Posted by Mark
on 10/31/2008, 12:38 am, in reply to "Re: Asian scale"
207.200.116.199
--Previous Message--
:
:
: You may be getting a bit too
: paranoid, but on the other hand, it
: is good to be sure. Using the
: Imidicloprid the proper way is a
: good way to keep the scale off, but
: I'd just use the coffee as a muclh
: in your pots, or on the ground if
: you are worried. If you don't see
: the scales on your plants, then the
: only place they could be hiding
: would be in the roots and placing
: used coffee grounds as a mulch about
: twice a year is a good, long term
: preventative to keep the scale away.
: If you want, and don't mind using
: something harsh this one time to
: make you feel better, go ahead and
: spray all your cycas species with
: Orthene and drench with it in the
: soil. Not much survives Orthene if
: it is already on your plant. CAS is
: really very easy to kill, the
: problem around here is that it is
: all over the place, so new scales
: can get on your plants once you have
: cleaned them up, but for you, if
: there is not any scales around, you
: can treat your plants a couple of
: times with something like Orthene
: and you can be sure that your plants
: are clean. I remember many years
: ago, I made a trade for a couple of
: Cycas micholitzii plants with
: someone in Miami and when I got down
: there, the plants were covered with
: CAS. At that time, micholitziis were
: almost impossible to get, so I got
: them abd brought them back with me.
: I dug a big square hole and lined it
: with greenhouse plastic and filled
: it with water and poured a bottle of
: Orthene in the hole. Then I
: submerged the entire plants leaves
: and pot and everything in the water
: for an hour. Those plants never
: showed the first sign of the scale
: and they were fine. For me, my
: nursery is sort of isolated so there
: isn't any scale anywhere close
: enough for them to fly on any of my
: plants, so if I were to bring in a
: plant that was covered, I could
: treat it once reall good and it
: would stay clean. I am thinking you
: will be like that as well.
Yeah, when I wrote that post, I was just off the phone from the ag. dept. and perhaps a bit rather paranoid.
I will take the preventative measures you recommend. My wife always goes to starbucks, so I told her to always get whatever she can of the coffee grinds. I'll start mulching all the plants. I did apply imidocloprid at 4 x rates on any plants recently purchased. I'll probably make that a standard practice for all new arrivals. But it does scare me, knowing it is here, so I will have to be extra cautious in the future. The ag inspector was very friendly and very nice, they said they have gotten it here on several occaisions in vegas, and sadly, she said almost every plant in the nursery had scale. But sounds like they are handling it appropriately. I am really impressed how quickly they responded. oh well,
I guess, 'being careful' is my new motto.
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