Pest Control

As part of my Master Gardeners Training program, I was able to go to a couple of programs at
Texas A&M University Agricultural Research and Extension Center Overton
only a few miles from me.

Dr. Scott Ludwig gave us a crash course on Beneficial bugs and how important they are to our gardens.
IPM: Integrated Pest Management
. . . Very Interesting.

I thought this might be a good time to start a Thread in preparation for our up-coming growing season where we can learn from others problems and how they were resolved.

I know there have been many Threads on this subject and Ron can probably give us those links [I still don’t know how that man can keep up with these Threads].

BETH – You are the person that reminded me of this method in one of your Threads.
SO, This is for you in the event you have not tried the ‘Sticky Cards’ for your pests on your inside MGs. Of course, you can also acquire a few other pets and get some Praying Mantis. Your cats will surely like these guys *-* BTW, you probably know that Praying Mantis LOVE aphids.

I have a formula for the __sticky glue__ that ‘may’ be lost when I had my computer crash, and I will search for that information to see if it was rescued to post as well. Additionally there is a TM name for this product that I also can not remember and will do a search for it. Even if I can’t find my information, I do remember who gave it to me and will request it again. This method is wonderful for inside plants and can even be used on some outside container plants with success.

Back to Texas A&M:
As I was briefly looking over their website
http://overton.tamu.edu/

I found a section relative to Hibiscus, but I can see the same benefits on growing inside Morning Glories
http://overton2.tamu.edu/photos/hibiscus_cs.htm

The link to the ‘Sticky Card Method’
http://overton2.tamu.edu/photos/hibiscus_4.htm

that will also take you to a news article
http://overton2.tamu.edu/news/news2003/hibiscus_ipm_2003.htm

Also Texas A&M in College Station has a great website with tons of information that is mostly geared for the Southern Gardener, but most information is in general for all areas.
http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/introhtml/gardening.html

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/county/smith/index.html


Looking forward to what we can learn here.

Emma

Emma, I do use the sticky cards, and they are great for fungus knats, but not good for spider mites. I can't wait for the 2-spotted predatory mites to come in the mail! I have noticed that different species are affected differently by the spider mites. I. carnea don't seem to be bothered at all, while I. purpurea seem to take the biggest hit on their foliage. The spider mite sprays haven't been a solution for my problem. They may discourage spider mites for a week, but then they come back. I feel a lot better about biological controls if they will work! I have never had much of an aphid problem where I live in Oregon, but I remember them as a problem in California. This is a really good discussion so I hope others will add what works/doesn't work for them,
Beth

Hi Beth,
I would have thought for sure the Sticky Cards would work for aphids and spider mites.
I have both of these critters in Texas and they are BAD NEWS.
Aphids are bad enough, but Spide Mites are the real monsters.
You should have seen my MGs last year after they got done with them as we had a very bad infestation.
They spread like fire. Many of my leaves were TOTALLY striped with only the skeleton.
My fear is that we don't have that many cold days for long periods and we will probably have problems even more severe this year. So, I HAVE to find some solutions.

Emma

The sticky cards may work for aphids....I just don't have any aphids to be able to tell.

Thanks Emma,
This is going to help me alot. I've not grown MGs inside really, unitl now here in NM. Always put them outside in Southern Cal. It will be really interesting to see what happens here in this zone as far as bugs go. We don't live too far from a cattle ranch and there are 10000s of flies that's for sure. lol

A.

I don't have much of a problem with spider mites until the heat of the summer when it gets dry and the plants start stressing. Back in 2001 I had a real issue with them on my passion vines and moonvine. Surprisingly, if I wet down the whole plant every day when I watered, it kept them off the vines, or at least to a minimum where I couldn't tell they were doing any damage. I don't even try indoor plants at my house because they seem to be a spider mite magnet, and I can't see myself spraying down my dining room!

For some reason I don't have a problem with spider mites when I grow MG's outside (maybe natural predators out there), just when I bring them in the house or greenhouse.

Antoinette, let's hope you don't have bug problems like many parts of Texas.
I didn't grow any indoors, but hope to learn how to combat the little monsters this summer.

Me too, Stacey. Dead heat of the summer those little beasts come out of nowhere. I'm 'rolling up my sleeves' this year and hope to have a plan this time BEFORE they come.

Hopefully there will be lots of help for us from others that have encountered these problems.

Emma

I don't know how get bogged down in whiteflies every year (not necessarily on the MGs!), but the sticky traps are great for them.

This message was edited Feb 2, 2007 7:00 AM

Hey girls, the stealth way to control all those other bugs is to get Praying mantis egg cases this time of the year and I have seen them for $1 each on ebay recently. The one that I bought from the garden center last year was totally dead. If you go to Aquabid.com, which is an auction site for commercial fish breeders, and then go to live foods, insects, you may find there a source of live culture of wingless fruit flies to feed your young mantids. BINGO! Had to share the info.
Frank

Thanks so much for the info Frank,
I had planned to buy Praying mantis this year, but hadn't checked into when the best time was to do this.
Now I know.

