So who has brought their plants inside already?

[lotis146]

Originally Posted by Tschimm

I'm against using pesticides just preventive. Bayer 3 in1 is lethal for birds and probably bees.

Why are you so afraid of some little bugs ?
A flush in the sink will wash most of them away.

I'm not exactly "FOR" or "AGAINST" the use of pesticides. Unfortunately for the world there is a necessity for them, but I don't use them freely. I'm not afraid of pill bugs, spiders (the big ones inside or if they're too close to me will get squashed), even stink bugs to the degree that I'll spray for them. HOWEVER my first priority is to my parrots & I worry that if I get some kind of infestation I won't be as able to treat indoors as I can outside. I have A LOT of plants & not exactly A LOT of space to just isolate problematic plants.

Maybe I'll wind up being lazy & give in to the advantage that they're all already inside & not spray (except for the Cymbidium who has scale & is still outside, which I used an organic fruit spray for earlier in the season for the scale & manually removed but didn't keep up the tx thus their continued presence) b/c it would be SO MUCH EASIER to just be done with moving them around.

That said I know you can't just rinse mealies or scale under the faucet & get rid of all of them & their eggs. Even one dose of Physan (like I did last year, my first winter with a real COLLECTION of plants) might curtail some fungus & bugs.

Originally Posted by CambriaWhat

The roaches were the big scare for me. Once in your home they multiply quickly and an infestation can be nearly impossible to eradicate.


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Oh man, see the thought of roach infestation scares me! But I've not see any roaches around here, do you see them regularly? I'm wondering if maybe you see them more in the south...? Anyone have roaches in their plants (in their yards) regularly in the upper Midwest/north? Curious...

Originally Posted by orchidsarefun

I don't but then I get a lot of those jumping spiders for a few months after. Most were hanging under trees/shrubs so more difficult for pillbugs etc to get to them.
I did spray my zygo seedlings with a neem oil/sucrashield mix because these were in trays on my deck.

May I ask what's your biggest concern with spraying those on the deck? Are you thinking preventative against pests? Am I remembering correctly that you used to do several rounds and with different treatments? I'd be happy with using Neem oil, of course healthier. Do you leave them out to dry?

Originally Posted by Leafmite

Pesticides are always going to cause some debate. I have fruit trees and, believe me, if there was a safer product than Malathion that actually worked, I would use it. Unfortunately, I haven't found it. I do understand the problems caused by over/improper use (resistance, the destruction of beneficial insects, cancer, harm to the environment, etc.) but if you do not spray the trees, not only do you not get fruit, you often lose the tree.

I no longer use the Bayer granular product but I did always use it just before bringing the plants into the home so as to avoid issues with beneficial insects.

I do prefer to go the organic route with my houseplants. This spring, after having trouble with mites, I bought lacewing larva. Between them and our guest predator mites and ladybugs who dropped in for a visit, the leaves look really good. (Still, I would have liked to have hit the houseplants just once with Malathion to make certain. However, I didn't.)

I use soapy water, olive oil (then washing it off with soapy water), and Isopropyl alcohol and cotton balls/spray bottle to battle issues with my houseplants.

I'm with you. Hate to admit I feel better hearing of the folks who haven't treated before bringing indoors, even if it's cuz you just didn't get around to it...for one reason or another. May I ask roughly how many plants you have? (Listen to me, trying to find an excuse not to haul them all back out for treatment!!! )

[Tschimm]

Don't get me wrong. I'm not strictly against using chemicals and I don't want to blame anyone who really need to use some.
But what I'm reading here a lot is: "...I sprayed it with xy, just in case"
So let's say I'm against using pesticides without thinking twice about the necessity.

[Leafmite]

How many plants do I have? Not as many as I did previously. I really culled the non-orchids. Bringing in the plants and arranging them in their spaces once took many days and was quite stressful but this year, it was a breeze and took just a few hours.
Inside, already, are:
The tropical orchids (around seventy), Plumeria, cinnamon, Sapodilla, coffee tree, camellia, Bay Laurel, avocado, gardenias, African violet, jade, cqcti, CP's, aloe, Theobroma cacao, banana tree, fiscus, peacock fern, Piper Nigrum, some random bulbs, rosemary, pineapple, a dwarf pomegranate, and the allspice tree.

Still outside: The Pleiones, figs, strawberries, a few CP's, the 'pond'

---------- Post added at 11:24 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:12 AM ----------

Originally Posted by Tschimm

Don't get me wrong. I'm not strictly against using chemicals and I don't want to blame anyone who really need to use some.
But what I'm reading here a lot is: "...I sprayed it with xy, just in case"
So let's say I'm against using pesticides without thinking twice about the necessity.

When you have a large collection of plants, though, it is sometimes best to prevent the problems before they start. These last few years, I have been separating the plants into various rooms to try to avoid the worst of the issues. This works well if you are willing to set up lights and have the space.

[bil]

Originally Posted by Leafmite

How many plants do I have? Not as many as I did previously. I really culled the non-orchids. Bringing in the plants and arranging them in their spaces once took many days and was quite stressful but this year, it was a breeze and took just a few hours.
Inside, already, are:
The tropical orchids (around seventy), Plumeria, cinnamon, Sapodilla, coffee tree, camellia, Bay Laurel, avocado, gardenias, African violet, jade, cqcti, CP's, aloe, Theobroma cacao, banana tree, fiscus, peacock fern, Piper Nigrum, some random bulbs, rosemary, pineapple, a dwarf pomegranate, and the allspice tree.

