Same as the others, Advantage, sold by HD works well for me.

Nick

Thanks. Will pick some up tomorrow

That's the one with the french-y name supposedly tougher than all others ! The ONLY bug I never had, KOW !!! Just spent the day Isoap-ing one entire 6 x 2.5ft shelf full of mostly Ctsms where I had discovered the mites AGAIN ! Boy do they love those thin leaved plants !! Sponged & sprayed every leaf except 3 plants. My Bc. Ethyle, Sedirea japonica, & Bulb. grandiflorum didn't have any and I scour thoroughly with a 5X glass ! Excuse my rant, I just got infected with the bug-hate syndrome again !

CHRYSS

Right, Bois-Duval scale. Nasty crap. But they can be conquered, you just have to be diligent with your spraying. And make sure you use a systemic.

Can you suggest a systemic for this scale? Thanks

Chryss, or anyone . What is "Isoap-ing"--any particular product---technique?

I used dish soap solution and a toothbrush, followed by spraying with alcohol every few days to get rid of my first scale outbreak and have kept it under control for years now. BUT have just had the sneaky return of mites!!!

Merit works nicely. The active ingredient is imidacloprid. You'll find this ingredient in a lot of the bayer line: Bayer rose and flower care, among others. These also work well and you can get them at home depot/lowes.

The most important part is to repeat your treatment at least 3 times to get the emerging brood.

Nick

Thanks a ton for all your help. I am determined to kill these suckers!

Isoap is short for Insecticidal Soap, made by Schultz, bought at Home Depot.

That imidacloprid DOESN'T work on mites ! I KNOW this because I tried it on one of my many outbursts ! THEY are NOT insects, they ARE spiders !! Alcohol works, Isoap works, SPO Superfine Pesticidal Oil works and there are miticides that work but are EXPENSIVE !! Ovation I have used and it's great ! Just DON'T expect it to work the next time because you're creating bugs with resistance !!

You just have to persevere and rotate products.

Chryss, you are correct bit I wasn't addressing mites, I was addressing the scale. Mites do require other chemicals, unless you're talking about soap or oil which will work on both. Though soap works better on scale whereas oil works better on mealy and mites.

How does NEEM OIL work on these bugs-scale etc. ? maybe mix it w/alcohol or/and dish soap? thanks, sally