come on down...send your scale too..don't want mine to get lonesome!

Oh, I keep forgetting to post my new chinese Cym ensifolium Formosa Fairy. It came with a small spike!!

Oh you can have ALL my scale!

Don't let them scare you, Lindsey! As long as you catch them early, the beasties can be controlled with alchohol on a q- tip. When mine go out for the summer, I don't get as up close and personal as when they're in the house. That's when the mealies get big enough to carry the plants away.

I've been going round and round with my 3 giant antique clivia plants,and a few of my Phals too.
Fortunately, the Phals are mostly under control. I just put together a tupperware box for the greenhouse
with q tips, alchohol wipes & a bottle of alchohol...maybe I should move that box a little closer to the
Paphs?!

Sounds like it. I don't get them on Paphs but your conditions are closer to Jim's than mine.
I get mealies on amaryllis, the clivias, the hoyas, but mostly on my little succulents and the 2 passionflowers I drag inside for the winter. They are always full of them. Uh-oh, they are near the paphs!

I have problems with them on my Clivias too. I've had to resort to the toxic stuff for the scale. My lemon and lime trees get several types of scale, and mealies, and the new Citrus Leaf Miner, and the lemon and avocado trees both get mites. Unfortunately, my orchids and Epiphyllums live under the lemon tree in summer, so I have to forgo "organic", and use the Bayer Fruit, Citrus, and Vegetable on the trees. It helps, but the timing is a bit tricky, if you don't want to kill the bees too. I followed Ursula's lead and used the bayer 3in1 on my orchids before I brought them in this year, and I really have only found a few mealies on them.

That's great!

Mealies arrrggghhhhh.
I wish I had followed my own advice and treated ALL of my plants before I brought them back inside, not just the usual offenders. It is that time of year when everything is supposed to wake up, and boy do the bugs ever wake up in the Spring. When I think all is clean, I find a Mealie party on a single Cactus on the top shelf. Go figure, all others around it were clean.

Same here. I have know been invaded by tiny ants. Even though it's still snowing here. I hope the ants know something I don't know!

and now to add to the festivities at my bug farm, I found spider mites on the Brug
that had been moved to the greenhouse..it does have a bud so that's nice, but the
mites have got to go! I have moved the monster outside and doused it with Bayer
in the soil and sprayed the leaves with high water pressure then sprayed with Bayer.

I finally got rid of every one because of spider mites. I can't remember what helped now. I sprayed with Bayer every month or so inside when I had them but either ventilation or hosing them down helped. Can't remember which.....

Everyone here uses Ortho Fire Ant killer in the powder form. One Tbls per gallon and spray away. Very good results. I learned about it from the curator of orchids at the local botanical garden.

Jim

Can I use it indoors around a dog?

It takes care of spider mites as well as fire ants?

Short answer is no. It stinks, really stinks. I wouldn't even take the lid off of the container indoors. I just read the label and it does not encourage use around pets. It kills birds and is bad for you if ingested. Wait until you put the plants outdoors.

Jim

We cross posted, Lindsey. The active ingredient in the Ortho Fire Ant Killer is acephate. It is a general purpose insecticide and is considered to be a "weak" miticide. All I know is all of the big orchid growers down here use it and recommend it.

Jim

Thanks, Jim. This happens every spring. I just buy ant traps and squish anyone I see (except my DBF, of course). By the time they go outside in June, there is no ant problem.

I would highly recomend that you research ANY pesticide you might want to use, before you spend the $ for it ! The manufacturers have lables and MSDSs ( Material Safety Data Sheet) on their websites. Some of these chemicals are not approved in all states.