Emma

I use sticky traps to catch fungus gnats and whiteflies in my plant shelves and they work great. They dont really attract the crawling bugs but they did attract my cat yesterday while I was at work. I came home to find a sicky card on the floor by the front door, bugs, fur, teeth holes, and all. The second one was still in place with another big patch of fur on it. Once I got done being worried, and mad about all the plants being tipped over, I had a good laugh. I can just imagine him running around the house trying to shake that card off his back!

I had spider mites on the houseplants that went outside for the summer. It was frustrating to keep washing the plants and spraying them with soap mix. They were quarantined in the garage so the cooler temps would slow them down. Unfortunately the garage got a little cold and froze a bunch of them. I'm not sure if they'll live but the bugs are probably dead now. If I have the same problem this fall I think I will get some predatory mites. There are several websites that sell them; mostly for hydroponics or citrus growers. I just googled predatory mites and got a bunch of sites. Check the watchdog files before you buy; one of the sites has a really poor rating and a history of problems.

Katlian,
Thanks for the great information and the great story.
I can see your poor kitty trying to get away from the Sticky Card.

Emma

I'm so glad I found (Thanks Emma) DG this year! I had such a bad infestation of fungus gnats inside the house that it was terrible. I hit the rooms That I grow in with everything that I thought sounded reasonable. I used sand in the top of pots, sticky cards, mosquito dunks in the watering cans, Bottom watered ONLY, and used yet more sticky cards. I don't believe there was one bit of visable soil that was not covered with a condensation lid of some sort for the seedlings. I had everyone saving plastic Deli containers with lids for me too. I really did have a plague of Biblical proportions. This stuff all worked. The last time I saw two (A pair of them) was three weeks ago. I did this instead of spraying because I rescue animals and they seem to look for bad things to get into. I don't need poisons in the house at all. I am hoping I can find more organic solutions for outside the of house. I live square in the middle of three rowcrop fields and I am very lucky if they give me a call about the herbicide spraying days. At least in time to get sheets out and cover everything I can. Pesticide days literally leave me as The sole 40 acre plot in the area without protection for lack of a better word. Even though, due to the spraying, My house and barn, inside and out, are pretty much the only places I see Lady Bug "Explosions", There are enough aphids to feed them and to graze the ornamentals down to the ground if I let them. (Sigh) If any of you know a pretty good link to where The "Big Guns" organic info for a scenario such as this might be?...or even something you might think would work?....( Even if just around the gardening areas?)...Please shoot it past me....(:O) I would appreciate any info. I like the Idea that maybe I could take the dog into the garden occasionally.
Ps. Sticky cards are also a darned good way to train cats to stay away from a bird cage.....(Incededental learning experience, and handy training tip.)
/:O)

The yellow cards really were a life saver this year! They work wonders.

~Jen~

I got my 2-spotted predatory mites in the mail. They seem to be making themselves right at home. I can see them swarming on the blooms, they look like little spots of white. I hope they are getting ALL of those nasty spider mites!
Beth

You MITE be on to something, Beth! Go predators!

Ha! Ha!

I accidentally killed my fungus gnat controller when I cleaned the window near the indoor plants. It was too late when I saw that my spray had killed a little spider web that was full of the little gnats. I wish I had seen it sooner, as they are not too attracted to my fly paper that I hung from the center ceiling light in the room. It helps a little, but is not so attractive. I leave the light on after dark for a while so they are attracted to the light and then the paper gets them.
I have to be careful using any insecticides as the room is also shared with three parakeets who are sensitive to any sort of chemiclas which could kill them.
If I didn't have to have them in there (six cats elsewhere in the house) I could try the yellow sticks that are sold to control indoor flying insects.

Leave it to Joseph to give us a good laugh....

Beth, where did you buy your little Mite Guys?
Maybe I should look into those too.

Thanks,
Emma

This is the website where I purchased the predatory mites. There are 3 predators of spider mites on the site, but I picked the quickest acting one.

http://www.biconet.com/biocontrol/persimilis.html

Thanks Beth,

The thing the spider mites like about inside the house is the lack of wind. Where the air doesn't move, they don't have to struggle so hard to survive. I think that is mone of the main reasons commercial greenhouses have such huge ventilation systems. Samething with white flies. They are much worse.

Emma just mentioned taking a master gardener class at Texas A and M for master gardeners.
OSU is doing a botany class for master gardeners in Plant Growth Regulators. That sounds fun.
I googled Plant Growth Regulators and it was one of the first thing to come up. I found out from it that they still use B-9 to shorten the stems of Easter Lillies, Mums and Poinsettia. Now to get my hands on some.

Thanks Beth for the info on the preditory mites.

There is another angle that the orchid people use for mites, and it is some kind of stinking oil.
They stay away because of the smell of the oil. Can't remember. Frank