When you have acres under glass or thousands and thousands of plants, I can understand spraying but man.
On my first orchid buying adventure I went to Lager and Herell in NJ. A man there was applying Sevin with an old toothbrush to scale. I asked if that was safe. He said you could brush your teeth with it!!
I thought that that can't be right. 1976 was the year. I think sevin had an LD number in the twenties!!!

My NJ brother in law still sprays Sevin on the plants immediately adjacent to his patio and especially the containers of flowering plants around the seating areas. They spend hours out there each day and he sprays at least twice a week during the warm months "to keep the bugs away." He was just diagnosed with cancer and while I wouldn't say anything I certainly wonder if there is not a connection.

In all likelihood there is, but why say something now.
Those things last for years without reapplying.
My parents had a house next door to where I grew up. It had roaches. Every time my Mom saw a roach she made my Dad spray. Chlordane!!! One of the worst sprays ever. No wonder I'm nuts!!!

My brother has nine eyes, my sister six. His exposure was longer.

Great information!! And very funny, Bill!!
Neem oil is on the list to pick up!

Since my greenhouse is attached to the house and shares the circulating air with the house through the heating ducts, I am always very careful what I use to combat bugs. That goes for the indoor season starting in September to May. I usually have a bottle of All Season Horticultural Oil around and last Winter I started to use the Dr Bronner castile soap.
Normally in the Spring I would do some treatments with Bayer's 3 in 1 when I move my Orchids into the cage and then again a couple of weeks before they come back inside. Most of the time, I would soak some selected plants which would have been to difficult to clean otherwise.
This year I looked every plant over as I always do and just used a bit of the Bronner here and there as needed. With the downpours we are having here, the plants are now squeaky clean.
I always remove the thin papery skin over the pseudobulbs on Cattleyas, since Scale loves to hide under that. And I look careful for any white dots!!

At the University of S. Florida greenhouse , we use a spray of 409 (the household cleaner) mixed with alcohol and a drop of liquid dish soap. Talk about instant gratification ..it's sort of like putting salt on a slug.....buh..bye bad bugs!

I used the Bayer 3-in-1 a few years ago, but stopped when my mentor/neighbor pointed out that the systemic insecticide in it is imidicloprid. It is a neonicotinoid, so something you really want to stay away from if you can. Bad for bees and people, too. It's already been banned in some states.

If I may repeat what I said earlier about systemics, they are just like antibiotics - the bugs develop resistance to them faster and faster (since we've been using them for years and already have some strains of resistant bugs around).

If you need an "instant bomb" use soap or something like Lindsey's 409/alcohol mixture. Just as effective without the lasting backlash.

I need to change

Lindsey, do you have a recipe for your 409 spray? I'd like to share it in my article, I try and stick to research based info (.edu) and something from USF would work.

I use it 50/50...but I've also heard some people add water in equal parts..I don't know that it's research based or not..I'll ask around. At the USF greenhouse , the systemics have all but stopped working and now we HAVE to spray with the 409.

Alice, here's the official recipe..and note from one of our orchid club members
Start with empty 1 gallon container.
add 2 bottles (16 oz each) 70% Alcohol
1/3 cup 409
Fill with water to make one gallon spray.

OR cut in half, of course....I think it will store indefinitely. Not sure who came up with it but it has been adjusted (less 409) of late. It is somewhat new to our USF Routine....maybe the last couple of years. I swear by it.

Thanks! I suspect since are using it at USF they approve of the mix. We run into all sorts of issues if we recommend home remedies that are not research based. I'll run it by Clemson before recommending it in publication.

70% alcohol and water and 409. Water and alcohol in equal parts. I had always thought that leaving alcohol in contact with plant tissue had a drying effect on the tissue.
Or am I thinking correctly that half water and half alcohol dilutes the alcohol to roughly 35% and even a bit less due to the 409?
Then my next question would be that since 70% kills bugs essentially on contact, is that enough alcohol to do any good?
I am a tad skeptical but if you say it works, then I need to try it.

I'm convinced that Insecticidal Horticultural Oil is the way to go. No getting used to smothering, low toxicity, readily available and reasonably priced. The problem is the fine print in the instructions warn against using it in greenhouses. I'm sitting here with 2.5 gallons of the stuff and am afraid to use it in the OC. Louis Del Favero (local grower here) used it to run off a soft scale infestation in his greenhouses and swears by it.

Jim

I'd be a little worried about getting it in your pool, too Jim. Put them all on the side away from the pool so you can aim away from the water, or can you take your orchids outside in batches, spray them out there then bring them back in? Hmm, sounds like a buttload of work in this terrible heat. I'm pretty sure Ursula uses it in her greenhouse in the winter @Ursula ?

I don't use the hort. oil spray unless the temperature is below about 75 for a high. Also try to spray it on a not-too- sunny day since the oil does coat the leaves for a while making them more sensitive to sunburn. Motes' book recommends using a soapy water spray and plain water rinse the day after using oil, too. Double whammy, since the soap washes off the oil and also will kill any remaining unsmothered bugs.

Regarding the alcohol , I wouldn't think it would last long stored . That whole recipe sounds potent.

At one of the orchid club meetings I went to with Patty, the speaker said all he uses against scale is plain rubbing alcohol and water, mixed half and half. He was a Dendrobium specialist from the Homestead area, I think.

I'd be inclined to mix up just enough of a batch to spray my whole orchid growing area, Probably about a gallon. I'd just use it all up each time. Must admit I have a quart of alcohol that I haven't even opened yet. Maybe because I bought enough of the spinosad concentrate to last me well into next year . . . C'est la vie.

I've been reading more about the issue of spinosad and bees, but I'm not worried about endangering any bees because I only use the stuff inside my pool cage where there aren't any bees, ever. I do try not to spray the stuff on windy days too, just because I am a painfully frugal Scot and can't stand to waste it. New advisories say to spray only in the evenings when bees are not so active. Same for any insecticide, as I recall.

That's pretty much my thinking too.

Elaine, yes, I do use the horticultural oil in the Winter inside. I have never worried about using that one as a sort of "spot-killer". Just a quick squirt here and there, catching things before they get out of control.

adding - I look at this product as I would look at a candle, paraffin wax, just with shorter chains to keep it liquid.

Agreed, it is essentially a vegetable oil.

I just located the Dilution Cheat Sheet for Dr. Bonner's Castile Soap that I had downloaded and printed. According to it Plant spray for bugs -1Tbsp. in a quart of water Add cayenne pepper or cinnamon if desired.
Ant spray (not for use on plants) 1/4 cup of soap in a quart of water ( this concentration will burn plants) 3Tbsp IS 1/4 cup.

Think I'll start with the 1 Tbsp. If that doesn't do it, add alcohol in lesser increments.