help about Volck oil

[bluemoon]

I can not find my Neem oil anywhere so i went and brought Volck oil. Is it safe to use on orchid. I checked my plant and saw scale, mealy bug, and lot of the small flies looking bug. I need help asap. Tomorrow is Sunday so i plan to spray everything. and kill kill kill the bad bug.

[smartie2000]

I don't know the product (I think it's a mineral oil), but I'm sure it won't do harm on phals and less sensitive plants.

[Ron-NY]

Volck oil should be fine but with any horticultural oil you want to avoid having the orchid in the sun after treatment. I oil on overcast days only. I usually use about 5 tablespoons per gallon of water and I add a couple of drops of liquid dish detergent. Shake well and spray

Fren Volck is an Ortho product

[bluemoon]

I have mostly Oncidium, Cat, den and phal. If i can confirm it ok i will start spraying tomorrow. thank Fren.

[Kerry]

Can I ask why you add dish detergent to your water/ oil mix? Is it to try getting the oil to spread throughout the water more evenly?

[bluemoon]

add dish detergent to make the water wetter, so it can penetrate some of the bad bug protected shell

[Brutal_Dreamer]

I always thought the soap was to break the oil down a bit and get it to better mix with the H20. I know that the oil smothers the bugs and I believe the soap causes it to stick to them too. Good question Kerry. I have just always done it and never really considered why. hmmmmm...

Cheers,
BD

[Piper]

You're right, Bruce. The soap is only added as an emulsifier. It breaks the oil globs into tiny globs that get carried by the water finer, and more evenly.

PM me if anyone wants a good mail-order source for Neem. I don't know anything about Volck oil, but if Ron says it's good, I'd be fine with that.

McJulie

[Kerry]

Much as I would love to try something (well, not saying that I would love to get the pests first and need to use it... but I imagine it will happen to me one day.. sigh..) that has been recommended over and over on various sites, according to a certain government site it is a crime to import Neem Oil as a pesticide, so I might give it a miss. I can import it as a cosmetic though.

Not sure how that makes sense...

[smartie2000]

soap also helps it stick to the leaves... and it would make it easier to wash off the oil or it would accumulate over time