Re: Sarr. scale
Robert Allen (Robert.Allen@Eng.Sun.COM)
Thu, 14 Sep 1995 13:05:22 -0700
>>------------------------------
>>
>>Topic No. 4
>>
>>Date: Thu, 14 Sep 1995 09:50:31 -0400
>>From: ritter@floyd.HQ.ileaf.com (Janice Ritter x5444)
>>To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com
>>Subject: Re: Sarr. and scale. :-(
>>Message-ID: <9509141350.AA04873@floyd.HQ.Ileaf.COM>
>>
>>Ack!!! My Sarrs are being attacked by scale. I mean, bad!
>>I noticed a few days ago that the plants were looking nice,
>>but not NICE as usual. Checked my favoriate, but it was
>>fine, so I chalked it up to seasonal changes. (dumb..)
>>
>>Anyhow, this a.m., I checked the plants again, and *most*
>>are covered w/scale. :-( I tried picking the scales off
>>(disgusting), but there are too many of them, and they are
>>in the folks of the bases of the leaves and I can't reach
>>them.
>>
>>I'm a pretty rabid organic farmer, and haven't used pesticides
>>in a good decade (OK, I did once...), but this is out of hand.
>>I really, really don't want to lose these plants.
>>
>>Any surefire ways of getting rid of scale on Sarrs?
Yes, but lots of them kill the plant too :-).
Fortunately Sarracenias are pretty tough, and
shouldn't mind the following treatment: submerge
them in water for a day or two.
Failing that you can laboriously use a Q tip
with alcohol to kill each little scale, then
submerge it for good measure.
If it was a little later in the season I'd say
cut off all the infected leaves and submerge
the rhizome, but I'd be scared to do this to
a plant that either wasn't dormant, or had
phyllodia.
Them's a few ideas anyhow. If you want to go
the toxic route, I heard that Orthene is a pretty
good CP-safe poison, and it's systemic too so
it sort of sticks around in the plant deterring
further infestations (unlike the Lilly Miller
Diazanon I use which is only effective if you
get it on the bugs themselves, or the area they're
moving around in). I always use 1/4 str solutions
as I recall.
Robert