Staying free from pests- ideas

I am really getting a nice collection of plants I really love. Not just sort of love, REALLY love! AV's are not like lots of nursery plants you can find again at a nice size if something happens. I get sort of nervous about getting mites or some bad problem. I have learned that catching powdery mildew is OK if caught early. I leave my ceiling fans on a lot now too.

I want to know what you can do to prevent mites and things I may not even know about yet that can be bad. I do not crowd my plants. I inspect them often. They are cool and happy inside my office. I do have my episcia's out in my sunroom now.

What else can be done to prevent problems?

Glad you started this thread Sally..for me of one of the very 1st and possibly the most important tip I have learned since I first started with my love for av's.That tip was to isolate any new plants you bring into your house for at least a month..keeping them in a totally seperate room than your other plants..reason being..so you can observe them..lol..you never know what creepie crawlies or hidden diseases new plants might have no matter how great they look when you 1st get them..better to notice it far away from your most prized plants than to have to start a collection all over again..I remember that very thing happening to a few here on the forum and they were devastated..I might be a little to oveboard when it comes to that...I'm not sure everyone isolates...I do tho....
Nancy

Thank you. I do it, but not that long. I will keep the new guys away longer from now on. You do this if you have a bird and you get a new bird, a quarantine.

Ditto to everything Cedarnest just said about Isolation! I learned the hard way ... and am still learning! I know that's what happened to a lot of my AV's and a couple of Chirita's a few months ago! I still sometimes find myself bringing a pretty new plant home and going right to the plant stand ... gotta get better about NOT doing that!

It didn't devastate me losing plants ... I know some have lost entire collections of even some rare plants and that must really be hard to deal with.

I don't really like using chemicals but I know some people spray and use chemicals on any new plants they bring into their house to be sure they kill any critters that may be hitch hiking on the foliage or in the soil.

I don't like using chemicals, but since there are "safer" things to use sometimes, I would not mind, if I knew what to use. I could use on new plants. I have just been so lucky so far. I would hate for something to happen. You can't just replace plants you have collected and looked for.

Oh, what are signs to look for. I have heard you all talking about mites and small centers.. What else? I guess anything that is obvious, but what is a bit less than obvious like the tight centers?

I think I will hire a little lizard from my garden to patrol my lighted shelving, ha!

I have heard that if the leaves curl and feel hard in the centers that it's a sign of mites but mites are so tiny you can't see them with the naked eye you need some sort of magnifying loop. I also heard someone (I think it was Gail) talk about root mealy bugs. I had never heard of mealies in the soil!

I have seen yellow sticky cards that are safe for people and pets on Drew's Violet site. Do they let you see any pests early?

The yellow sticky cards are for fungus gnats, I don't know if they would show up any other kind of bug or if other bugs would be attracted to the yellow.

Awhile back there was a thread talking about some more natural ways to protect or treat plants. One that I remember was Snowrose saying to take doggie flea shampoo and mix it up with water and flush your plants with it. I'll try to find the thread and see if it has amounts to use or any other directions....

Neem oil is completely natural and has several ways it can be used with plants but some hate the smell. I don't mind it too much, better than chemical smells to me. But I'd end up going the chemical route as a last resort if I had to save my plants!
~Brenda

Ok, I found the old post from Snowrose, so I'll cut and paste:

"Something I remembered the other day walking through a pet dept. and wanted to share with you. I recall years ago having a hoya that I believe had mealies when I purchased it. I noticed them almost immediately after I took it home. I mixed up some Hartz flea and tick shampoo for dogs and doused it good as well as pouring solution through the soil till it dripped out profusely. I basically bathed the plant in it so it would saturate every nook and cranny. Soaked the stems. If I remember correctly I mixed the solution about 1 teaspoon per cup of water. You do the math but a Tablespoon = 3 teaspoons. So, about 5-6 Tablespoons per gallon of water should do it. I wore those long Rubbermaid gloves to keep my hands out of it. I didn't rinse. Just let it dry as is.

I think this would be good for fungus knats also as a soil drench."

I found this link very interesting, I love pictures to go with descriptions of problems!!

How to diagnose and treat AV Leaf Problems...

http://steverd.com/violets/leaves/leaf-id.htm

~Brenda

Carnivorous plants are quite nice to have if you have fungus gnats. I've got a Mexican Pinguicula that really helps out. Can you see all the gnats on it? ^_^

Oh Amy ... That Ping is adorable! I remember reading about them last year and thought about ordering one but must have forgotten all about it! How neat ... maybe I need to get one of them for the fungus gnats that I seem to get in one room with one of my plant stands. What happens after all the gnats are gone ... do you have to feed the plant?
hmm ... I can just see me trying to explain to hubby that I'm trying to catch flies, mosquitoes etc to feed my plant! ^_^
I've never had a carnivorous plant but that is pretty cool looking!

I have an arsenal of chemicals and don't hesitate to use them either. I can still smell whatever is in new plants that are shipped. Don't ever believe that these big greenhouses ( or small ones) aren't using an arsenal of chemicals, too.

Oh, I am sure they have to use them. They can't afford to lose that many plants. On Ebay, there is one seller that states that she uses them, in case someone wants to know that.