If anyone is interested in trying this one, I received the new Select Seeds catalogue in the mail, and they have Miner's Claim available again this year. I know some people have not given her a great review, but in case you want to try for yourself, I will try to post the link to their website.
http://www.selectseeds.com/cgi-bin/htmlos.cgi/0517.2.10656543974917020377/2007/html/productdetail.htm
I have purchased plants from them before and I have always been pleased.
Brugmansia Miner's Claim
huh.. reasonably priced i guess, how big plant send a ft.??
Well, just about anything is worth 10.95 I paid $39.95 for mine and would have tossed it half a dozen times if my husband didn't like it. The variegation is great though.
I am not sure what size they will send. I did not get to order one last year. I am assuming small, but all of the other plants I received from them have been healthy and well packed. I need to get over to the watchdog and do a rating.
Lol Mary, I think I am interested in the foliage more than the bloom too.
I see this here all time in nurseries and it usually looks so pretty. It has great variegation!
Remember how hot this was when it first came out. Good find, Jackie!
Funny how things work: I was looking at the link out of curiosity and discovered a photo which is aparently being fraudulently used by an Aus ebay seller for something I bid on!! Thankyou :-)
Glad I could help, Alistair, lol!
Kell, thanks, I was thinking that there might be a few like myself who still wanted to give her a try. The price was right, so we will see.
Okay .... there is something good I can say about Miners Claim. It's not a bug magnet. It was very rare for her to have any holes, and she never got mites even when her neighbors did. That's a plus for sure! It's not such a sacrifice to keep her around for my husband's sake. The man didn't even blink when I told him I was going to spend the big bucks to get some "Forbid" and additional safety equipment to apply it. (From Rosemania) We have mites year round here because of the warm dry climate. Yeah, I think I'll keep him, and the Miners Claim.
Mary
Mary, I bought Forbid last year and didn't have to use it this past summer. We had an unusually wet/humid summer due to some tropical storms, and mites just weren't a problem like they usually are. It wasn't cheap at $300 for 8 ounces! I'll probably use it next summer. It is supposed to work great, and you don't have to spray underneath all the leaves for it to work.
LOL Mary, I guess Miners Claim is not on the top of your hit parade. Funny how the only 2 brugs that are patented are 2 that seem to have some issues. I think it must be due to all the white in the leaves. You never know though when they will find the ideal conditions and just be incredibly beautiful. I am forever hopeful.
I used Forbid last year and loved it. I had the worst case of mites I have ever seen. I had them on plants that I didn't even know could get them. We had had an incredible hot spell and the mites took over. I also bought a vaporizer to apply it and loved that too. It hardly uses any of the insecticde which is great since that stuff is like gold. I wonder how long it will be effective. I hope more than a year or 2.
I got my Miners Claim from PDN. A good size but I think it is smaller now than when I bought it.
I just got some Forbid from ebay for 270.00 it was the best deal I could find.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=014&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWN%3AIT&viewitem=&item=330051484634&rd=1&rd=1
Is FORBID made out of gold or something? I just glimpsed at this thread and I cant believe something like that can be so expensive. But if its to save our Brugs - it must be worth it.
~Sherri~
Thanks for letting me know that it works well, Kell. I do hope it remains effective for a few more years yet too. It's shelf life would be helpful information to know.
Delisa, you saved some cash. Good for you! It looks like it is a Dutch auction, and there are 11 available.
Clare, it is not the shelf life but the mites evolve and become resistant. That is why miticides are so expensive. They are only in high demand for a year or 2 or 3. Then the mites have pretty much gotten resistant to it. It costs so much to find new effective miticides, the companies need to make their money back fast.
That is what happened to Avid here in California. It got used too much and the mites built up a resistance. I think it is because we have such a huge agricultural industry here that insecticides get way over used fast. It supposedly helps to alternate insecticides and limit use to every 3rd spray of the same insecticide and I think to only 2 or 3 times a year.
Yes Jazmine, Forbid is made of gold. LOL At least you might think so when you get your credit card bill. LOL - Ouch! I've gotten to the point where I just had to have it. Avid wasn't working anymore. (And I thought THAT was expensive!) Our warm dry climate is ideal for breeding mites. Wish there was money in it - I'd be a wealthy woman now!
