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scale attack.

Just sprayed a couple citrus trees in my shower with neem oil and vegetable oil.  Made a mess of the shower.  Not fun cleaning up after.  I have issues with my tropicals indoors every winter.  Never saw any on my figs and certain types of tropicals so I always thought they couldn't get them.  Glad to have this info so I can be more vigilant not to let them spread to my figs in the future.  I always spray my plants with some sort of oil product like neem or hort oil before putting them away in the garage for the winter.  I think I'll try the alcohol next time.  Easier to clean!
Timothy

Quote:
Originally Posted by Rewton
I'm reviving this old thread because I have a scale infestation on one of the figs rooted outdoors last fall that is being overwintered in-doors.  So far what I have done is to use swap any evidence of insects with rubbing (isopropyl) alcohol.  However, after doing this once I looked a couple days later and saw one or two new mature scales.  So now I am thinking of spraying with isopropyl alcohol mixed with a bit of detergent as suggested in this link provided earlier in the thread:
http://www.aos.org/Default.aspx?id=137

However, that link is geared more toward orchids.  It doesn't state whether the alcohol is to be diluted with water at all.  There are comments elsewhere in thread about diluting the alchohol but no definitive dilution is provided that is known to kill the bugs but not harm the fig tissue.  Has anyone used this treatment successfully with figs and, if so, what dilution did you use?  Thanks!


I use the mix they recommend for spider mites and I also pick them off the plant as I see them. I have one plant I brought from outdoors into the house that was loosing leaves that had them and it is now growing leaves again. Fortunately I do not see any scales on the plants that were around this one.

I'm never bringing outdoor fig plants into the house for winter again.

Thanks for your comment Rich.  I ended up using a mix of 1 part 70% isopropyl alcohol to 3 parts water.  I also added 4 drops dishwashing liquid to about 1-2 cups of this stuff.  I just finished spraying my fig.  I'll post what happens.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Rewton
Thanks for your comment Rich.  I ended up using a mix of 1 part 70% isopropyl alcohol to 3 parts water.  I also added 4 drops dishwashing liquid to about 1-2 cups of this stuff.  I just finished spraying my fig.  I'll post what happens.


You're welcome

I used neem with a little dish soap did part of the trick last year on my citrus but then ended up using rubbing alcohol on cotton swabs and wiping down all branches and leaves. I am battling bad mites now but don't want to spray the neem inside because it will get all over the floor and stink.

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