RE: spider mites was: Gardener's dance routines - Free LEWISIA

Marge,

Excellent info!  I didn't realize the potency of tobacco.  Perhaps, since
I've never used it, gives me excuse to be ignorant of it's ill effect.

I have a copy of Jerry Baker's 4 hour special on PBS and have used a couple
of his ideas.  However, when one doesn't have most of the stuff "laying"
around the house (as he suggests), I can see how expensive the remedies
could get.

I have never used insecticidal soaps or horticultural oil.  However, I have
seen them suggested for treatments as this (could you give me some advice
(how effective, harmful to wildlife, etc.?).  I, however, use a sharp spray
to keep most harmful insects off my plants.  Has worked for me so far.  One
thing you need to make sure of is to get them "under" the leafs, as well.
Most people just like to spray the plant and believe the problem is solved
when "The Terminator" is hiding just out of plain view.

Hasta La Vista, Baby!
Craig Wallace
craig.wallace@emotors.com
Brighton, Illinois
Zone 5 (old zone)

"I love spring anywhere, but if I could choose, I would always greet it in a
garden." -Ruth Stout


> ----------
> From: 	Marge Talt[SMTP:mtalt@clark.net]
> Reply To: 	perennials@mallorn.com
> Sent: 	Saturday, May 29, 1999 10:26 PM
> To: 	perennials@mallorn.com
> Subject: 	Re: spider mites  was:  Gardener's dance routines - Free
> LEWISIA
> 
> Dot,
> 
> In my experience, spider mites revel in dry, hot conditions so one of the
> ways to fight them is to make sure your plants are not drought stressed. 
> You can hose them off with a sharp spray of water and you can use
> insecticidal soap to good effect.  Safer's Insecticidal Soap is available
> at many garden centers and through mail order from most garden supply
> houses.  It is a proven remedy with no residual effects and is not harmful
> to people.  It is a contact insecticide.
> 
> Plants can stand a certain amount of insect predation with no major damage
> - they do it all the time.  But, an influx of a certain pest can indicate
> things about how your plants are doing.  Stressed plants are more
> vulnerable to massive insect attack than happy ones.
> 
> I would be pretty chary about using heavy duty insecticides like Sevin on
> a
> food crop like tomatoes. In fact this web site (which has detailed
> information about spider mites and dealing with them) says that Sevin can
> actually cause mite populations to increase due to killing off all their
> natural predators.  You might want to take a look at the site...
> 
> http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn006.html
> 
> Practicing IPM (Integrated Pest Management) is generally most effective
> against insect pests in the long run because it permits the natural
> balance
> of pest and predator to occur.  It is quite possible that you are
> increasing the pest population by trying to poison it off because you are
> also killing all predator insects....for more information about IPM, take
> a
> look at the National IPM Network site:
> 
> http://www.reeusda.gov/agsys/nipmn/index.htm
> 
> IPM is not an instant cure, but then, developing a healthy ecosystem in
> your garden takes some time to do.  However, once you have a good balance,
> you will find that you can generally control things with observation,
> sharp
> sprays of water, insecticidal soap, horticultural oil sprays, BT,
> biological controls and other rather benign methods.  Key is the health of
> your plants, knowing the life cycles of the pests in your area and who
> their natural predators are.
> 
> There is no quick fix; no poison you can spray on your soil that will
> eliminate insect pests from your garden.   Insects will always be with us.
> 
> And, particularly with food crops, what you put on your crops also goes
> into your stomach, so you might want to learn which chemicals have what
> kind of residual effects, etc....just a thought.
> 
> I would also be very careful using tobacco solution remedies, as tobacco
> is
> one of the most lethal poisons on the planet in liquid form....Jerry Baker
> is irresponsible in his advocacy of this treatment, especially since I
> once
> read, in one of his flyers, that he suggested storing the solution in
> empty
> soda cans.  I was appalled....it would be so easy for a child to get their
> hands on it and drink it and that would mean death.  His homebrew formulas
> sound like inexpensive solutions, but if you stop and figure out what the
> ingredients actually cost, they turn out to be rather expensive used in
> the
> garden and totally scientifically unproved as effective.  Unfortunately,
> his "master gardener" title is self given and his marketing abilities
> exceed his horticultural abilities.
> 
> Marge Talt, zone 7 Maryland
> mtalt@clark.net
> Editor:  Gardening in Shade
> current article: Raised Beds
> http://suite101.com/welcome.cfm/222
> All garden topics welcome page:
> http://www.suite101.com/welcome.cfm/3425#top5
> 
> ----------
> > From: dot <cdpierce@intop.net>
> > To: perennials@mallorn.com
> > Subject: Re: Gardener's dance routines - Free LEWISIA
> > Date: Friday, May 28, 1999 2:25 PM
> > 
> > HELP HELP!!!!! Can anyone tell me what to use to kill spider mites on
> > tomatoes?have sprayed them with liquid sevin,didn't work,they have fruit
> on
> > them the size of a baseball,but still full of blooms,what can i use that
> > won't kill the blooms, but get rid of the mites?
> > Dot zone7 NE Ms.
> > 
> > 
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