A funny thing happened on the way to putting an home addition and
looking into increasing the size of my humble greenhouse. I became
super sensitive to everything that has most man-made VOCs. Paints,
perfumes, insecticidal soap, and unbelievable number of things I can't
be exposed to for more than a few minutes, if that.

So now mealy bugs are terrorizing my plants, but I can't use standard
neem oil or insecticidal soap. Any suggestions before I loose my
entire stock?

I did see cooking oil and dishwashing oil. I can tolerate Dr Bonner's
castille soap, might that be a substitute for dishwashing soap. Are
there any unscented dishwashing soaps? My plants and I would welcome
any suggestions.

Thanks

Mike

That sucks...

I've been trying a new thing that a friend brought over called...
'organocide'. Despite the scary name, the ingredients are %3 sesame
oil, 90+% fish oil, and lecithin. Doesn't smell nearly as bad as you
might think, and whatever odor there was went away after a day. Makes
leaves nice and shiny. Supposed to take care of scale and mealybugs,
spidermites, and aphid, and... who knows, the label makes some pretty
broad claims.

You could probably also use ultrafine (horticultural) grade oil, or
failing that (I don't think any VOCs, but I'm not sensitive) a light
cooking oil. All of those oil sprays work by smothering insects.

Rob

mmccaws2 wrote:
A funny thing happened on the way to putting an home addition and
looking into increasing the size of my humble greenhouse. I became
super sensitive to everything that has most man-made VOCs. Paints,
perfumes, insecticidal soap, and unbelievable number of things I can't
be exposed to for more than a few minutes, if that.

So now mealy bugs are terrorizing my plants, but I can't use standard
neem oil or insecticidal soap. Any suggestions before I loose my
entire stock?

I did see cooking oil and dishwashing oil. I can tolerate Dr Bonner's
castille soap, might that be a substitute for dishwashing soap. Are
there any unscented dishwashing soaps? My plants and I would welcome
any suggestions.



--
Rob's Rules: http://littlefrogfarm.com
1) There is always room for one more orchid
2) There is always room for two more orchids
2a) See rule 1
3) When one has insufficient credit to obtain more
orchids, obtain more credit

Mike,

I wonder whether some kind of unscented baby oil and baby wash would work?
Since many parents are concerned with allergies, super-sensitive baby
products are available. I do not know however whether these products will
kill the mealy bugs.

Looking for allergy dish liquid or allergy dish soap, I found the following
on the Web:
http://www.alerg.com/page/A/CTGY/CLN3
http://www.allergybegone.com/envirorite.html

Hope this helps,
Joanna

"mmccaws2" wrote in message
oups.com...
A funny thing happened on the way to putting an home addition and
looking into increasing the size of my humble greenhouse. I became
super sensitive to everything that has most man-made VOCs. Paints,
perfumes, insecticidal soap, and unbelievable number of things I can't
be exposed to for more than a few minutes, if that.

So now mealy bugs are terrorizing my plants, but I can't use standard
neem oil or insecticidal soap. Any suggestions before I loose my
entire stock?

I did see cooking oil and dishwashing oil. I can tolerate Dr Bonner's
castille soap, might that be a substitute for dishwashing soap. Are
there any unscented dishwashing soaps? My plants and I would welcome
any suggestions.

Thanks

Mike

Mike, can you tolerate dog bath soap for fleas? A couple of folks have
mentioned that option to me, though I have not tried it personally.

Diana

There's the old 409/rubbing alcohol/water mixture. But there are also those
who say Dr Bronner's works just as well. Use at the same rate as for
dishsoap.

K Barrett

"mmccaws2" wrote in message
oups.com...
A funny thing happened on the way to putting an home addition and
looking into increasing the size of my humble greenhouse. I became
super sensitive to everything that has most man-made VOCs. Paints,
perfumes, insecticidal soap, and unbelievable number of things I can't
be exposed to for more than a few minutes, if that.

So now mealy bugs are terrorizing my plants, but I can't use standard
neem oil or insecticidal soap. Any suggestions before I loose my
entire stock?

I did see cooking oil and dishwashing oil. I can tolerate Dr Bonner's
castille soap, might that be a substitute for dishwashing soap. Are
there any unscented dishwashing soaps? My plants and I would welcome
any suggestions.

