Has anyone used Rose food with Systemic on your Brugs? I use it on my roses & was wondering if it is safe for the brugs? It would sure solve some problems for me if so. If this has already been discussed, I'm sorry to bring it up again, but I don't visit the forum very often as I've had too much going on this year. Hopefully, with fall/winter, I'll have more time. Now that I'm retired, I'm beginning to wonder how I ever had time to work & get other things done too.
TIA,
Jan
PS: I had posted about my brugs loosing their leaves when I brought them in & am happy to report that they are sprouting new leaves now.
Systemic
I've used it with no problems. I like Avid better, but it works pretty good.
tiG, Do you spray your brugs with Avid prior to bringing them in for the winter or do you wait until you have signs of mites? Many thanks, Nat
Had used Systemic(Bayer) on brugs with no problems except it did absolutely nothing for mites, had to buy Avid, have sprayed 3 times, everything looks clean to bring inside.
I'm going to spray all of mine. it's systemic and there has to be something somewhere I'd rather not carry in:)
Add some Ovation to that mix, it will get the babies and the eggs, it also has a 45 day residual and can be tank mixed with Avid.
is that available to consumers or just nurseries? haven't had spider mites this year YET, knock on wood, but I know during winter.....
Now I know that I'm going to sound stupid, but what id Avid & Ovation & Systemic(Bayer)? Are the brands of bug spray for ornamental plants?
These brug cuttings are the first ornamental plants that I've had & have a great learning curve here. From all the pictures I've seen here, I don't want to mess up.
Jan
Systemic is a granular dry to mix in dirt, is supposed to be for roses and brugs, lasts 4 months. Supposed to kill all mites, bugs etc. Didn't!
Avid is a liquid, 1/4tsp/to gallon of water. Spray for all mites, etc. expensive but works! Never heard of Ovation, but sure someone has.
Jan, Avid is a miticide that's used for spidermites. The stuff is awfully expensive. The Bayer systemic is the rose brand that you probably have. It's dry granules you mix in the soil. The plant has to be actively growing to absorb the insectide and help with any control. I use it when I put the plants out in spring. It needs to be re-aplied every few weeks because brugs are heavy feeders. If you're growing your cuttings in the house you should be able to keep any problems that pop up under control without any of the expensive chemicals. Spidermites are the worst and they love brugs.
I'd mix a small amount of your rose systemic into the potting soil after your plants are growing well and you need to transplant to bigger pots. Right now there just establishing roots.
Uh oh, maybe we need another round up to get the Ovation now ):
i used the systemic rose food and I must have used too much because it burned my plants, I had to flush and flush the soil to get rid of it. and it's REALLY stinky too
hey vi, any excuse for a RU!!!
How much was too much, Carena?
I would say if you have a source for Avid, you can get Ovation. On a cutting not rooted, I wouldn't use anything unless it is absolutely needed, then I think I would just use one part alcohol, one part water, and a squirt of dishwashing soap. Avid just went up again, the only size I could get it in was 32 oz.
This message was edited Oct 24, 2003 8:44 PM
Tracey, I just checked and could only find a quart and there is no way I could justify that price for myself. I believe it was over $300 for a quart. Sounds like it would be something worth having though.
Wrong, that was a pint price. $309
This message was edited Oct 24, 2003 8:20 PM
doesn't that rose place still sell the 8 oz bottle?
Shirley - here it is http://rosemania.com/shopsite_sc/store/html/product102.html
I was looking for the Ovation Poppysue and I didn't see it at Rosemania when I checked. Did I miss it?
Whoops. Sorry... I thought you meant Avid.
No problem. I don't think I can afford to get the Ovation anyway. That is pretty steep. I'll wait until I can't get along without it and hopefully that time won't come.
Get a dealer to order it for you, and then slpit with someone, it has a 45 day residual, less spraying.
I usually just use the Safer Insectical Soap spray on my house plants. That's what I always used when I had African Violets. I don't like using the chemicals unless I get a real heavy infestation of bugs. I'll check at my garden center & see what they have there. Thanks for all your excellent comments & help.
I use a 5% solution of oil of rosemary in water, mix it 1 oz. : 20 oz. water in a sprayer. Kills spidermites, non-toxic or at least not as toxic, CHEAP, and it smells good.
If the plants are small enough, give them a warm water dunk for mites. 115F for 15-30 minutes. this is a very good thing to do when you receive cuttings, just in case. a day or two soak in warm water will kill most stuff too. especially the broad and cyclamen mites, very sensitive to heat.....
just had an idea, maybe i should hook up the hair dryer to an extension cord.....lol
Thanks Tracey, I'll see what our local nursery can do. They have been great to order things for me in the past.
Hostanquilts be careful using the rose systemic and fertilizer. Especially with potted brugs. Do not be generous. I have burned my potted plants more than once. I have also gone back trying to scoop it up when the leaves start to fall in protest. The good news is they always recover. It may be the fertilizer that is doing it not the insecticide. I still use it on occasion though. So much easier than spraying.
If your plants are small, I use Neem with great results. The problem is when you have hundreds of brugs, the spidermites get away from you quickly. Since I hand water I check them out regularly and often I can catch it early and Neem Oil sure works. I save the heavy guns like Avid when I have a widespread infestation and need to drop the big bomb.
Me to Kell I still favor the alcohol and water, but spidermites can get out of hand before you even know they are there.
I only put a tablespoon or so of the rose systemic on top of the soilin my pots and in a day or so the leaves curled up and turned brown so I ended up scooping it back off too, and apologizing profusely! they took quite a while to recover, I won't use it again.
I do not blame you Carena. Was the soil real dry when you did it Carena? I did that once, the plant was so thristy it drank up too much. I also did not water it in well so what the plant took in was too high a concentration.
I am now careful to water well the day or 2 before I use it and then put it to the side away from the stem of the plant, and water the plant well again.
I try to be so careful now. I never use it on small potted plants, it will kill those fast if you miscalculate.