Hell's teeth! That is a shedload. I'm curious. You have to bring rosemary in? how cold does it get there?

[Paul]

Originally Posted by orchidsarefun

I agree with you, but you will get short shrift from many on this Board who don't/can't/won't accept that Europe is far ahead of the USA when it comes to protecting the environment and don't find it ironic that Bayer can reformulate its products for Europe/Rest of the World but not the USA. Its easy for big money to influence regulations in the USA, not so easy in Europe with many states.

And yet I have chatted with a number of Europeans who bemoan the fact that the products Europe does allow are too often ineffective at controlling or eliminating pests/diseases. No good, surefire remedy unfortunately.

Originally Posted by Leafmite

The tropical orchids (around seventy), Plumeria, cinnamon, Sapodilla, coffee tree, camellia, Bay Laurel, avocado, gardenias, African violet, jade, cqcti, CP's, aloe, Theobroma cacao, banana tree, fiscus, peacock fern, Piper Nigrum, some random bulbs, rosemary, pineapple, a dwarf pomegranate, and the allspice tree.

Impressive selection of trees there, m'dear. Even more amazed that you have successfully overwintered a rosemary -- usually they die indoors.

Originally Posted by bil

You have to bring rosemary in? how cold does it get there?

LOL. FAR too cold for rosemary to survive outdoors. Sustained temps well below 0C are common. Though she is a ways south of me, I would expect that winter temps in the range of -12C and lower are not uncommon in Leaf's area...

[Orchid Whisperer]

I'm down in Georgia, which is considered subtropical in comparison to Ohio, and we have had -14 C (7 F) here in Georgia in the recent past.

I grew up in Indiana, where record cold is about 38 C. Ohio would be similar. Temperatures between -20 and -30 C happen more years than not.

[estación seca]

Sustained temps well below 0C are common.

For those not accustomed to SI, 0 degrees C = approximately +273.15 Kelvin

[Leafmite]

Rosemary is easy if given a sunny window, not set near a heating vent, kept root-bound and set in a tray of water. When they get too large, I usually start over so I can have one in my kitchen window.
Winter here varies greatly. We had a string of warmer winters and I thought that, just perhaps, global warming had altered things forever and I could start thinking of planting a few pom trees outside. Unfortunately, the colder winters have returned and it was so cold that it killed the pennyroyal, roman chamomile, thyme and rue that had been happily growing out there for the past twenty years. I had to make an order with Companion Plants as the local herb business had closed some years ago.

[bil]

Originally Posted by Leafmite

Rosemary is easy if given a sunny window, not set near a heating vent, kept root-bound and set in a tray of water. When they get too large, I usually start over so I can have one in my kitchen window.
Winter here varies greatly. We had a string of warmer winters and I thought that, just perhaps, global warming had altered things forever and I could start thinking of planting a few pom trees outside. Unfortunately, the colder winters have returned and it was so cold that it killed the pennyroyal, roman chamomile, thyme and rue that had been happily growing out there for the past twenty years. I had to make an order with Companion Plants as the local herb business had closed some years ago.

Bloody hell. BOY am I glad I moved to a warmer climate!

---------- Post added at 01:25 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:12 PM ----------

Originally Posted by Paul

And yet I have chatted with a number of Europeans who bemoan the fact that the products Europe does allow are too often ineffective at controlling or eliminating pests/diseases. No good, surefire remedy unfortunately.

Well, the UK and Sain are all the experience I have. A farmer friend in the UK curses all the time because the regulations do mean that he loses treatments that were very effective, having said that he won't use some treatments because they would damage the bats there.

In Spain, I cann get confidor and Chas 48 both of which are pretty damn good. The confidor (imacloporid) is systemic which is an enormous boon.

To illustrate the difference in mentality, in the UK II am only allowe to buy 2 packs of 200mg ibuprufen, 16 tabs in each pack. That works out at about 6.5g of ibuprufen.
In Spain you can get tabs of 1,000 mg, ie a gram, in 42 tab packs, ie 42g, or 6 times what I am allowed to buy in one sitting in the UK.

When I buy such Ibuprufen tabs in Spain, the only question they ask me is "How many boxes do you want?"
It is so nnice to be treated like an adult.

Once, long ago (I would never get away with this now) I went into the chemists and asked for two bottles of paracetamol. These in high doses will kill you nastily as your liver dies. They could make them safe with the addition of a chemical that would only cost a couple of pence a bottle, but for some reason.....
Anyway, the pharmacist came out and said I couldn't buy a second bottle.
I said " 1. One bottle is more than enough to kill myself should I be so stupid, so a second one won't matter..
2. I can go and buy another bottle in each of the 4 other chemists' here.
3. I know exactly what an over dose does, and if you think I am so stupid that I would kill myself with these, then you are seriously mistaken."

She sold me the two bottles without a further word.

[estación seca]

Rosemary indoors is so highly susceptible to spider mites it could be used as an indicator plant, along with jasmine, Brugmansia and the cactus Rebutia.