hydroponic pest solutions...
 

I have a colleague who has gotten rid of a lot of pest troubles by soaking her plant - including the pot and media - in a bucket with a solution of water, light horticultural oil and physan-20. She lets them soak in the container for 10-15 minutes, then removes them. She does not rinse the plant or pot after soaking. She has had great luck with scale, mealy bugs, red spider mites, false spider mites and thrips using this method. She uses 2-3 tablespoons of oil in a 5-gallon bucket - Physan is used at the label rate (2 tsp/gal, I think)

My query is - will soaking the PA in an oil solution clog up the pores? I'd like to try this with a few plants that I have that have an ongoing problem with scale, and a couple with mealy bugs. But, I'm concerned that I will end up affecting the wicking ability of the PA. Comments?

can spray insecticides