]

Jonada (Daethan) uses it with success, unfortunatly i cannot vouch for it because i can only get it as a headlice treatment here!

I have used Neem tree granules though, just sprinkle them (not a lot, maybe to a large pot, about a teaspoon) ontop of the bark and water them in once a week. The orchid will take up some of its properties, including the bug killing one, and the granules also provide a natural organic fertilizer. Get the ratio wrong though, and the orchid wont like you for very long.

I also use Confidor aerosol, but im not sure if Confidor is available over there.

Good luck! Jordan

[giovannarosa]

Hello all! About a month ago we had a cloudy day, so I took all my orchids outside and sprayed them with 50 percent seven. That seemed to work perfectly. I havn't seen any more scale. I will be more careful as to what I bring into my solarium this fall. My problem is that I have a lot of other plants and so little space left in there. I have to walk somewhere in there.

[paphioboy]

I have never had scales on phals, they always go for orchid with thinner leaves like paphs, coelogynes etc. Neem oil + a little detergent solution is effective against scales and non-toxic to humans. A couple of repeat sprays are necessary to eliminate them.

[giovannarosa]

I had a fern in the same room and other plants, the fern is notorius for having scale. I did spray it before I brought it inside for the winter, but there must have been some on it that I did not notice. From reading elsewhere on the internet, I found that brown scale definitely can infest phals. I hope you don't get them. They were very bothersome to control without spraying.

[paphioboy]

If that is so, by all means isolate the fern. I have never had scales on ferns. Ferns are most hardy and will only appear sickly if the media is waterlogged.

[Jose R. Nieves]

Have you looked under the leaves and small crevices, where the leaf starts?
Jose