migraineur Posted December 14, 2012 Hey Has anyone tried drowning scale on small cacti or cuttings? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
chilli Posted December 14, 2012 water by itself won't work, you need a surfactant to break in and oil to suffoacte them just scrape them off and throw away, then apply some white oil, which is basically a bit of surfactant like detergent, oil and water. god i hate scale Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
migraineur Posted December 14, 2012 Yeah, I was dealing with it earlier in the year but then I went overseas for a number of months and when I got back my cacti and some succulents got owned. I'm thinking it may just be better to throw them all away and start again. Maybe I could save the cleanish tips of some trichs which would be easier to clean and take care of. I also have some seedlings growing inside that I can use to start from scratch with. I guess I don't want to jeopardise them by having scale around either, especially since some are caespitosa lophs. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Foo Posted December 14, 2012 Segregate those mofos like your South Africa 1970. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
migraineur Posted December 14, 2012 Segregate those mofos like your South Africa 1970. HAHAHAHA. Yeah, I got all Jim Crowe on their asses! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nitrogen Posted December 14, 2012 You can hit them with a hard blast from the hose too - it's a good way to clean them off quickly.. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
WoodDragon Posted December 16, 2012 If you're going to chuck them you might as well try white oil first. It'll sort out the scale, but cacti are apparently susceptible too. I bought a bulk lot of a Confidor a few years back. It was death to mealies, mites and scale, but the war always seems to come back eventually. At least, it does if you have hundred of potted plants sitting cheek by jowl! These days I'm using diatomaceous earth, white oil (not on succulents!) and pyrethrum, but I've had some mealies appears again on orchids and a staghorn, so it might be back to the Confidor. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nitrogen Posted December 16, 2012 I had a very bad result with white oil once - a homemade concoction of olive oil and dish soap if I remember - produced a horrific outbreak of weeping black rot on the trichos that got dosed.. Probably my ratios were off, but I decided never to use the stuff again.. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
