Congratulate me, I won the trifecta!

I have mites.

I have aphids............... I think that is what these are.

And scale.

And if you look close, I bet you can find even more kinds of cute critters. Now please do not be too jealous of my superior farming techniques.

Ouch, Kell, I'm so sorry...but I think the 2nd picture might be white flies -- do they fly up when you touch them?
Or are they juicy when you squeeze them? (delicious, huh?)

iamc...looks like whiteflies...good news is you can get rid of these bugs

Id remove the infested leaves
Treat the plant from top to bottom with neem oil.
repeat the treatment in 10
This is common unfortunatelly

Have I mentioned my dislike for both white flies and fungus knats here?

I had them inside on top of my hutch high up by the skylights. It was hot and dry up there and I couldn't see the leaves. I took them outside today and oh what a shock. LOL. I nuked them. I did Bayer Tree and Shrub for the scale and whatever that other thing is. And then I Neemed them all hard and heavy. I am in no mood to play around today. So watch out. LOL. Besides I have about 100 brugs out there right near these, so I want them dead yesterday.

If it is white fly it is white fly eggs for no white fly is flying around, thank God. I think it is aphids. Though I do not know what thrip looks like, it may be that.

Chantell, mites is my nemesis. I despise them.

This message was edited Aug 29, 2006 11:21 PM

The spider mites only come when teh air is dry and still.
I use a fan to discourage them I also make sure the humidity stays on the high end.

Finally - a good reason for living in this warm soup we call air around here. LOL

LOL - I feel the pain...oh and how!!!

Ouch, Kell! Yeah, Michael is right -- mites are very attracted to a dry climate. You can hose off the aphids easily enough, but I would do as Michael suggested and remove all the leaves with scale and obvious mites and then spray the remaining small leaves and stems with Neem. The leaves will grow back quickly, and it won't hurt the tree to do this. Scale in particular is resistant to many treatments because of their outer protective covering; although, Bayer systemic might work on them. It is easy enough to remove the leaves though if you want to. Poor thing! Michael is also right in that mites are fairly common on plumies. I usually remove the leaves at least once in the summer due to mite damage. I'm going to try a new product on them this year called 'Forbid,' which is systemic. The nice thing about 'Forbid' is that you can spray the top of the leaf with the product, and it will have an effect on the bottom of the leaf, where the mites usually are. You do need to rotate treatments with mites though because successive generations can become immune to the current treatment.

Let me know how Forbid does do you.

I had scale so bad on my tree oleanders a few years back, they were solidly covered with them. I would take my fingers and scrape down the branches, so gross. It was an exercise in futility. I lost a big tree to them. Nothing worked. I tried Bayer Tree and Shrub when it first came out. One soil application which was so easy to apply and the scale were gone for ever. That Bayer Tree and Shrub lasts up to a year with just one application.

I will let you know how it worked on the plumies. I went nuclear on them. LOL. The leaves do look terrible, so I might as well pull them off.

This message was edited Aug 29, 2006 11:22 PM

Kell,
I had complete coverage with scale on my Bay Laurel trees.
I used a paper towel soaked in rubbing alcohol and wiped them off.
This took little effort, they litteraly wiped off and I didnt scrape the bark off or get any gooey under my fingernails LOL!!

Kell, I have some of that Bayer Tree and Shrub and will try it this year. Thanks for the tip! I don't like spraying either and would much prefer a soil drench to spraying. I've tossed out plants with scale so I am glad to know of something that works. Your plumies will be fine. These plumerias are very resistant trees. Yes, let us know how they look.

Thanks for the tip on how to remove scale also, Michael!

Michael, did they not come roaring back. Scale is so tough to get rid of for good!

I even have it on my huge staghorn at times. I have been afraid to use any insecticide on it, I wonder how it reacts to a systemic soil drench since it gets most of its water from its leaves. I hand pick them, what a pain that is.

Nope they didnt
I wiped every stem and leaf
Then I treated the soil with sevin and washed the outside of the pot.
They returned the following year but I was done with the plant.
I threw it out LOL!! High Maintenance plant belong in the dumpster...... :^P

Gee, my dumpster would be full. LOL

I tossed a Brunfelsia with scale once. It was covered. I am getting rid of my high-maintenance ones too:-) I'd like to be able to enjoy my garden once in a while instead of always having to work in it!

