...or should I say stench of....NEEM oil....UGH!!! The spider mites just love the tropicals don't they? Little crappers are moving from one to the next...forget the wonderfully sweet smell of my Sweet olives....nooooo....I have to "enjoy" ode to Neem. And despite the Murphy's soap oil being mixed in the witches brew...I can still only smell the neem and tea tree oil....aghhhhh!!! NASTY! What we do to keep our pretties critter free!!!
This message was edited Jan 18, 2009 1:44 PM
Ahhhh the scent of....
ugh...I hate the smell of the stuff. Kind of a mix of rotten onions and sulfur. But it works, and does the job safely.
Chantell, for spider mites I usually just use alcohol & water which evaporates quickly and does the job. I save Neem for the aphids and other nasties!
LOL....Chantell.....I must be weird or something.....I don't mind the mix of neem and Murphy's Oil Soap.....now don't get me wrong, I don't LOVE it but compared to letting alfalfa tea sit for a couple of days in our heat.....well now that is a stink, you get that stuff on your hands and boy oh boy, nobody wants to be around you!
I didn't know about adding the Tea Tree Oil (we use it in Australia for everything)....if you don't mind me asking, what do you add it for and how much? Please tell.
I'm guilty of alfalfa tea too--barf material, lol.
Great...was just thinking I wanted to try my hand at the Alfalfa tea too....after reading your descriptions - yeow-uck!!!
Samatha - I'm horrible at really "measuring" - I just put maybe (it's 100% tea tree oil so I'm careful w/the amt) a half a teaspoon to 1 1/2 qt sprayer of water.
Vi - I'd always used the alcohol for mealies...didn't know it worked on spider mites...thanks for the info
I will have to share something I picked up over in the brug forum that really works! Now there is some maintenance to it but if you keep up with it you can improve the cold hardiness, prevent mites and reduce moisture loss thru the leaves cutting down on wilting.
Anti-Stress 2000 is the name of the product. It comes in a concentrate and I use it 20 to 1 you can also stretch it farther but I have found the best mite protection at 20 to 1.
It is a non toxic polymer that leaves a super thin film on the leaves so the mites can't get thru. The same film protects the plant from cold and summer wilt.
The bottle does not list the uses for mite protection because that is not what it is intended for just a really nice side effect. Check out the website its pretty cool stuff!
http://www.antistress.com/explain.html
The only draw back is that it has to be on the leaves to work that means treating new growth as it comes up.You need to treat leaf tops and undersides as well as the stems. I usually spray every 2-3 weeks starting in late spring with a full coverage then just touch ups on new growth. As I bring my plants in for the winter I give them another full coat. I have really been able to cut back on spraying the heavy chemicals since I started using this stuff. I don't have much problems with aphids or mealies so Im not sure if it would keep them off or not.
Here is the pretty long winded thread from the brug forum. I posted a pic about 1/2 way down about the wilt control. Its a good read if you have the time.
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/770336/Caren
Sorry about the edits Im trying to fix this link! If it doesn't work just cut and paste.
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Ahh Caren...you rock!!! Sounds like great stuff!! Going to read up on it now!!
I buy mine in the quart size for about 19.99 it lasts thru the growing season.
What brand of Neem are you using? What I use smells like lemons.
Tea tree oil smells a lot to me of pinesol. It's what we used to clean up after the dog as kids.
There are some products that contain one of the 23 or so active ingredients in neem. One name I remember is Azatrol. Those products so-callled are "synthetic" forms of neem. Don't know how they smell, but much better than 100% neem.
OK, ok. I guess I eat too much garlic. I kind of like the smell of neem.......
Great info, Heavinscent! I wonder how well that works on thrips. There is another product that I know of that should only be used outside (or someplace that won't stain).....another one of those "not labeled for insects" deals. I will dig it up and post a link- it is based on silicon.
Here is the link:
http://www.southwestplantscape.com/
I believe mine's Dyno-grow...and it stinks...ugh
Dyna-grow sells 100%. Yep! MMmmmm........
ugh!!! MMmmm...is NOT what comes to mind or nose when I'm down wind...LOL