I got a bunch of ee's in the coop this year so I am very unknowledgeable about them.
A couple of them have very small insects on them they seem to go from white to light green to a brown, if you rub your hand across it sort of feels like very fine grit sand paper.
What do I use on the ee's to get rid of these BEFORE I bring them in for th winter.
How do you all store ee's for the winter, I have the ones that start with a's and the ones that start with c's.
Thanks
ee's have very small insects
Happ,
I'm no expert, but it sounds like you could be having a problem with spider mites - they're common on ee's. You have to be careful what pesticides you use on ee's - they're very sensitive.
A friend once recommended that I simply rinse the plants well under running water, and I find that it helps. Beyond that, the recommended treatment is to use insecticidal soap. There are many on the market - check out your local Home Depot.
Here's an article from ehow.com that talks about spider mites.
http://www.ehow.com/how_6942_control-spider-mites.html
Good luck.
Steve
p.s. The 'c' ones are colocasias, and the 'a' ones are alocasias.
This message was edited Aug 29, 2008 8:02 AM
Thank you for the information. I sure don't want to kill them. I am trying to wash them off for now but not much luck.
LOL, I sort of knew the names but knew I would have to look it up to spell it, and just wanted to get back outside...LOL
I will second the probability of spider mites. You can use dish soap and water in a spray bottle. Spray it on out of direct sunlight, leave it for about 30 minutes, then rinse it off with fresh water. I would do this at least twice to make sure any remaining mites are killed, with a few days between applications.
Once you bring them in, you may find that they develop this problem throughout the winter - so you will need to repeat this process (worth it in my opinion), or you can cut the leaves off, and store the roots in just damp sphagnum peat moss in a cool dark place.
I get them on all my EE's this time of year. Once the fall weather turns a bit drier, they tend to take over. I have cut the leaves off before and bagged them up, just to rid the plant of them, but I also live where it's a bit more tropical, so I have a full set of new leaves within a week or 2.
I did cut the leaves off of a few of them cause I wasn't bringing them in with those on there. They have already started new growth. So the bugs get worse when it is dry?
They just dont get rained on as often, to naturally wash some of the bugs off. The wet leaves resist some of the bugs from returning. When it gets dry, the bugs can easily congregate, breed, and get out of control. If you spray, spray on the underside of the leaves primarily, as that's where they tend to be the most. I usually drizzle a little puddle in the cup where the old leaf stem and new leaf stem meet.