Thanks

Mike

Even alcohol based products. Right now my wife chases me out of the
house so she can clean the bathroom.

I guess I stay with what I know I can deal with. Unless someone knows
I shouldn't use DR B. I'll use the castille soap and seseme oil.

I looked at the label of alsafer dishwashing soap and because I don't
know enough about household chemistry, I don't know what to think about
nonionic surfactants. Other than a general discussion by one site,
below, I can't tell if it would be safe.

Thanks everyone.

Mike

Nonionic surfactants are illustrated in Figure 1. Although ionic
surfactants exist, the most prevalent form of surfactant used with
herbicides is the nonionic form. Most nonionic surfactants are composed
of linear or nonyl-phenol alcohols or fatty acids.

The function of surfactants in this class is to reduce surface tension,
improve leaf surface spreading and sticking, and improve herbicide
absorption. Some examples of nonionic surfactants include X-77 (UAP),
Induce (Helena), Activator 90 (UAP), Triton Ag 98 (Rhone-Poulenc) and
R-11 (Wilfarm).
K Barrett wrote:
There's the old 409/rubbing alcohol/water mixture. But there are also those
who say Dr Bronner's works just as well. Use at the same rate as for
dishsoap.

K Barrett

"mmccaws2" wrote in message
oups.com...
A funny thing happened on the way to putting an home addition and
looking into increasing the size of my humble greenhouse. I became
super sensitive to everything that has most man-made VOCs. Paints,
perfumes, insecticidal soap, and unbelievable number of things I can't
be exposed to for more than a few minutes, if that.

So now mealy bugs are terrorizing my plants, but I can't use standard
neem oil or insecticidal soap. Any suggestions before I loose my
entire stock?

I did see cooking oil and dishwashing oil. I can tolerate Dr Bonner's
castille soap, might that be a substitute for dishwashing soap. Are
there any unscented dishwashing soaps? My plants and I would welcome
any suggestions.

Thanks

Mike

For organic gardening qwiht roses, it is always recommended you use non
phosphate soaps and something like vegetable oil (canola, corn, Cotteonseed,
Sesame etc)

1 tablespoon of each in a gallon of water.

Home Depot, Lowes, andmost organic garden stores sell forms of insecticidal
soap which are potassium fats adn

"mmccaws2" wrote in message
oups.com...
Even alcohol based products. Right now my wife chases me out of the
house so she can clean the bathroom.

I guess I stay with what I know I can deal with. Unless someone knows
I shouldn't use DR B. I'll use the castille soap and seseme oil.

I looked at the label of alsafer dishwashing soap and because I don't
know enough about household chemistry, I don't know what to think about
nonionic surfactants. Other than a general discussion by one site,
below, I can't tell if it would be safe.

Thanks everyone.

Mike

Nonionic surfactants are illustrated in Figure 1. Although ionic
surfactants exist, the most prevalent form of surfactant used with
herbicides is the nonionic form. Most nonionic surfactants are composed
of linear or nonyl-phenol alcohols or fatty acids.

The function of surfactants in this class is to reduce surface tension,
improve leaf surface spreading and sticking, and improve herbicide
absorption. Some examples of nonionic surfactants include X-77 (UAP),
Induce (Helena), Activator 90 (UAP), Triton Ag 98 (Rhone-Poulenc) and
R-11 (Wilfarm).
K Barrett wrote:
There's the old 409/rubbing alcohol/water mixture. But there are also
those
who say Dr Bronner's works just as well. Use at the same rate as for
dishsoap.

K Barrett

"mmccaws2" wrote in message
oups.com...
A funny thing happened on the way to putting an home addition and
looking into increasing the size of my humble greenhouse. I became
super sensitive to everything that has most man-made VOCs. Paints,
perfumes, insecticidal soap, and unbelievable number of things I can't
be exposed to for more than a few minutes, if that.

So now mealy bugs are terrorizing my plants, but I can't use standard
neem oil or insecticidal soap. Any suggestions before I loose my
entire stock?

I did see cooking oil and dishwashing oil. I can tolerate Dr Bonner's
castille soap, might that be a substitute for dishwashing soap. Are
there any unscented dishwashing soaps? My plants and I would welcome
any suggestions.

Thanks

Mike

All that scrub-a-dub does not get the bugs out of the roots and plant
medium.

You can use natural nicotine (sulfate), if you can find it. called
balck leaf 40. not on the us market.

You can try Bayer tree & shrub insect control. it is the least
expensive way to buy imidacloprid. this is called synthetic
niclotine, amoung other things. Use as a systemic.

Mix in with your regular ferterlizer, and soak the growing medium.
Needs 3 or 4 weekly treatments. I presume this is because orckids do
not injest like a lot of other green leafy plants.

The stuff is avaliable at home depot, and lowes, and is not very
expensive for a very large amount.

On 13 Mar 2006 06:56:51 -0800, "mmccaws2" wrote:

A funny thing happened on the way to putting an home addition and
looking into increasing the size of my humble greenhouse. I became
super sensitive to everything that has most man-made VOCs. Paints,
perfumes, insecticidal soap, and unbelievable number of things I can't
be exposed to for more than a few minutes, if that.

So now mealy bugs are terrorizing my plants, but I can't use standard
neem oil or insecticidal soap. Any suggestions before I loose my
entire stock?

I did see cooking oil and dishwashing oil. I can tolerate Dr Bonner's
castille soap, might that be a substitute for dishwashing soap. Are
there any unscented dishwashing soaps? My plants and I would welcome
any suggestions.

Thanks

Mike

On Tue, 14 Mar 2006 08:13:00 -0500 in gerald wrote:
All that scrub-a-dub does not get the bugs out of the roots and plant
medium.

You can use natural nicotine (sulfate), if you can find it. called
balck leaf 40. not on the us market.

You can try Bayer tree & shrub insect control. it is the least
expensive way to buy imidacloprid. this is called synthetic
niclotine, amoung other things. Use as a systemic.

Mix in with your regular ferterlizer, and soak the growing medium.
Needs 3 or 4 weekly treatments. I presume this is because orckids do
not injest like a lot of other green leafy plants.

The stuff is avaliable at home depot, and lowes, and is not very
expensive for a very large amount.

What concentration do you mix in?


--
Chris Dukes
Suspicion breeds confidence -- Brazil

On Thu, 16 Mar 2006 01:56:05 GMT, ?
wrote:

On Tue, 14 Mar 2006 08:13:00 -0500 in gerald wrote:
All that scrub-a-dub does not get the bugs out of the roots and plant
medium.

You can use natural nicotine (sulfate), if you can find it. called
balck leaf 40. not on the us market.

You can try Bayer tree & shrub insect control. it is the least
expensive way to buy imidacloprid. this is called synthetic
niclotine, amoung other things. Use as a systemic.

Mix in with your regular ferterlizer, and soak the growing medium.
Needs 3 or 4 weekly treatments. I presume this is because orckids do
not injest like a lot of other green leafy plants.

The stuff is avaliable at home depot, and lowes, and is not very
expensive for a very large amount.

What concentration do you mix in?

I have never used the black flag nicotine. Bottle is 20 years old.

The tree & shrub I use 4 oz into 2 or 3 gal.which is not on the
container, but I worked out from this article:

http://www.njorchids.org/articles/Mealybug/Mealybug.htm

This stuff is toxic. keep it away from people and pets, which is not
spelled out on the container.

One container (32 oz) is about enough to treat a couple thousand
orchids for a couple years.

Nicotine sulfate is (I believe) derived commercially from tobacco, not
synthesized. I have always heard that you can transmit TMV (tobacco
mosaic virus) using nicotine as a pesticide. I don't know if this is
anecdote or data (the plural of anecdote is not data).

Many orchid growers won't even allow people to smoke in their
greenhouse, myself included. Again for fears of TMV transmission (or in
my case, because I can't stand cigarette smoke). If I see somebody
smoking in the greenhouse, I'll assume they are on fire and act
accordingly. I can use the TMV thing as an excuse... On the other
hand, I know many very good growers who smoke like chimneys, in the
greenhouse and out. They don't seem worried about TMV.

For my money, there are far less toxic compounds than nicotine that you
can use for your pesticide needs. Many of the chemical pesticides you
can buy off the shelves these days are almost completely non-toxic to
mammals (at the recommended doses, anyway), the toxic ones are just not
available anymore. Just because it is 'natural' does not make it safe.
Most of the most potent poisons known to man are natural (dart frog
toxin, ricin, and botulism toxin are three nasty ones). Nicotine is
right up there.

I'd dispose of the nicotine (safely, somehow) and stick with the bayer
spray (imidocloprid).

What concentration do you mix in?

I have never used the black flag nicotine. Bottle is 20 years old.

The tree & shrub I use 4 oz into 2 or 3 gal.which is not on the
container, but I worked out from this article:

http://www.njorchids.org/articles/Mealybug/Mealybug.htm

This stuff is toxic. keep it away from people and pets, which is not
spelled out on the container.

One container (32 oz) is about enough to treat a couple thousand
orchids for a couple years.



--
Rob's Rules: http://littlefrogfarm.com
1) There is always room for one more orchid
2) There is always room for two more orchids
2a) See rule 1
3) When one has insufficient credit to obtain more
orchids, obtain more credit

Rob wrote:
Nicotine sulfate is (I believe) derived commercially from tobacco, not
synthesized. ..

Yep. And virtually all of it comes from India. You'd think the US
tobacco crop would be a source, but it isn't.

Nicotine will kill just about any bug on the planet, but it is readily
absorbed by human skin and can easily kill a careless user.

Anybody using Black Leaf 40, if they can find it, needs to wear long
sleeves, long pants, chemical goggles and long rubber gloves.

In use, the BL40 is mixed with an alkaline soap solution to produce the
alkaloid form of nicotine which is more potent than the sulfate form.

My grandfather used BL40 on his roses back in the 1950's-60's. It
worked..

J. Del Col

On Thu, 16 Mar 2006 08:55:40 -0500 in gerald wrote:

I have never used the black flag nicotine. Bottle is 20 years old.

I meant the bayer.
About the only nicotine use I've heard of recently is
nicotine smoke bombs (Good for killing off spider mites for a week)
and suspect they've been yanked from the US market as well.


The tree & shrub I use 4 oz into 2 or 3 gal.which is not on the
container, but I worked out from this article:

http://www.njorchids.org/articles/Mealybug/Mealybug.htm

Excellent, thanks.

This stuff is toxic. keep it away from people and pets, which is not
spelled out on the container.

One container (32 oz) is about enough to treat a couple thousand
orchids for a couple years.

Heh.


--
Chris Dukes
Suspicion breeds confidence -- Brazil

Mike I am curious as to your allergies? Is it a breathing thing? Like Asthma?
I have one of those gas masks that have the two round fine filters. They really
work. My mentor uses one every time he sprays anything. He wears long sleeves &
rubber gloves, lotion on his face & a cap!
My plants got invaded by scale & mealies two years ago & still trying to get rid
of them. I have been using Enstar & Mavrik together, been told it will do the
trick. Very expensive so I am trying to repot everything as well as keeping up
with the regimen.
--
Cheers Wendy

Remove PETERPAN for email reply

mmccaws2 wrote:
A funny thing happened on the way to putting an home addition and
looking into increasing the size of my humble greenhouse. I became
super sensitive to everything that has most man-made VOCs. Paints,
perfumes, insecticidal soap, and unbelievable number of things I can't
be exposed to for more than a few minutes, if that.

So now mealy bugs are terrorizing my plants, but I can't use standard
neem oil or insecticidal soap. Any suggestions before I loose my
entire stock?

I did see cooking oil and dishwashing oil. I can tolerate Dr Bonner's
castille soap, might that be a substitute for dishwashing soap. Are
there any unscented dishwashing soaps? My plants and I would welcome
any suggestions.

Thanks

Mike

On Thu, 16 Mar 2006 09:44:53 -0500, Rob
wrote:


I'd dispose of the nicotine (safely, somehow) and stick with the bayer
spray (imidocloprid).

The bayer is not a spray. it is a systemic. I dip the plants in a
bucket, and drain.

If you look up http://extoxnet.orst.edu/pips/imidaclo.htmimid, you
will see it is not to go into your martini mix.

since not sprayed, is not real bad. wear gloves.