I can't STAND the smell of neem, but if you guys want it, the wholesale company where I purchase essential oils has it for somewhere in the neighborhood of $10 per lb. (by weight), which is much cheaper than the health food store here. PLMK if you ever want me to tack some onto an order, the minimum order is $100, so I have to wait till I need oils.
Tricks that you dont hear about
If there is enough interest--you could do a co-op;). I would -- but no one delivers here UPS, FedEx or USPS.
No one delivers there!? How the heck do you get anything?
I literally live in the backwoods. Believe it or not, this county doesn't have a 911 system, so not only do I not have a "physical address", my road doesn't even have a legal name. I had to give the satellite company the legal description of our property off the deed to get service. I do have a PO box in town, I haven't lived here long. I have talked to the folks who live on the highway about having packages delivered to their house, hopefully that will work out.
Wow thanks for the info as I have Dyna-Gro pure Neem oil it is 100% natural and I also have had it for over two years and never used... Mine is 100% neem oil.... I may have to open it as I to have breathing problems and smells trigger my asthma so I would have to be careful with this one more then likely.... I used Avid but brought all my plants outside to use then after they dried I brought them back in... Kimmy was here when I had to use it... My passion flowers had spider mites and they were growing in the same area as my Streps and it scared the heck out of me and then I got the plant from the nursery with mealy bugs... gross.
Thanks for this thread.. Good job all...
Hugs,
Susan
susan you should always isolate new plants when you get them,you never know what could be lurking,
JIM
I always do,
Hillbilly Gran, I grew up in a rural area, but not THAT rural! Holy cow!
Susan: Neem is so strong, I can't stand it. I have clients who want neem soap, and I just can't stomach the smell. It smells like bad garlic to me. OTOH, Avid doesn't bother me a bit, but it makes my niece sneeze, so I do the same thing--apply it outside, then bring them back in. I'm in the process of treating my outside plants, I just fill a small trash can with Bayer Three in One (it has imidocloprid and antifungals), dip the plants for a minute, and let them dry. That normally prevents bringing in any unwanted guests.
has anyone tried neem oil for mealy bugs?
I could not get rid of them with it and lost many plants last winter.
You may want to water with the dilute neem powder solution, I understand it acts as a mild systemic. Mealies can be tough customers that's for sure.
Gran, i used the liquid spray from the local garden center. I sprayed twice a week for three weeks but could not get rid of them.:o(
A systemic works a little bit differently than a spray. The plant takes the substance up with the water, the bug bites plant and ingests the toxin and hopefully dies. Sadly, sometimes you can get bugs that are resistant to the toxin. Kind of like the species of "Super head lice" that I hear is going around that resists over the counter products (I am so glad my children are grown..), you must have had a species of "Super plant lice".
I think neem oil varies in quality like anything else--botanicals and essential oils vary hugely. I've smelled neem products that can't possibly have very much neem, because they smell like Pledge--neem smells oniony-garlicky. Often, lemony scents are added to cover it up, but the neem smell should come through if there is much at all.
Celene, I don't have mail delivery where I live. I have to go to the post office to mail a package and pick up my mail. I don't even have garbage pick up because the big trucks would tear up my caliche mile of road and I don't want to pay for it to be resurfaced all the time. I load all my garbage up every two days in the back of my car where I keep a big plastic containers. Never have I been happier out here in the middle of nowhere.
When my granchildren come they have a ball driving the 'gator' down to the deer and to roam in the pastures. They also love the lawn mower..............we won't let them drive it yet..........they sit while I drive it. It is like those you see on the side of a highway............I even let the older ones drive my car........with me in the car of course. There is certainly nothing that they are going to hit for sure.
Gail,
Your home reminds me of ours...LOL We have to go up to the top of the road to get our mail but they will come down with a package... If we knew we could not make the school bus as my boys could not walk the road because of the person in the middle of the road had seven dogs that bit my kids two times, we would leave a car at the top of the hill and my oldest boy Joe would wait until all the buses dropped of his brothers and then he would drive them home.. As it is a private road no one could complain that he was under age to drive... and the loved going into the woods to play as my GD loves to do now lol
Hugs,
Susan
For mealys go to walmart or any garden center and get a bottle of bayer tree and shrub
mix it 2 table spoons per gallon,and water your thirsty streps with make sure they drink it up and water from the bottom for a few weeks,that should cure you mealy problem
JIM
Hi,
Can someone tell me where to get lime that I can put into a new plant I am getting? The only lime I know of is that you put in your yard and I am guessing it is not the same stuff?
Thanks for any help.
Susan
Try a garden store,cape cod violetry
JIM
I will definately look for the Bayer tree and shrub. Have you used it as a systemic on anything besides streps? I would like to treat everything before it comes back into the GH for winter. I really like the neem, but would like something to give everythign a swift kick outsidebefore going to something a little milder. There is some good info in this thread, anyone besides me think it needs to be a sticky?
last year I was in denver at the av convention and Dr Robinson said,never bring things back in ,unless you want to contaminate your entire collection,now if your entire collection is outside,I dont see the harm,but if you have things that you dont want to take a chance on,leave them out side,Or put your outside babies in isolation,
keep them from the other plants,you can bring in mealys ,aphids,thrips,mites
all kinds of nastys that can destroy a nice collection,I bought a plant a few months ago
and kept it away from the other plants,and I found mealys,was sure glad I had isolated
they arent fun to rid a collection of
JIM
None of my Gessneriads are outside. But ALL of my other plants(begonias, succulents, etc.) are. We completed our move from a rural area to the "backwoods" in July and the GH isn't even built yet. There are plants everywhere outside. We will be putting up a temporary(until next year) GH this coming week and then I will be moving plants under cover, I always treat them with something before bringing them in--just thinking the Bayer as a soil drench might be simpler & hopefully more effective than a spray. It is always my goal to clean them up of all dead leaves etc. & visually inspect everything, but it seems I never quite get it done before frost threatens and it's a mass exodus from the yard into the GH to be sorted out later.
