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How toxic are you willing to go? If you don't like pesticides Neem should work as woule Q-tips in rubbing alcohol. If you don't mind pesticides then go Orthene/Orthonex. Or, if you don't want to deal with chemicals at all and if the plant is small enough you can fully submerge it for a week or so and drown the little beasts.
 
For very light infestations, picking them off should be easy. But check the plant every couple of days in case you missed some of the smaller ones.

You could also use a 1:1 isopropyl alcohol:distilled water mix. This works very well on most neps and sars.

Malathion or sevin at half recommended strength also works well on most neps and sarrs (but they are also very toxic to humans, so take precautions).

Hope you have success in killing all of those evil little critters!
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]Malathion or sevin at half recommended strength also works well on most neps and sarrs (but they are also very toxic to humans, so take precautions).
Click to expand...

Yes, I remember when there was a possible introduced pest, the mediterranean fruit fly, in Florida. All the orange growers paniced, and pressured the government into widespread malathion sprayings. It was hilarious listening to them say "It's perfectly safe" while saying in the same breath "but put your car indoors because it'll eat the paint off it."

Mokele
 
I prefure to use bear rose and flower systemic. I will get the exact name of it for you if you want it, but it contains the same chemical as merit. Its also the same stuff that is in the once a month flea and dog treatment for dogs. It kills on contact and keeps working for a month to make sure it kills the larva and juviniles you may have missed. I have sprayed it on a couple of nepenthes and orchids, but I haven't had any problems yer with my sarrs. It comes premixxed at lowes in a blue bottle. Although you can get a bottle of merrit for 45 bucks or so, but its a concentrate. It turns out to be much cheaper buying merit than the premixxed stuff that bear makes, but its 45 dollar vs 6 bucks for the premixxed. I guess it just depends on how much you want to get at a time and willing to spend. By all means though if you can control it by hand do it. I could never get the small populations in check in the GH so I went to the kill them all method with the bear spray. So far so good.
 
A Q-tip dipped in isopropyl alcohol takes care of a minor infestation.  I've also used Neem, but what has worked best for me as a spray is Organocide.  It's a mix of fish & sesame oil and I've used it the last two winters with great success.  All it takes is a spray when the plants are still outside and then a follow-up when they come in.  I keep an eye out for scale and mealies and smushed a few of each this year.  Last year, I think I did the Q-tip & alcohol treatment on a couple susceptible orchids in late winter.  Be careful about spraying Organocide on plants that'll be exposed to sun & heat because it probably has some phytotoxicity.  I can't remember if the bottle has a warning, but the fish oil I use as a spreader-sticker on fruit trees does.  The other warning, of course, is that your plants will smell like fish oil for a few days.  I don't mind it, but that opinion isn't universal in my family.
 
I've got pure Neem oil, think I should use that? I'm no expert on pests, so I'm going by what to do from here! I thik I'll treat every plant that comes in from a trade from now on with insecticide regardless.
 
Does anyone have a picture of scale? Logically, the word itself is an indicator, but.... Im not sure if I would recognize it if a plant had it.
 
Thats a HEEEEAVVVY infestation too
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I've seen it on a Ceph; I think I found one on a Nep; but have never seen it on a Sarr.  That particular scale doesn't overwinter outdoors in the north and there are plenty of predators outside that will control it. I think they attack the young crawler stage.  But the predation ends as soon as plants come inside and scale can have a population explosion if they like the host plant.  Citrus and spider plants are two I've noticed and, because of that, I don't have either anymore.
 
Scale love Darlingtonia plants. A good systemic insecticide, preferably a drench rather than a spray, used at full strength will deal with them without damaging your plants. It is not wise to use insecticides at half or quarter strength to deal with any insect attacks, insects can become develop immunities to insecticides when given mild doses.

The scale insects have to be scraped off the plants. They will still remain attached even when dead, they don't do any harm once dealt with but they don't look very nice and if removed it is easier to see if there is any reinfestation at a later stage.
 
The scale I have been dealing with is the little white kind that resembles a water mark almost, but it is mor uniformed and solid color where as a water mark tends to have some translucent areas in it. Then last year when I purchased some plants from the biology plant sale at school I bourght home more than I planned one. There were some brown scale riders on a cycad. Those crush very easy and are easy to control by hand, but is left unnoticed can do just as much damage. I still recomend Marit or another systemic that has the chemical merit does. I am about to use some on a hickory tree in my back yard. It has a small bettle infestation, and then ants moved into the dead area. This is all due to a fungal infection. I should have linked it together that if there is mushrooms growing on the side of the tree then it has a fungus and it is a decomposer. I just didn't think it would come to what it has come to.
 
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