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Discuss any carnivorous plant that doesn't fit in the above categories here or general chat about carnivorous plants

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By buakawswagyo
Posts:  60
Joined:  Sat Sep 07, 2013 7:05 pm
#188218
Can anybody identify this officially as scale? It's on all my plants in my terrarium and here's the best picture I could get right now i can take more later. Really worried and I don't what to do I'm hoping to catch it early. Suggestions please!

Image
By jwbates26
Posts:  1431
Joined:  Fri Sep 30, 2011 5:18 pm
#188289
This post kind of got buried so I thought I'd help out and bring it back to the top.

If you are asking about the small white things on the pitchers it looks to me that it may be particles from the sphagnum moss that could just rinse off with a good spraying. I don't see anything that looks likes scales but I've never dealt with scales before. I do see them on a lot of Lowes plants though but I don't see anything that jumps out to me. I'm looking at the picture on my phone, so if I'm wrong I hope someone else says something.
By buakawswagyo
Posts:  60
Joined:  Sat Sep 07, 2013 7:05 pm
#188320
Thank you guys for replying, it means a lot for real. So I found it is scale. I got it from a division I recently bought off the forums. He had mentioned that he'd had a problem with scale a year ago and treated it. No. He didn't. Within a few weeks I started seeing egg sacks now their on my other plant and even on the pots. So thanks nevermore for the free infestation. So what I did was last night took to it with toothpick and tweezers and picked off every scale I could see, then I sprayed one heli pitcher of the culprit heli division with a systemic to see if it would harm the plant. Am I handling this correctly? Also if you know of any systemic that is not to hard on helis please let me know.
Thanks once again for replying,
Dylan
By Dionae
Posts:  4300
Joined:  Tue Nov 09, 2010 3:03 am
#188323
Hi Dylan. Pests are sometimes a lil harder to get rid of than one might think. For instance, if you trade sarrs with me theres a good chance you'll be getting spider mites shipped along with the sarrs lol. I've tried to get rid of them...tried a sulfur insecticide which only set my plants back and made my pitchers deformed but didnt hurt the mites at all. Also used a systemic but those lil suckers are tough and can sometimes hide in places that you'll miss.

Long story short...if you trade plants pests are part of the risk. I've had folks send me all kinds of critters with plants. All you can do is treat everything that comes in and isolate them from everything else as a preventative measure. Keep an eye on them for a couple of weeks and if you dont notice any pests then move them in with everything else. Sorry for your infestation but when growing plants infestations are a common occurrence.
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By Matt
Location: 
Posts:  22523
Joined:  Mon Apr 21, 2008 11:28 pm
#188326
buakawswagyo wrote:So I found it is scale.
Really? I've had scale on my orchids and Cephalotus before and I can't see anything in the photo that looks like scale. Like Jason, the only things I can see in the photo look like pieces of dried up sphagnum. How do you know for sure it is scale? Scale is really easy to get rid of too, with the use of a systemic insecticide.
By Dionae
Posts:  4300
Joined:  Tue Nov 09, 2010 3:03 am
#188329
I dont see any scale either. I can post pics of scale for you though. Saw some on one of my seedlings but that was before I nuked them so they might be gone. I'll check and see. For reference though-

Image
By buakawswagyo
Posts:  60
Joined:  Sat Sep 07, 2013 7:05 pm
#188342
It is for sure I saw them come out last night and now I can see the difference between spag particles and scale. I have common sense, that was the first thing I thought and hoped, but nope of course it's gotta be scale I have google imaged it about 1000 times now. I know this means war. So basically I'm asking if you guys know of a good systemic that works well for heliamphoras in particular, if anybody has that knowledge. And thanks dionae I understand this is all part of the game, but its not right to sell plants that are known to be sick that's all.
By Dionae
Posts:  4300
Joined:  Tue Nov 09, 2010 3:03 am
#188345
I've heard good things about bayer systemic insecticide. I use bonide rose rx systemic drench because its cheaper and local and works great imo. I recently used ortho systemic insect killer because the bonide was out of stock but only used it about a week ago so I cant really speak on how good it is. I dont think any will hurt your heli if you use it as directed. Just use a systemic insecticide...any kind. They work the best imo.
By buakawswagyo
Posts:  60
Joined:  Sat Sep 07, 2013 7:05 pm
#188348
Dionae, thank you for the encouraging words. It just so happens I have orthene and the bayer systemic pesticide. Forget the war on drugs, this is the war on bugs.
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By buakawswagyo
Posts:  60
Joined:  Sat Sep 07, 2013 7:05 pm
#188389
Thanks Matt for your input, I'm still only 4 months into growing cp's so I'm still getting familiar with pest identification. What should I do? just repot it to get a closer look as well..i need to repot in anyway. Actually need to repot both, any media suggestions for them?
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By Matt
Location: 
Posts:  22523
Joined:  Mon Apr 21, 2008 11:28 pm
#188436
buakawswagyo wrote:What should I do?
I don't see any signs of pest damage nor any pests in the photos. Scale is usually fairly easy to see, but it does tend to hide on the undersides of leaves (in the case of orchids and Cephalotus) or in other hard to see places. In the case of your plants, I don't see the need to do anything, since there isn't any evidence of pest damage nor any sign of pests.
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