It says not to use Forbid in successive applications. To use it in rotation with other miticides with different modes of active. It also says not to use forbid more than 3 times in one season. Sounds like these are precautions so mites won't build up a resistance. Usage is only 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoons per gallon of spray, so I hope it keeps well. I'm sharing it with my best friend, and still it will last for eons. Glad there won't be anyone around to take a picture of me in my protective gear.
Mary
Thanks for that info., Kell and Mary. I heard that about the rotation thing and will do that when I use it. I have Avid too, and I think I only used it once or twice. Did you guys get that Rosemania Spray Reference chart? Avid is a Toxicity Level II Warning (Moderately Toxic), and Forbid is a Level III Caution (Slightly Toxic). I was surprized to see that Fungicide Daconil Ultrex is a Level 1 Danger (Highly Toxic). I've used that one before. It says Neem Oil is a Level III Caution (Slightly Toxic), the same as Forbid.
I read up on Forbid quite a bit before I bought it and it seems that it can cause skin irritations so you should really cover up. But other than that, not too bad. Avid I think was not so bad to mammals but I am pulling that from my memory bank which is not so great anymore. However the worst stuff I have ever read about is the stuff in Bayer Rose systemic. That stuff is DANGEROUS! Be careful with it even though it is in a low percent in Bayer Rose systemic.
Fungals I do not know much about. I probably am way too lax with them. I should go look at this chart. Is it on their website, Clare? I am shocked Neem is rated as a caution. Why is that?
Have any of you guys tried biologocal control of mites? I've just released a lot of predatory mites (persimilis) and they seem to be getting the upper hand over the spider mites. It gives me the creeps spraying these chemicals (organophosphates etc) when I have a lot of plants to spray.
Kell, I'll scan the sheet and post it here in a minute. I don't know why Neem is listed as it is. I thought it was a natural substance.
Alistair, I have done some reading on biological controls, and they do not appear to be effective in the studies that I have read, but we may not have the same predatory insects that you have, and I think that there is a ban on bringing in insects to this state, even if they are the good guys.
Kell, you may have to save this to your hard drive and then open it with a photo program and then zoom to see it clearly.
I was a bit sceptical myself, but things do seem to be improving... fingers crossed.
These are what I have used: [hope its ok to post this link..]
http://www.goodbugs.org.au/BCAs%20available/persimilis.htm
This message was edited Jan 9, 2007 1:22 PM
Hi Alistair. I sure could be convinced to use them. I looked into them in the past but got so confused when I read I had to send in my mites to get IDed so I would get mites back that were specific to the ones I had. I was thinking I probably had several kinds of mites and what if I sent ones that were not in the majority. I also thought they were so expensive but now that I look at how much I have spent on Forbid I guess that argument is out the window. LOL.
You be our guinea pig and let us know exactly how it is going for you.
Gee Clare, I wish California could forbid those bad mites entry too. LOL Wouldn't that be so great?
LOL, Kell! Yah. I'm not really sure whether that is accurate about not letting in new insects, even beneficial ones. I really haven't done enough research on the matter to be able to discuss it intelligently. My inclination is that the infestations of six-spotted, two-spotted, and broad mites are so bad that biological controls are only effective on minor occurrences and not severe occurrences, but I'm not sure of how many studies have been done and what conclusions were drawn here in the states.
Here's an interesting link with some interesting info. about mites: http://plumeriatc.org/
These people recommend getting on top of severe infestations before releasing the predators. I threw out probably 2/3rds of my stock and more or less completely defoliated the rest to brig the numbers down before releasing 10,000 of these things (well I didn't actually count them...). They disappeared immediately and I thought oh there's (Au)$100 down the drain, but just as the supplier said, three weeks later and I can see them running about on the plants and the new growth is hardly mottled at all.
That's excellent news, Alistair. Thanks for sharing your great results. That makes sense to defoliate most of the leaves to bring down the numbers. I do that too. I'm sorry you had to throw out 2/3rds of your stock. That is a bummer. I do like to throw out my bug magnets though. Here, one or two hibiscus trees can ruin a whole garden due to the whitefly problem. I chopped my four big ones to the ground. They are all over my neighbor's trees though.
It will be interesting to see if things stabilise, or whether this approach will result in wild fluctuations requiring the constant addition of more predators. The predators breed faster than the spider mites (they must be very busy lol), so I guess if they are effective they run out of food and starve to death and then the spider mites may return.
It's too bad that they can't switch to Aphids or something when they run out of spider mites. LOL!
lol yes: they are not very imaginative about their choice of food. They are quite cute though - with a busy and important look about the way they move!