That is most interesting. Could you please tell me what product you use,
what is in it and how it is applied. I have tried a commercial
insecticidial soap with the last outbreak of spider mites that I had. The
product I used promptly yellowed all of the leaves and caused a great deal
of leaf drop. It was also not particularly effective. My insecticidal soap
is 2% potassium salts of fatty acids sold under the brand "Safers" Natural.
After that last outbreak and the problems that I had with the soap, I
promptly brought out the nasty chemicals, in this case dimethoate (Cygon or
Lygon). Cygon is slightly phytotoxic at levels high enough to kill spider
mites, but at least it works well. I am seeking a less phytotoxic solution.
Perhaps I did something wrong when using the soap or I should try another
brand.

-Joe

"escapee" wrote in message
...
Or, you can do as I do, someone who collects brugmansia, grows for sale to
the
trade, brugmansia, and is always in a stage of propagation of brugmansia,
and
use insectidical soap as directed.


On Thu, 25 Mar 2004 17:07:11 -0600, "Widdups"
opined:

Having found no newsgroups for ornamental plants, agriculture chemicals,
or
house plants, I hope someone here can provide some advice. I have a few
houseplants (Brugmansia hybrids) under attack from spider mites. The
best
treatment I have found for spider mites is a miticide called Avid.
However,
Avid is only sold in large quantities for large amounts of money ($300 US
per container). But I note from reading the Lable and MSDS online
(something more people should do) that the active ingredient in Avid is
abamectin. When searching for abamectin on the internet, I find that it
is
chemically very similar to ivermectin, differing only by a double bond vs
single bond in one location. For a chemical diagram see
http://www.alanwood.net/pesticides/abamectin.html and
http://www.alanwood.net/pesticides/ivermectin.html Now ivermectin is
readily available in smaller quantities from the local veterinarian where
it
is used to control internal and external parasites in livestock. I use
it
for pets too, a practice that is very effective against flea outbreaks,
but
off lable. So I plan on aquiring 1.5 ml of Ivomec injectible from my
vet,
adding an emusifier (likely a ml or 2 of the premium ag chemical
surfactant
blend Merge by BASF) and bringing the volume up to 1 litre with RO water.
This mixture will have an active ingredient level between the lable rates
given for Avid. I can then pour into hand sprayer and apply in accordance
with the Avid lable.

Any comments in regards to my idea would be greatly appreciated.

-Joe