vs, are you sure your plants don't have spider mites? Did the leaves fall off fast or just the normal procession? If they fall off one right after the other it might be SMs. Look at the very center of the plant. Those little new leaves, and see if you see webs.
Doris, I take all of the big leaves off when I bring them in the house too, but my cuttings in the bubblers have spider mites even without those. Can't get away from them. I am using Neem oil. I made a mistake and should have used systemic a week or so before bring them in.
Oh well, live and learn.
Jeanette
How do you avoid fungus gnats when over-wintering....?
No they fell off a few at a time, but I have been spraying with soapy water everyday, and I see no bugs, no web, all I found on one of the leaves that fell off was a little green worm looking thing the same color as the leaves.
Those green worms are the bane of my Brug existance. They stay underneath the leave, on the vein all day and are hard to see since they're the same color. I squished one today and it was gross!
Signed,
Disgusted in San Diego County
Boy you guys, I cannot find those things at all. Sometimes this summer practically entire leaves except for the middle vein were eaten over night. I could not find them.
Jeanette
They just blend so good into the leave at first I thought the vein was just raised up until I touched it and it moved and scared me at first. All summer the ones I had on the patio I did not have a problem with anything eating them at all except for the two I had planted. I sprayed the ones I had in pots more often so I thought that was it but since I have brought them in I have seen two of them little green things now, but on two of mine there is no leaves left for them to chew on and the one that still has a nice canopy of leaves has shown no sign but I am continuing to spray..I hate those little buggers..guess I am a little sceemish..(:
Have you tried spraying them with Bt for cats??? It is not toxic to us and good bugs and I usually only have to spray once. They just have to eat a leaf with it on and they stop eating. A bottle lasts forever it seems.
I am having trouble with snails. They are suddenly all over but they are babies so they are hard for me to see them. They are eating my abutilons too. I want them dead. The snail bait I bought seems ineffective against them. I do not think they go down to the soil at all to even come into contact with it. They stay up on the foliage eating a mile a minute.
Have you ever tried putting boards down and letting them congregate there, then lift the board and murder them?? I'm told that helps or works, but I can't swear to it. I use something called Exterminate - X - I think that's the name. It's black gooey stuff, that looks nasty, it would kill me, in a plastic bottle with a squirt on the end. I gotta tell you, I hate it, but it works, but I never see dead soldiers...
I will try anything, we will see what works. Kell I think maybe the snails was what got the two I had planted out by my pond, the leaves looked like swiss cheese, but I never saw them so I could not tell for sure.
Such good advice here.
Thanks all
Kell, with the BT do you have to actually spray the cat or just spray the leaf and that is it? It isn't a systemic? I wonder why the systemics don't affect them??? I know they don't because I used the systemic pretty regularly this summer and still got those darned things eating the leaves.
Sherry, that sounds like tar. LOL
Jeanette
Just the leaves, Jeannette. Then they eat the leaves and it caused some problem in their stomach and they immediately stop eating though it takes a couple of days for them to die. Which is sad to make them suffer but I do not know a way around it if thye are really going crazy eating your plant. . If I have just minimal damage I usually let them be. It is insecticidal bacterium.
Here is a very interesting piece on Bt. It tells how some plants "have been genetically engineered to express part of the active Cry toxin in their tissues, so they kill insects that feed on the crops. "
http://helios.bto.ed.ac.uk/bto/microbes/bt.htm
Ooooops, I think my plants missed the day they passed out the genetically engineered stuff and ended up with the 'if you don't water me and feed me NOW, you will have to take me to the emergency room for a transfusion' - however, funning aside, more and more of my plants are doing better and we had a tough summer, I suspect lots of it is that 1) many are mature plants now and 2) I might be picking up a smidgen of brug knowledge...
Hate to ask but Kell what is BT?
