Just went out and bought some TTO.I still have a few fungus knats flying around and thought I'd try this since it seems from the posts it is harmless to the plants.Can someone tell me how much to put in a gal. of water for a drench and will this kill any larvae in the soil????
Tea Tree Oil
That would be approx. 8 drops per gallon of water.
Is that stuff the same as dormant oil we use on our fruit trees?
I don't know about the dormant oil, but Cala told me to use 1/8 tsp. per gallon. Since I don't know how many drops are in an 1/8 of a tsp. can't tell you any more. I doubt that it would hurt much if the water got more or less. Just be sure to shake it up good while watering so all the oil doesn't come to the top.
Shirley
Sorry I jumped in here Cala. Hope I was right. Just slap me if I was wrong on the amounts. It is working for me anyway. :-)
This message was edited Monday, Jan 14th 2:08 PM
Might help to put a little surfactant in it too.....just a couple drops of any liquid dish washing soap would work fine. This would enable the oil to spread and cover the plant more uniformely instead of beading up. I do this all the time with my fruit trees and grape vines.
Owen
for some reason, the tto doesn't seem to bead up. I've never noticed it anyway.
Me either, tiG. I never have any problems as long as I shake it well before I spray or water. Course I have to get past the smell each time and after a while, I don't mind it either.
Brugie......ok....put some perfume in it then:) lol
The TTO doesn't need a surfactant. It just needs stirred or shaken.(like a martini?) Brugie was right. I've mixed it a little strong and it still didn't hurt anything. A couple of drops in a litre is good, but you can go stronger if you want.
Owen, it's NOT the same as dormant oil. It's oil from the mellaluca tree in Australia.
Thanks everyone. Gonna mix up a batch and start spraying and watering. Noticed some spider mites on two of the plants so I'll spray them all too.
Be sure to get under the leaves too.
That's where they are Cala. Under the leaves. That's why I didn't see them before. Will TTO kill them or do I have to make a zillion trips to the shower and shower them all??
SH, it will kill them but to take care of any future batches that hatch out, it will probably take 3 sprayings to get rid of them. Spray once a week or 10 days for 3 times and that should work. You may want to alternate pyrethrum one time. It is a nerve poison to insects that kills them. It only kills what you spray it on and has only 20 minute residual. (not harmful to humans except maybe the smell, lol) Diatomaceous earth works good to dry them out, but is really hard to get up under the leaves.
absolute best treatment for aphids??????????? (hoping it's something I have in the house, no car til the weekend!)
If you don't have pyrethrum(can you tell it's one of my favs?) I would suggest alcohol and water half and half. At least they will die happy :) Forgot to tell you to add a squirt of dish soap.(so they will be clean too)
This message was edited Monday, Jan 14th 10:18 PM
LOL!!!!!!!! they'll get it first thing in the morning!! I'll check but I don't think i have the pyrethrum.
I've got a bottle of Rotenone-Pyrethrins concentrate. Will that work without harming the leaves? Feel so dunb here.:(
SH, never used the rotenone, always afraid of it. It can be harmful to humans. Try it on a couple of leaves first, and wait 2 or 3 days. Sometimes the damage takes a couple of days to show up. Wash your hands after using it!!
Wonder if Malathion is ok on brugs? I know it kills aphids and spider mites on evergreen pine bushes.
Thanks for all your help. Think I'll try the TTO first and hold of on the other if it might be harmful. Too cold to open the windows now and don't really want to breath it.
I just remembered what it's supposed to do. There is a link to use of rotenone and Parkinson's Disease. I just felt like there was too much other stuff out there that was safer to use.
Owen... Malathion is ok for brugs use it now and then the problem is it will kill all the good bugs for your brugs