I would like a natural remedy for scale on my house plants

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leaflady Hughesville, MO(Zone 5a) Mar 29, 2004

Does anyone know if spraying my houseplants with something like garlic water, mouthwash, etc. would kill off scale on some of my house plants? I managed to get rid of the mealy bugs and now we have scale. They are even on my potaotes that are starting to sprout. I soaked some of them in soapy water but don't know if that will totally get rid of them or if I just killed off the ones I can see easily. But I have them on some of my brugs and haven't been able to get rid of them.

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poppysue Westbrook, ME(Zone 5a) Mar 29, 2004

Horticultural oils will be your best bet.

Here are some remedies Gardens Alive recommends
http://gardensalive.com/pestguide_item.asp?article_id=50

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knees Washington, DC(Zone 7a) Apr 12, 2004

I had them badly in my asparagus house efern. The fern did not like the oil at all; apparently the fern needs to breath and the oil clogged it up. The oil killed the fern branches faster than the scale. It took me two years to rid them: a combined effort of picking them off and Systemic Insect Control (1% Di-Syston) from Bonide. There is also a similar systemic product from Bayer and I am sure others. I put in almost 5 years to do it manually. I gave up.

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kathy_ann Judsonia, AR(Zone 7b) Apr 25, 2004

I can't kill it with natural remedies, I use 7 dust on my brugs.

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kathy_ann Judsonia, AR(Zone 7b) Apr 25, 2004

of course a soft toothbrush always works, I might try that next time on mybrugs, the 7 dust leaves a powder on them for ages.

kathy

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TamaraFaye Fritch, TX(Zone 6b) Jul 01, 2005

great info!

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Mobi Denver, CO(Zone 6a) Jul 01, 2005

There's also hot water but I have never tried it myself. Here's one link

http://www.floracultureintl.com/archive/articles/1406.asp

It doesn't say what plants it would be safe for.

I've also used cotton balls dipped in rubbing alcohol then wiping down each leaf, which works but is labor intensive.

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caron Woodland Park, CO(Zone 4b) Jul 02, 2005

Forget cotton balls unless the plant has bigger leaves. Straight alcohol in a spray bottle is easier to apply and I've used it numerous times for scale and mealy problems on houseplants. The problem is it's very labor intensive to get every nook and cranny of the plant as well as the undersides of the leaves. The treatments must be be repeated every few days for a couple of weeks to make sure that all hatchlings are killed and reinfestation does not occur. If you use the Bonide it will not hurt to make an alcohol treatment in the meantime every other day or so. Systemic pesticides take time to be absorbed and are absorbed slower in woodier plants. This will at least keep things under control until the sytemic starts to work.

This message was edited Jul 2, 2005 7:45 AM

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