2 Pug, you would have to read the link Kell gave you, but in short, several years ago the government flew over an area south of Seattle and sprayed (crop dusted) the entire area, including large inhabited towns, cities, with the BT to kill off, I believe they were after Gypsy Moths which were killing off some specific trees. I don't remember which trees they were.
BT is organic, not chemical based. Therefore, it was not a danger to people. It is used to kill caterpillers. i.e. moths.
Jeanette
That is so interesting, Jeanette. Did it work?
Linda, it is
"B. thuringiensis (commonly known as 'Bt') is an insecticidal bacterium, marketed worldwide for control of many important plant pests - mainly caterpillars of the Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) but also mosquito larvae, and simuliid blackflies that vector river blindness in Africa."
It works great against cats. I like things that will not hurt me. Esp. spray. I always end up spraying myself. Itis sold in most nurery centers. Lowes has it here. About $10 a 8 oz or maybe it is a 16 oz bottle. A bottle lasts m several years.
Kell, 2 Pug, I forgot to say that they did the spraying at night when most people were asleep, or at least not out wandering around. People's only complaint was, and this was few, that they said there was spray on their cars. Don't know if that went anywhere.
Kell, I have to assume it worked. I didn't hear one way or the other and I am sure that if it didn't antis (people against), and there are always some of those, would certainly have let everyone know.
Thanks Jnette and Kell. I didn't see the link Kell left but I am going now to read it. Must have been one of those senior moments. Seems like I have a lot of them.
2 pugs, you're not alone. LOL Jeanette
Really. Today, I ran out of gas as I was making a left turn off a 4 lane road. I didn't even realize I had run out of gas, I thought the car was broken. But instead I was. LOL. I called my DH in a panic and the first thing he said was did you run out of gas? I couldn't remember when I had gotten it last. He was not amused.
Sometimes it is so hard being me. LOL
Good grief Kell, hope you weren't out in the middle of the highway. That could really be scary. You were lucky. Jeanette
1.Roach proof is not DE, it is Boric acid, you cannot put that on people or pets.
2.Food grade DE is not the same thing as the DE used in swimming pool filters. Pool grade DE is treated to form crystalline silica which will produce silicosis in mammals. Pool grade DE should never be used for pest control.
Dedda you lost me. Was someone talking about putting DE, as in Diatomaceous Earth, on animals other than pesty bugs? I looked back a dozen or so posts and didn't see anything and I don't have time to go through the whole thread.
SOLUTION FOR FUNGUS GNATS!
I had the same problem on my Clivia seedlings...went crazy trying to get rid of them and placed yellow sticky tapes EVERYWHERE! Paid almost $200 for insect growth regulator - barely touched them. Then tried organic solutions - no luck. FINALLY, in desperation, tried BAYER TREE & SHRUB and WITHIN 1 WEEK ALL GNATS GONE!!! Now use this product for ALL MY PLANTS - even the ferns don't seem to be harmed by it! Note: Bayer does NOT support its use on seedlings/flowers (they can't support anything they haven't tested).
Hope this helps - I know how frustrated I was with this problem! Cathy
And here I had that stuff all this time. LOL. And it lasts for such a long time in the plant to get rid of other insects too. How strong did you use it on your seedlings?
What kind of clivia sedlings are you growing, Cathy? Funny, I am going to get some fancy seeds from China, I think. A friend of mine is making me clivia nuts. He keeps showing me the prettiest pictures of them. LOL
I just kept a can of raid fly spray in the greenhouse and would occassionally spray them. Then I decided to try the insect foggers which worked great. There wasn't any bugs left alive after setting that off. Didnt seem to damage the plants at all. Then I opened and aired the greenhouse out good before I went in.
I now do this several times during the year.
By fungus gnats, are you guys talking about the teeny tiny little black flying things that are swarming around one of my inside pots of bulbs? They're rather slow-flying; I can smash them pretty easily and they're very soft.
Brugie can you provide a link to where you bought the Scanmask. I looked on the Planet Natural website and could not find it.
Thanks!!
