Bugs are often the things that gardeners have on their minds and on their plants this time of the year.
They can be very annoying and in bad infestations ruin plants severely.
The real answer of cause is to prevent their populations growing early in the spring so that when the summer comes they are easier to keep under control.
Once they get out of hand they need a lot of effort and spraying to get back to small numbers.
You may have a pest affecting a plant and using suitable sprays you knock them back only to find a few days later they are back and even more of them.
It is not that your sprays didn’t work, it means that from plants nearby or from over the fence they have re-infested your plant.
Thus when you have an infestation on one plant you need to check all other plants and weeds in about 5-10 metres away. Also pays to look over the fence as well.
If the source of the problem is in the neighbour’s garden then you either have a chat with the neighbour and maybe offer to spray their plants as well.
Failing that, then expect the rest of summer till winter comes to have a problem.
Stink bugs and leaf hoppers are two that I am often asked about, My suggestion here is to make up Wallys Super Pyrethrum at 1 mil to 2 litres of water (pipet is supplied so you can measure 1 mil) and go out at dusk and disturb the pests on the plants they are on, then spray them on the wing, in mid flight like you would do with flies and fly spray.
Take a one litre Trigger spray bottle for this purpose and put half a mil into the 1 litre of water.
You can double the strength and put a whole mil into the one litre.
You are ready for action…Now most important when you have not used all the mixed up spray, place into a dark cupboard where it will keep till next use. Exposed to light it is useless within a couple of hours especially in sun light.
Go out each night at dusk and spray them on wing till you reach the time when no more then again check every few days for any re-infection.
The same can be applied to white fly on tomatoes and other plants…Keep killing the adults and sooner or later you have control. But you need to be regular like every night, because left for a week or so you are back to where you started.
On citrus trees you don’t need to spray at all just sprinkle Wallys Neem Tree Granules under the tree and lightly water to get them started. Normally within 6 weeks or so the citrus tree will be free of pests including borer.
Citrus Borer is on the wing at this time so treat all your citrus trees to a sprinkling of Wallys Neem Tree Granules. You can apply them to the root zone of other plants as well and they can help as part of your control methods.
Spraying the adult flying insects is one way to gain control and you can speed this up by taking Wallys Super Neem Tree Oil and mixing that at 5 mils per litre of warm water and once again spraying that at dusk and this time spraying under and over the foliage, concentrating on the under the leaves as that is where the nymphs are and they get a dose of Neem when they are feeding stop eating and starve to death.
The Neem Oil treatment/spray need to be only done once a week till you have control. Safe to use and there is no withholding period other than washing produce before consuming as if any oil there it tastes really bad.
If you have cherry or pear trees you may have the pest called the Cherry Slug it is black and looks like a garden slug and it is eating the foliage of the those trees.
The simple solution is to spray the foliage with Wallys Liquid Copper as they can not handle copper and fall off the tree dead.
White butterfly; the traditional thing used to be using derris dust power sprinkled over the leaves of brassicas but since the derris dust has been associated with possible Parkinson disease not so well favoured these days.
Off subject: Aluminum is a known cause of Parkinson disease and Dementia.
Aluminum is found in rainwater, processed foods, tin foil and some cooking ware.
Aluminum is also can be found in some powders used as an anti-caking agent (cooking powders and some medicinal powders) and in some under arm deodorants.
My AI search engine on the net called ‘Perplexity’ says this:
Yes, fluoride increases the body’s absorption of aluminum
This occurs through several mechanisms:
- Fluoride binds strongly with aluminum, forming aluminum fluoride complexes.
- These aluminum fluoride compounds have greater bioavailability, meaning they are more easily absorbed by the body compared to aluminum alone.
- Fluoride in drinking water facilitates the gastrointestinal absorption of aluminum present in water, food, and beverages.
- The combination of fluoride and aluminum can increase aluminum’s ability to cross the blood-brain barrier.
This increased absorption of aluminum due to fluoride exposure has potential health implications.
Some studies have found associations between higher levels of aluminum and fluoride in drinking water and increased risk of dementia.
However, it’s important to note that the relationship between aluminum, fluoride, and health outcomes like Alzheimer’s disease is complex and still subject to ongoing research.
Do you remember back in the 50’s when our Government warned to stop using aluminum pots and cookware? I do!
Trials shows that food cooked in a aluminum pot contain a nasty amount of the metal.
Nowadays the Government is pushing for fluoride to be added to all tap water which logically means a lot of adverse health issues unless aluminum is removed entirely from our food chain and drinking water and not used for reflecting sunlight back into the atmosphere to reduce Global warming.
Back to topic.
Sticky Yellow pads are also a non-invasive way to catch flying insect pests best in a glasshouse but also good outdoors.
Once again this season I have hung little gauze bags of Wallys Cat Repellent in my glasshouse which I am growing tomatoes.
Not a sign of any Whitefly as the smell of the naphthalene disguises the smell of the tomato plants so Whitefly adults do not know there are tomatoes growing there.
I have yellow sticky pads in the glasshouse as well and none have caught a Whitefly but lots of other flying insects.
This will only work if you start off in the beginning when you first put tomatoes in your glasshouse – too late to close the gate when the horses have bolted.
NOTE if you would like more information on fluoride and aluminum send me an email to wallyjr@gardenews.co.nz state in subject line Aluminum and I will send you my research papers.
Problems – ring me at 0800 466464.
Products mentioned are from Wallys Range of products and can be found in some garden shops or by Mail Order on www.0800466464.co.nz
Problems ring me at: Phone 0800 466464
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