Tricks that you dont hear about

I thought about a good subject we could all contribute too,mine is
if you get strep leaves and dont have time to plant them,put them in the veggie crisper
they will last several weeks,just make sure you take the paper towel off,some people
wrap the bottom ,(by the way i dont do that,unless the leaf is limp when I send it
the reason some are limp is I forget to water and its a varitey someone wants real bad
JIM

That is excellent to know Jim! Bonnie had mentioned putting the leaves in the fridge if need be but I did not realize they would last so long in there! I've got to try it just for fun!

I'm still a novice at streps but what I do when I receive leaves is open each of their bags and pour in just a small amount of water that has fish/seaweed fertilizer in it. I then stand the leaves up so the end that I will plant is in the water and leave them for an hour or so before planting. It has worked well for me. ^_^

I have a question for you Jim. I water my plants the same way switching out between a fertilizer that Gail sent to me and regularly using VF 11 along with the occasional dose of beer fertilizer if I'm watering my hoyas.

But every once in a while (like right now) I have a couple of streps whos leaves turn a light lime green while the rest of my plants look just the same normal green. What would cause that and what to they want from me to get them back to nice rich green??

Thanks, Brenda

sometimes they just do that,if your talking about a rooting leaf,if you have a plant that turns light green,then try to water with some epsons salts,i always just repot them if they start turning light green

jim

Nice trick to know about the epson salts.One of my plants leaves are turning lime green too.

Jim,I have a strep that the leaves are curling on it,would you happen to know why it's doing that?


Here's something interesting I was reading at the British strep society site.Heres a quote about the fertilizers:

Darn I just thought of something else.
On another group a lady gave a recipe for soaking her leaves when she gets them in the mail.

1/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon superthrive
a gallon of water

I have used tomato fertilizer & switch to it still. does well.
bonnie

My answer is that I ordered some 20-0-0 from Optimara (Selective something). When anything looks like that light green Brenda is talking about, I dilute this and use it. Within 24 hours you see a difference. (I call this fertilizer my miracle fertilizer) Another good one is the Miracle Grow which has a count of 12-4-8 and dilute that one. It works wonders for plants...............

My hoyas got sunburned after we prepared for the hurricane and I inadvertently put them in full sun for a few days when I realized they were so sunburned. I just put the 20-0-0 at regular strength on them yesterday and I promise I can see a difference already in my plants.

id give that a try

JIM

wow i will have to get some of that opt. & try it.
bonnie

Hi Gail ... is it the plant food that is the last one on this page ... it says it's 20 - 5 - 10

http://www.selectivegardener.com/Catalog.php?page=1&category=4

Thanks, ~Brenda

OK............they have changed it from 20-0-0 but it must be even better..........order it and your plants will love it when you give them a foliar feed of this! It was from Selective Gardener that I bought it.

Thanks Gail, can't wait for my order to come in!

I had to pot up some baby streps earlier than I would have liked for various reasons and I think they're gonna love this as a foliar feed plus using it for the ones that have turned light green!

~Brenda

I don't know if it is true or not, but I have heard that spraying the back side is much better than the front side??????????????

This may be not be new to you guys & gals, but a trick I just learned about is using Neem powder(not oil) as an anti-fungal/ insecticide. Mixed 1/4 teaspoon to a gallon of water it is safe and gentle. I have used it to kill mold in seedling pots (as a spray and soil drench), fight spider mites, fungus gnats and numerous other things. I have been using it extensively and have not noticed any adverse side effects. I read about it in an American Begonia Society page on propagation: http://begonias.org/SOS/SOS_10.pdf

thanks...............I need all the tips I can get ...............smiling!

I have been using Neem Oil mixed in water as a preventative spray on my Hoyas and I took care of a spider mite infestation on a plant I received from eBay with it. It works well but the oily residue is kind of yucky.

The oil also has a strong smell that I don't mind too much but does the powder also smell strongly??

You have to use the oil mixed in water within 24 hours for it to remain "active" does the powder work the same way?

Powder just seems like it would be easier to deal with overall, can you tell me where you found it?

Thanks, Brenda

The powder smells like green tea, mixed it has very little odor. I mix it a gal. at a time and store it under the sink. It doesn't seem to lose potency. It isn't very "strong". I had mold growing in some seedling pots, but I sprayed it every time I saw it, and eventually it did not come back. I was more worried about damaging the microscopic seedlings with the force of the spray than the solution. It took 2 drenchings, but got rid of the fungus gnats in another houseplant. I bought mine from ebay, but only because I literally live in the backwoods & there is no health food store nearby.

I've been looking for something similar for a while. Neem extract or powder (not oil) is used in some pesticides/insecticides and I would love to find some. The name of the active ingredient is azadiractin, and there are a number of products registered. I haven't found a single source, though, so if someone comes across info, please share.... Horticultural use formulations are available in powder and cake forms in some other countries - maybe it is just taking time for them to arrive in the US.

I googled neem powder and found this: http://www.fromnaturewithlove.com/froogle.asp?partner=FROOGLE&product_id=herbneem but they are out of stock and back ordered.