I ordered Knock-Out Gnats from Gardens Alive today, as well as the Sticky Traps. I had a coupon, so it didn't cost me too much. That's easier for me than driving an hour away to try and find something somewhere.
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/Prod_Display.cfm?pcatid=12263&N=62728+62730
This is new product instead of the donut. Might want to try it.
I tried ceder shavings LOL and all that did was put a roof over their heads.
Also added it to the soil. Bad idea although it did help aerate the soil.
Here is where I got mine: http://www.planetnatural.com/site/beneficial-nematodes.html Remember, shipping is free. Every little bit helps. LOL!
Brugie, I ordered ScanMask when I read your post in the beginning of this thread. It sure does the trick....but what I like best is that I haven't seen any critters at all. I don't have aphids, mites or white flies OR anything that is bothersome. I sure like the stuff and will use it next year also. Thanks Shirley, this money was certainly well spent!!!
LOL Ted!!! Thanks for that tip. That product sounds so much better than the donuts. I wonder what dilution would work on gnats. At the following rate it would last for ever. LOL.
"Recommended application: 2.5 ml (measuring cup provided) per 1,000 gallons of water every other week. 2 oz for ponds up to 2,000 gallons. 6 oz for ponds up to 5,000 gallons,"
I do not have them anymore ever since I started using hydrogen pyroxide. Has anyone else noticed that who uses hydrogen pyroxide in their watering?
I started using hydrogen pyroxide to water with last week to combat the gnats.
Kell how much to the gal do you use. I started with two tablespoons.
Be careful when you use Scanmask Beneficial Nematodes, I dont think you can use H020 to water with as you will kill the little fellows off. LOL
I tried Diatomaceous Earth last year spreading it on top of the soil. Everytime I stuck my finger in the soil to test for moisture It came out with a sticky mess on the end of it. LOL
Cathy thanks on the tip for BAYER TREE & SHRUB.
Kareoke I am using the Window Fly Catches. Like you, I found them at Walmart and glued them to yellow cards and used pastic fork to hold them. Works great.
Kell, you know I was watering with peroxide for years a long time ago and then got rid of my houseplants. Then when I started in with Daves, the first thread I saw was in propagation and it was Alice Knapps on daylillies using it. I progressed from there and use it every time I water I automatically pour it in and have not had those darn things since.
When I first started using it with the brugs I would also spritz any flyers I saw besides watering. Maybe I was killing the eggs by watering with it. Don't know. I also spritz the plants if I see an aphid, spider mites etc. To tell you the truth, the only time I have had any trouble with spider mites in the last year is when I got plants from other sources like ebay. I have never had an aphid problem. As soon as you see an infestation of anything on a plant get it away from the others. Completely isolate it to treat it. And start treating the others.
Jeanette
I have sprayed with 3% straight. No problem!! I had some weird thing on a few of my brugs last year. I tried insecticide fungicide and no change. They were going south fast. I figured I had nothing to lose so I sprayed them a bunch of times with hydrogen pyroxide. I will say my new cuttings got burnt and died later a short fight, but the brugs did great!
I found this!
http://www.dirtdoctor.com/view_question.php?id=317
I remember Ma Vie swore by it and said she never had bugs on her brugs. Sherry knows much more than I do about how to use it.
I got sidetracked during my post Jeanette, looking things up on the web, so I missed your last post. I know you too have talked about hydrogen pyroxide. I am sold on it! Thanks for your past info also.
Hey all...
So, what exactly is the proper ratio of hydrogen perozide to water, (per gallon of water), for a soil drench?
thanks!...(waiting with my jug, lol...)
-T
Seedpicker, I think I have your email addy in my book. I will send it to you since I just posted it in my files and it is pretty long. I know you don't need this whole thing but it is kind of interesting.
Jeanette
Nope, I don't. I thought I did from some other conversation. If you want to send it to me I will send that to you. Jeanette
Thank you, Jeanette!
That was very helpful, AND interesting!
-Taylor