i brought the brugs in, again, (sigh) this past weekend i noticed catapillars were munching happily so i defoliated them all. today i noticed that the esperanza has a webby looking thingie on it, with some really small reddish(?) bugs. i also noticed some smaller bugs on the soil.
any ideas? how do i get rid of them? i dont want to spray in the house, but its supposed to warm up after today enough so that i can take them out and drench them before bringing them in again.
i just need to know what i have and what to use to get rid of them
i cant have bugs in the kitchen, ewwwww
jen
webs
Jen
a few drops of tea tree oil in water will get rid of the soil bugs. For the webs, sounds like spider mites, use alcohol and water half and half with a squirt of dish soap in it. Be sure to get the undersides of the leaves.
Safer soap spray-hot pepper sprays, any of these should work if you don't wish to use systemics.
rubbing alcohol? i can mix that up and just spray inside then..i was worried about using chemical inside the house.
what are pepper sprays?
thanks yall
jen
The hot pepper spray is good too. There is a new chemical for green houses called "Cinnamite" that has cinnamon oil in it. I would have to do some experimenting before I knew exact amount to use of cinnamon oil. Also one can take catnip (one cup chopped leaves) add to one quart water and slow simmer on stove till liquid is reduced to half. This makes a good bug spray and can even be used to repel fleas, ticks and mosquitos on humans and pets. (be sure to cool and strain before using). We are into the organic products at the green house. I hate to use anything that might kill me too!!
be careful using Safer on the extremely velvety leaves. I had some spotting occur that didn't happen on any of the others. Use alcohol on those.
TiG is right, the Safers can cause black or brown spots on velvety leaves. I had forgotten about learning this lesson the hard way. Don't use it on anything in the crassula family either.