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  Little black bugs eating Alocasias
From: mickpascall at hotmail.com (Michael Pascall) on 2007.10.11 at 21:22:59(16460)

Michael Pascall,

Population explosion of these things . They seem to be eating holes in the plants , a nearby Costus is severly affected . All the new growth in the rainforest after the recent Cyclone has upset the natural balance . I am always hesitant to spray , and when I do only use pyretherum or similar contact spray .

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From: agavestar at covad.net (Michael Mahan) on 2007.10.12 at 18:05:01(16465)
Try Orange oil in slight concentrations with a small amount of soap added.
I use Zep Citrus cleaner & degreaser concentrate @ Home Depot . gallon jug
$8.00 lasts for a years ( no need for soap with this product) as it has a
surfacent in it .. use 50/25 to one in a spray bottle , I have even
sprayed Orchid blooms with the stuff to kill mealies with no damage at all
to the blooms .I've used it in a garden sprayer to spray every plant in my
greenhouse to kill off all the white fly at once . kills on contact .
dissolves the exoskeleton of insects instantly even in slight concentrations
. Here in California they are now using it for termite control . Best part
it's Non-toxic in the deluded form . best ant killer I've ever found ..
flood a pot infected with a nest of ants, no harm at all to the plant,
ants/queens are history in short order THE BEST PART ! Smells great .
the greenhouse smells like oranges after I'm done .
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From: criswick at spiceisle.com (criswick) on 2007.10.12 at 22:45:34(16471)
You might try applying imidacloprid to the roots in granular form. It has
such a low mammalian toxicity that the lethal dose for a rat has not been
discovered. It is marketed as Merit and Marathon, among others. John.

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From: ju-bo at msn.com (Julius Boos) on 2007.10.12 at 22:51:48(16472)
From: bogus@does.not.exist.com ()
Date: Fri, 12 Oct 2007 16:36:43 -0000
Subject: No subject
Message-ID:

Attachment : IMG_3738.JPG (0.06 MB)

Dear Michael,

They look like small Crysomelid ("flower") beetles, they might be a bitch to
control or eradicate!

Good Luck,

Julius

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From: Emily.Colletti at mobot.org (Emily Colletti) on 2007.11.16 at 16:11:21(16704)
Dear Michael;

Please elaborate on the concentration that you use for insect control.
You say to use 50/25 to on spray bottle. Are you refering to Zep/water.
Therefor a 2/1 concentrate of Zep/water. I found that a 1/1 ratio
worked well with no plant damage but have only used it on ginnypig
plants at this time. I have a terrrible problem with white fly and
meally and would love to hear your experience with this product.

Thank you
Emily Colletti

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From: agavestar at covad.net (Michael Mahan) on 2007.11.17 at 08:26:05(16706)
I use anywhere from 10% to 50% ZEP Orange to water, depending on what plant
I need to kill the buggers . I had a white fly infestation in the greenhouse
really bad, anything that had a leaf had white fly even the weeds , what
finally got them gone , was going in a week at a time & soaking every living
thing in the greenhouse with a 3 gallon pump up sprayer for 4 weeks (ya need
to break their life cycle ).I put about 3 inches of the ZEP in the bottom of
the sprayer the 1st time ,Quickly learned that was a mistake as it foams up
some , Then was using about 3 cups into the thing after filling it with WARM
water ,then soaking ALL parts of every plant . You'll quickly find the
plants with the ant nests as they will swarm out turning the upper parts of
the plant black as they try to escape the spray .. THIS is important you go back & soak everywhere around the nest as the queens will run to
another pot> (ants are what spread the mealies ) No need to use such a
strong % as you use, as I've found 10% in a hand sprayer kills ants just
fine. the times I used 50% was when I found a ant nest when watering & that
mix was in the kitchen at the time as it's really important to kill the nest
as soon as they swarm out by flooding the whole pot and surrounding area
with the ZEP

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