That is a thought Clare. This weekend I dragged Tom down to the plots I rent and we worked for hours. I have to admit by 4 this afternnoon I was moving so slow. I no longer was getting on my knees to plant my brugs but was bending over and doing it haphazardly. I was tossing the gallon potted brugs to the pots they were going in. If they broke, oh well. LOL. Tom was shocked at me.

I had to think why am I doing this? I could buy any brugs I really wanted for huge sums of money and still be way ahead of the game. I am hot to make a single pink brug though to my dream specifications. Once I get one close, I will be done with brugs forever. LOL

Tom also made cages for my tomatoes yesterday and today he drove in rebarr to steady them. We did 13 and have over 33 to go. Again I had to think I could buy tomatoes already grown, good heirloom ones for the money and time I am putting into these. I think I am nuts.

LOL, Kell. I think we must all be a little nuts to do what we do, but it does make the earth a little more beautiful, and there is nothing like homegrown tomatoes! I have scaled way down (no pun intended) on my brugs and will scale down even more next year. I love them, but they are high-maintenance, it seems. I am really starting to appreciate the lower maintenance plants. The kind that don't need a lot of water, fertilizer, insecticide, and pruning. I think that is why I like epi's, adeniums, and plumies so much. I just dug up and tossed out a whole row of Buddleias, a row of Passifloras, and a row of Brugmansias, and I put some potted plants in the ground where they used to be. I think that is going to make things easier to handle, but the soil dries out so fast here that I have water every day in the summertime. I do have a row of tomatoes though because I do love homegrown tomatoes. Now I won't be able to get that John Denver song out of my head all day! LOL!

Oh shoot, which John Denver song? Now I have rocky Mountain High buzzing around in my head just because you said John Denver. LOL.

I water every day too. And the plots take now 2 to 3 hours to water because the water pressure is so low. I think this winter I will put in a sprinkler system at my house at least. I am too old for all for this! But you are so young yet. You have a few more years to work so hard. LOL

I saw the best looking fresh tomato soup in an article in Martha Stewart's magazine the other day when I was waiting for the doctor. And it had no recipe with it!! I am dying to try it. It was an Italian soup and looked so delicious. I too LOVE tomatoes. I have planted all kinds of weird ones. and have visions of myself standing in the middle of my little plot stuffing my face and having tomato juice running down my chin.

Let's think positive here ladies; perhaps we are just getting wiser - not older. at least that is how I like to think (I do know the truth tho...) LOL

I find any plant that requires pruning, spraying or that spreads excessively is slowly finding it's way out of my garden and onto the compost pile. There are so many beautiful plants I enjoy playing with and I just don't get the joy from the thugs that I used to.

Brugs do not do well for me and I have never been able to figure out why when everything else grows like the proverbial weed. So, I have given up on even trying to grow them; I have enough frustration in my life without adding to it. On the other hand, I enjoy pushing the window and love to fuss over tropicals that should not be successful here. Go figure....

Which John Denver song????? One of my sons lives in the Colorado Rockies so I am thinking of RM High also.

And I think of Annie's Song and Sunshine on my Shoulder...I think he sang both of those - didn't he?

Apparently he sung this one on the Country Roads album but I sure don't remember it.

There aint nothin in the world that I like better than bacon n lettuce n
Home grown tomatoes up in the mornin, out in the garden
Get you a ripe one, dont pick a hard un plant em in the spring, eat em in
The summer all winter without em is a culinary bummer I forget all about the
Sweatinand the digginevery time I go out and pick me a big un home grown
Tomatoes, home grown tomatoes what would life be like without home grown
Tomatoes only two things that money cant buy
Thats true love and home grown tomatoes you can go out to eat an thats for
Sure but theres nothina home grown tomatoe wont cure put em in a salad, put
em in a stew
You can make your own tomatoe juice
You can eat em with eggs, eat em with gravy you can eat em with beans, pinto
Or navy put em on the side, put em in the middle home grown tomatoes on a hot
Cake griddle home grown tomatoes, home grown tomatoes what would life be like
Without home grown tomatoes only two things that money cant buy
Thats true love and home grown tomatoes if is to change this life I lead
You could call me johnny tomatoe seed
cause I know what this country needs
Home grown tomatoes in every yard you see when I die dont bury me
In a box in a cold dark cemetery
Out in the garden would be much better
cause I could be pushin up a home grown tomatoe home grown tomatoes, home
Grown tomatoes what would life be like without home grown tomatoes only two
Things that money cant buy
Thats true love and home grown tomatoes
Words and music by guy clark

LOL, what a kick, Ardesia. I love that song and it is so truthful. What a kick you found it. My favorite is a thick sliced red red huge tomato, perfectly ripe on fresh soft balloon bread with mayo. That is summer to me.

