The soda is for powdery mildew
Here if you leave the whiteflies alone a little too long, we get a mildew on
the hibiscus, so I jusst zap them with the one spray which seems to take
care of it all at once. ;-D
that's because many of their favorites have been ordered phased out, and
the harshest poison manufacturers are running for cover, getting into other
businesses. Margaret L
Everything I have says you need to use "real" soap since its the fatty acids
in the soap that break down the insects exoskeleton and detergents don't
have the fatty acids. Surprisingly even the horticulturists and
entomologists at Michigan State are recommending insecticidal soaps over
many of the products they have favored for years. Slowly these guys (I use
that term since my contact with them is guys) are learning and slowly even
the extension agents are backing away from "get the most potent insecticide"
mindset these days.
Kimm
Amy Wrote
Doesn't stuff soak into toad's skin? Not being a toad, I don't really
know. Whyncha' get some ladybugs?
Also, I have used the castile soap, baking soda and veg oil (a very
scant teaspoon of each into one quart water) spray on
whiteflies that have attacked the hibiscus and it works if I spray Under
the leaves as well as on top, once a week for awhile
Hi Amy
Yes, toads are amphibians and all that group absorb things very easily
through the skin. I have an idea they even breath through it to some
extent and for this they need to keep it always moist.
I am fascinated with your recommendation for a safe whitefly spray as
the formula you quote is the one commonly used against mildew _not_
insects. I would expect it to work just as well against whitefly (maybe
even better) if you omitted the baking soda. (with the soda in it is
very good against mildew, but I now think diluted milk is even better -
and less trouble to prepare.)
For insects I myself use the Cotton Research Lab's formula for
home-made insect spray (quoted by OG a few years ago) which recommends
mixing the oil with dishwash liquid to get the same effect (but
definitely no soda!)
I fond this deals with many different insects which might attack in a
glasshouse. For the odd infestation just starting I keep a small bottle
with an eyedropper - enough to deal with just the odd leaf or two. It
was very useful a week or two ago when I noticed a fuchsia where two or
three leaves had just the start of a thrips attack.
Moira
--
Tony & Moira Ryan
Wainuiomata (near Wellington, capital city of New Zealand)
kasmiller wrote:
Kimm
Your are quite right where the "soap" is the insecticidal component. In
the case of the Cotton formula I think it is only present to emulsify
the oil and ensure this covers the leaves properly, and it is the oil
which does for the insects by smothering them. If using a soap spray on
its own, for best results it does need to be a natural soft (ie
potassium-based) soap which has the approprite fatty acids.
I think at this stage I must make it clear that when treating whitefly
just killing the adults only is a thankless task as they are rapidly
replaced by the maturing of the wingless larvae which live in nursery
colonies on the backs of some of the leaves -usually those two or three
rows back from the shoot tips. These young are green, sedentary and
quite easy to mistake for aphids when viewed with the naked eye. Like
feeding aphids they do let drip a sugary exudate, which may fall on the
foliage below and encourage black sooty mould - a good indicator of
where they are hiding.
One advantage of either oil or soap over a straight insecticide, such as
pyrethrum is that while immature insects usually have a high resistance
to such killer preparations, they are quite easy to kill with the either
oil or soap. Yet another successful alternative to kill just the young
is Neem oil, which removes their ability to metamorphose into the adult
form. None of these remedies is likely to be hearmful to you or your
friendy animals. They won't even kill adult predatory insects.
However, as a few _plants_ have foliage sensitive to one or another of
these treatments it is good to have alternatives.
Personally, I find just taking the plant into the open air if possible
and giving it a good hosing to chase off most of the adults and then
following this up with a slightly soapy wash to remove the larvae will
often do the trick as well as any more elaborate treatment.
As to tomatoes and similarly immobile plants, The real trick is to catch
the infestation in its earliest stages wnen one can chase most of the
adults on to sticky yellow cards and actually remove the few leaves on
which larval "nurseries" have been established.
been there done that many times
Moira
--
Tony & Moira Ryan
Wainuiomata (near Wellington, capital city of New Zealand)
Oh
And just one final warning. Nicotine is a deady poison to warm-blooded
creatures including gardeners and is _never_ safe to use as an
insecticide especially indoors, but even in the open garden.
It has been banned from sale for many years in NZ, though from time to
time misguided people try to make crude preparations of it by soaking
cigarette butts.
> From what I hear of him Jerry whatsisname, far from advocationg safe
preparations is a proper witchdoctor of the worst sort and his
recommendations should be strictly avoided if you an your garden wish to
remain alive and healthy.
Moira
--
Tony & Moira Ryan
Wainuiomata (near Wellington, capital city of New Zealand)
While this is true- it is poisonous- I grow tobacco, partly because I smoke
it and may actually properly a batch for myself one day, but mostly because,
in the unlikely event that I actually want to use a poison, tobacco is easy
to use in an enclosed space. A few leaves chucked on a hotplate in the
greenhouse with all doors and vents closed (and me outside:-) will smoke out
the greenhouse quite efficiently. A few hours later, when it is safe to
enter again, *all* the bugs will be gone, good and bad.
I am pretty hard to convince that poisons are necessary, but I like to have
the option. And the cigarette butt solution *really stinks*.
S.
It is certainly fair and honestly earned if those who grow or use (or both)
tobacco suffer from it in the end. They deserve what happens to them
Swani wrote:
