On Fri, 29 Aug 2008 01:16:49 -0500, Marie Dodge wrote:


"jellybean stonerfish" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 26 Aug 2008 01:48:58 -0500, Marie Dodge wrote:

Why would soap kill them in seconds when it's not a poison? Have you
done this yourself with wasps or is this something you read on an
organic site selling "magic soaps?"

The soap makes the water wetter. It soaks into their skin and they
die. I think maybe they breath through their skin and this makes them
drown. I don't know what happens, just that the soap kills them, and
they are dead. And you don't need special soap for aphids or white
flies. Because my friend is worried about chemicals, we used Dr.
Bronners on her iris's, and gave them a quick wipe between fingers.
Also we misted her mint and rosemary, with now fear of using them in
the future. The white fly infestation is now gone.

Well I sprayed all three gardens with Soap and flour as suggested here.
I had nothng to lose since these products were in my home and are both
cheap. We'll see if soap killed them.... in fact I'm taking the
flashlight out there now and looking.

Flour? I don't ever remember suggesting flour. Sounds messy.



OK... the plants were sprayed around 7 PM with 1 TBS each of flour and
handsoap (Palmolive) per gallon of water in a brand new sprayer with a
larger tip. Both sides of the leaves were sprayed. Sprayed were
collards, jewel peppers, chard, tomatoes and a Ichabon eggplant. Only
the Chard had spider mites and only a few plants are infested so far.

Ok, so you have some time and a flashlight. Wash the few plants with
mites. Then do it again the next night. I don't know what the flour
will do, except make things messy.

The WF and SMs are still there and are alive. I could see them moving,
walking over the residue of soap and flour when disturbed. They will
not fly at night. They had 6 hours now to suffocate and die. The flour
was supposed to somehow kill them also. The whole garden smells faintly
of soap but I guess that's better than the Organicide which smelled like
fish and didn't kill/smother them either. I'm just wondering what will
be said next.... that it's the wrong brand of flour, the wrong kind of
soap, wrong brand of soap and flour, wrong aroma, constancy of
soap.....? I'm sure you can see my point. The second garden is now
being destroyed by these pests and so far nothing had worked. Not one
of you purely Organic people have explained why the Neem Oil, the
Phyrethrum and the Organicide didn't do them any harm either. What's
left to recommend now? How many more organic options are left?

I don't know what to tell you. It seems like the bugs are your enemy.
In your other post, where you mention birds, it sounds like they are your
enemy too. Maybe you should go with astro-turf.


Now, about the wasps. My job is construction. Many times, when
You really need to tell people to
try it on insects not dangerous to themselves before recommending they
toss it on wasps. When it fails to kill the wasps as it did the WF and
SMs, and the person is stung, they can go into shock and die.

Be afraid, be very afraid.....

stonerfish