Oh too bad brugs didn't like you. I can't imagine what the problem was. Maybe you got ones with a bad attitude! Usually they are like weeds. Hard to kill.

Hi Guys! Ardesia, that is it! I have all of J.D.'s albums/C.D.'s, and that is a great song! LOL! "Only two things that money can't buy, and that's true love and homegrown tomatoes." Love it! I was gone all day after posting this morning so I couldn't answer you until now. I agree with you, Ardesia, about those plants that grow six feet a year and require constant care and pruning; they are finding a way out of my garden as well. Thugs is the right word for them.

Gosh, Kell, it does sound like you need a drip system for that low pressure area. I put in a couple of soaker hoses in my yard, and it is saving me time from having to water. I just turn it on and come back later to turn it off. I still have to do the containers and certain sections in my garden which don't have a soaker hose. I got them at Costco, and my hubby found a couple at Big Lots too. My hubby bought a sprinkler system for the front lawn too since it always turns brown because I hate watering it, and now the sprinkler hits some of my plants too. It is turning out to be a great time saver. LOL at "have visions of myself standing in the middle of my little plot stuffing my face and having tomato juice running down my chin." That cracked me up. Delicious!

Well shoot. It is at the plots I rent that there is no water pressure. It is almost an hour from home. I can't leave the hose running unattended there. And even if I did, I would have to drive back down to turn it off and then go all the way back home again. Takes too long.

But at home I sure would like an automatic system.

You are right, Kell, that you couldn't leave a drip system on there, but you could if it was on a timer, I suppose. I don't know how you manage with your plots being so far from your home. You are so dedicated. There is no way that I would drive an hour to water my plants. I won't even go 45 minutes to see my mother! Ha! You might be able to find an affordable do-it-yourself automatic system at Costco.

And the traffic just gets worse every year. I am nuts. No other answer.

This year the tomato plot is new. Last summer I rented it for a low income family to grow some veggies. I bought them all the plants etc and they did great for a month then lost interest and let the weeds grow and then stopped watering it. Midsummer, I had to pay some one to rototill it for me. It was such a mess. The lady showed up 5 weeks later looking for her vegetables. LOL. She must think they get watered and weeded on long distance brain waves. She was indignant that I had it rototilled. I tried to explain that in a community garden, you must take care of your plot.

So this year I decided to take control of it myself. I am sure hoping I can grow good tomato bushes. I have already promised the tomatoes to be to a homeless shelter.

Kell, that is so nice of you:-) You better sample them first and make sure that they are all right to eat;-)

Kell, How cool are you! That is great that you are planting a row for the homeless. I can almost taste those juicy tomatoes now. Whenever I get to CA I gorge on fresh fruits and veggies, they are always so yummy out there.

You ought to look into a timer like I have for your plot. It is a MisterLandscaper from Lowe's; about $30.00. You find it in the irrigation area of the plumbing section (not the garden section). I tried several and find this one works best for me. It uses a 9v. battery and I have had one going for over a year on the first battery. I have three of them now and use them for drip systems on my deck plants and soaker hoses all over the place. I love them. The plants on my deck have stayed so healthy and I think it is because of the constant and optimal moisture level the drip system has provided.
Depending on the system you get, you might need a pressure regulator also.

Good luck and enjoy one of those 'maters for me. a

I am really not that nice. This way I have an excuse to grow 46 different kinds of tomatoes. LOL.

I may have to try your way at home Ardesia. At the plots about 5 people use each faucet. It sounds great.

Kell, How is the scale problem going?

I need to look closer but I do think the Bayer Tree and Shrub has killed them off!

Thanks for asking!