Scale control - methods for indoor control?

[BruceM]

After reading many posts on scale cotrol, it looks Enstar II in comobination with Orthene WP would be a good way to go, but I am not sure I would want to use it on my plants kept in the house around pets. I only have about 30 pots, all kept in the house, and would prefer a less "nuclear" way to do it.

At the moment I only have one plant that I can defintiely say has scale , and it is in bad enough shape I am just going to throw it away.

Anyone have personal experience with using something available in common box stores (don't throw anything)? I alwasy keep lots of safer insecticidal soap on hand for my roses and think I may try that and / or a alcohol spray.

[Ray B]

I agree on the Orthene, but Enstar is perfectly safe indoors, but another alternative is a soft toothbrush, a cup of very soapy water, and some elbow grease.

[BruceM]

Thank you.... I think I will try soap and water with a tooth brush and follow it with soap and alcohol or insecticidal soap spray. Unfortunately the 30+ plants are in close proximity, so I have a little bit of work inspecting and cleaning! It looks like the major problems are on 2-3 plants, but there a light signs on many others.

Is it a good idea to water the plants and then drench the medium and roots with a soap and water or soap and alcohol mix?

I have a older cat with kidney disease, and really want to avoid anything that will affect her if at all possible.

[a.bickell]

Bruce,

In India they use Neem oil as hair oil and in toothpaste. They also use it striaght out of the bottle as an antiseptic. I think you can consider it non-toxic and it does one heck of a job on scale insects (cheap too). I buy mine at the local Asian food store for $3/bottle. After use, just keep your plants out of the sun for a few days.

[BruceM]

A followup :

Thanks to the users here ofr their responses. I eventually settled for using Safer's brand Insecticidal soap and added Neem oil for backup. Watered the plats well, inspected for any hardscale, and carehully pried those off with a sharp scalpel. Sprayed the leaves top and bottom, thoroughly soaking the entire plant.

Placed it back in the window with the blinds closed for a day to let it dry and so far so good. It has been about 3 weeks (I know I know) and I will spray a second time this weekend.