Jim, 2 tablespoons to a gallon is what I use on my hoyas and outside plants. I think (but I could be wrong) that 1 tsp to a gallon is what you use on gessies????????????
And then..........I have heard not to ever use Bayer on gessies?????????
I use the Bayer Advanced stuff with Imidacloprid on gessies all the time, never had a problem. It's the same active ingredient as Avid *but* it has an antifungal, too. I use the kind that you pour on the soil--not the spray. The spray doesn't have the Imidacloprid, and I'm always wonky about spraying stuff on all those hairy, sensitive leaves. I've used it on AV's, Episcias, Chiritas, Alsobias, Sinningias and my lone Seemannia. I use 2 oz. per gallon of water--4 tablespoons.
Didn't you say that you kept your gessies outside during the time you could? That would make a lot of difference in the strength used. I wouldn't recommend to anyone to even use Bayer Advanced on gessies without some more research. I use Avid and order it from Cape Cod Violetry in small quantities. I use Bayer on all outside plants.
Celene- does the one you use smell bad?? I would love to have one on hand, but since the plants will be indoors, I would to avoid and unpleasant odor. Lou
Ive used bayer with no ill effects,not a great smell but it keeps the mealys away
for mites Id use avid though and that stinks to high heaven
I stopped in Lowes today and it looks like the Bayer Advanced product line is changing or expanding - or maybe the Lowes is just carrying different ones. They have various different active ingredients so it's important to read the label - one of them had a chemical that is said to cause nerve damage and last I checked it is no longer approved for commercial use. (I guess they figure home use is minimal so it doesn't matter.) Some do have imidacloprid - this is not helpful for mites, and actually there is at least one study that says it increased mite fertility. I should have looked for a combo of imidacloprid and abamectin (the miticide in Avid).
I'm going to get on my soapbox again and say that safety should come first (even before smell) - please read the MSDS, and if you'll be using it in any quantity or in the home, check a third-party site on pesticides and read up on the chemical.
It's a hassle to research, but seriously, some of the active ingredients have real negative effects on the nervous system, other body parts/functions, on pets, on fish etc.
Even for oil or alcohol sprays, wear gloves and wear a mask. Just because you can drink/eat the stuff doesn't mean your lungs will like it. And bottled mixes usually have other chemicals (to keep everything nicely mixed up and liquid) that you don't really want all over your skin.
I'll step off the soapbox now. ...
I use the Bayer product on my gessies, indoors or out. I've never had cyclamen mites, so it's hard for me to say if it'd work or not from personal experience. I've heard really conflicting info on how well it works for spider mites, though.
I'm just getting around to reading the last AV magazine.On page 5 theres a ariticle A Family Portrait..In the article it says that this lady started using Mycorrhizal Fungi in her Streps soil. Anyone every try that?
no............but I am going to go back and find the article............thanks for telling me.........I know that Ken in Boerne , Texas told me that he pours a fungicide on every strep he plants up.............he doesn't let it sit in it...........just pours it through..........I am giving some thought to finding something I can use................
The soil mix I use has that bacteria in it
pro mix I think its called
I use pro mix, too. Does it have that bacteria in it? I'll have to look on a bag, I dump mine out into rubbermaid tubs so it's easy to pot up plants, my cats like to play in bags of soil, and that leads to nothing good ;)
Finding promix here is hit and miss for me. When I see it at HD in the spring, I don't have $$. When I do, I go back and it's gone! And they just give you blank looks when you ask when there will be more . . .
The mix that I do use for now, a bag of it fits perfectly into an empty kitty litter bucket (w/lid!).
Too bad it's too expensive to ship. I bought 10 bags when the local nursery had a 30% off sale at the end of the season. My husband was THRILLED to stack all of that in the garage, too. I told him it'd make good insulation. He said "For the lawnmower?" LOL It'll be cozy, I guess.
i bought 2 last year,big bails of it,and I still working on one of them and the other bag hasnt been touched
thanks
JIM
I use the Volkmann's wicking mix and then add perlite........I used not to when wicking but it is too heavy for my streps ...........so I add perlite............Nichole............just get peat moss in a small bag and mix 1/2 perlite with it..............I used that for over a year..........or you can use the AV mix you see at Walmart and mix 1/2 perlite.............I like the peat moss with perlite better only because it lowered my ph. OUr water is very alkaline.
If I got peat moss, wouldn't I need to put it in a blender, or something?
I used to buy the loose kind like a mix in a bag about 2 feet long.............just beautiful soil less mix...................I just threw the bag away but I kinda' think it was by Miracle Grow............I didn't use the peat that Jim is talking about........the pressed kind..........you can and it is much cheaper but I am not going to work that hard.........
this stuff is peat moss and its ground fine,the stuff your thinking of is spagnum moss
and you can use scissors for it
JIM
I am not thinking of spaghnum moss I promise...............I thought you said you bought it compressed as I have some of that, too.............still out in the storage shed............
i think what gail is talking about is canadian spagnum peat moss, comes in many size bags, depends where you get it.looks like dirt,
mrsbonnie