Here's another place that has it: http://www.herbalremedies.com/ayurvedic-neem-leaf-powder.html

If it's the same neem powder you use on plants here's another place that sells it: http://www.organicindiausa.com/product_info.php?products_id=90

This is a link to the ebay store where I ordered mine. They were reasonably priced, did not gouge on shipping and I had it in less than a week.
http://stores.ebay.com/Abundance-Herbs-N-Spice

Looks like their prices are very reasonable too: http://search.stores.ebay.com/Abundance-Herbs-N-Spice_neem-powder_W0QQfciZ8QQfclZ4QQfsnZAbundanceQ20HerbsQ2dNQ2dSpiceQQfsooZ1QQfsopZ1QQsaselZ76557767QQsofpZ0

Thank you for the link "Gran" , I ordered some from that eBay seller and will add it to my plant health arsenal.

Neem is actually the main ingredient in the Garden Safe Fungacide 3 in 1 product .....

.......but it is at a much weaker dilution than getting the oil (I have the Green Light Neem Concentrate organic oil from HD) and mixing it with water yourself. As I said above, it is effective but messy and smelly!

Here's hoping the powder is just as good!!

~Brenda

I am sure the powder mixture is a much lower concentration than the oil, so it may require more applications. You can always experiment with higher concentrations tho. I do know that my EE's tend to get spider mites in the center, I was impressed when one treatment got rid of them. (They did come back a few weeks later. I just need to remember to spray them with it every couple of weeks) The main problem with the powder is that it doesn't just "dissolve" like a granular substance. I have found that mixing it with a little water until it makes a paste than gradually diluting & mixing until I have about a pint that is thoroughly mixed and THEN making up the gallon tends to work for me. If I had a blender strictly for plant use I would use that to mix it--hmmm have to keep an eye out for one at the thrift shop! BTW-- what is your Beer fertilizer recipe?

I am soooooooooooooo confused. I thought I had everything I could possibly need for my gesneriads. The Neem oil has been sitting on the shelf for two years. I didn't realize that the GardenSAfe Fungicide 3 in1 had Neem oil in it. I use the 3 in1 for powdery mildew but nothing else.

Thanks for the links. ^_^ I may just go with the powdered leaves, although what I would really like is a stronger formulation. I'm thinking that a pesticide grade would work as an alternative to marathon (imidacloprid).

Here's some basic info on neem for anyone interested. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neem

The GardenSafe fungicide neem oil is .9% . . . I can't find anywhere what the other 99.1% is! But, that is what I've got . . . once I need to get something else, I hope that others here will have reports on the neem powder and/or the cinnamon.

Gail the Neem would be something organic and natural to use in place of Avid etc. If you are happy with the Avid then you have no worries!

I have to be very careful (because of allergic reactions) with insecticides and pesticides etc and thus my search for a good neem oil product that will chase the critters off!
~Brenda

Does Neem work on all pests? If not, which ones does it not work on? How long have you been using Neem, Brenda?

I would like to know Brenda what you use Neem Oil for? I know I am using way too many pesticides in my little house. Sometimes I can barely breathe (not really, but it is strong)

I have used it for mealy bugs and spider mite treatment on my hoyas (also as a basic prevetitive spray on hoyas ever 6 weeks or so) ............. and if the hoyas were in the same room with any of my streps I have taken each and every strep (also did AV's when I had them) I own and sprayed them thoroughly with the neem oil mixed at a rate of 2 TBL oil to one gallon water and a small drop of dish soap. I shake the gallon container well and then pour some into a spray bottle. You need to continually shake the bottle as you use it to keep the oil mixed well.

I think it smells very strongly like lemon pledge as does my husband but it dissipates over night. I do the spraying in my large walk in shower or outside as there is a bit of an oily residue that I do not want on my shelves etc. I turn the lights off until the plants are dry overnight. I have done this several times with my streps (you know you see something weird and freak out??) and they have never shown any sign of reacting to it. Of course I make sure I don't flood the crowns with it. Just get the front and back of each leave very well and spray the soil good.

So between this method and now a pinch of cinnamon if I were to ever think I had mites I'm covered for my natural treatment of my plants! I love my plants but they aren't worth my health so this is what I'm willing to do for them!

~Brenda

Wow, Brenda! This is a great thing to know! Have you ever noticed any residue from the neem oil or the dish soap on the leaves after the spray has dried?

Not with the eye, if anything they look a little brighter but I can sometimes feel that the leaves are the slightest bit .... hmm, I'm trying to think of the word ... it's like dust or fuzz will stick to them easier maybe because of the oil, there isn't enough dish soap to even be discernible at all.

On thicker shiner hoya leaves you can feel the residue if you drag your fingers across them.

~Brenda

Hmm. I wonder if it would cancel out the treatment if say a week after the plant was sprayed, if the foliage was given a bath . . . just to get rid of residue on the leaf, not all the nooks & crannies . . .

It really isn't noticeable enough to care about, just that if you do really go looking you can see remnants of having used it. And it is considered more of a preventative and a chaser away (good grammar there LOL) of critters than an actual killer of them ..... so I like having the remnants left!

~Brenda

I am going to do it just to make the leaves shiny on everything. That is why I love the 3 in 1.........there is a bit of oily residue which makes the leaves look great I think. Two things can be accomplished at one time.

Well, gosh darn it! I think I'll have to visit the local health food store, and see what they have, before I place an order online!

Wow..Very Informative Thread..Thanks Jim for starting this..I need to write some of this down..or better yet just print out the entire thread so i don't lose it...

Don't do what I used to do, Nancy...........copy and paste and then print............I soon got a box of papers I never looked at..........smiling..........and wasted ink to boot. Now I try to go back and find the thread.

Good Point Gail..lol..That sounds just like me!!....glad I didn't do it already..maybe I will just bookmark the thread....thanks for saving me a load of paper and ink : )