Tropicals & Tender Perennials: The brugs are in for the winter...., 1 by shadowgirl

shadowgirl wrote:
You are telling the truth, Vi! I am always looking for the easier, softer way. Used to be strong as a horse then one day I woke up and poof, it was gone. lol But after dumping the water in the tub I carried 6 big brugs out at once today, trimmed the roots, hit them with a few brisk sprays of water to wash off any bugs, and brought them back in to refill in the tub. There are buds opening and pods that just got fertilized in the last three weeks that look like they will make it.
Make sure you only use 3% strength peroxide, 2.5 tsp. per gallon of water. I' 've also read the solution can be put in a hose end sprayer to spray on the folliage. I will try to find the article for ya'll to read. This past summer I did not use high doses of water soluble fertilizer. Instead I amended the soil with manure, blood meal, and bone meal. Added double the amount of osmocote so the nutrients would be nice and steady. Added another double dose of osmocote in August so that the levels could be used up slowly by the time for them to be brought in. I don't know for sure but it seems blasting a plant with fertilizer all summer then stopping and sticking it in less than ideal conditions to overwinter must be incredibly stressful for the plant. Probably makes it more susceptable to bugs in summer and in the greenhouse. I had no insect prblems on any of my brugs last summer that a strong blast of water every few days would'nt take care of. easily. IMO

Edit to add: Here is a place to buy 35% food grade H2O2, which is what I am going to do. You can use it instead of bleach for your clothes and in your spa instead of chlorine. The second link is a place to buy an air pump with two hose outlets and airstones for very reasonable price. I ordered two pumps and a half dozen air stones.
http://www.dfwx.com/h2o2.htm
http://www.futuregarden.com/cgi-bin/shop/group-list.html?mCa...

This message was edited Nov 12, 2004 9:48 PM