Mealy bugs and #2 pencil
 

There was an article in the Phila. Enquirer about the new SAT and a
companion article about the history of the lead pencil. It stated in
the article that an unpainted pencil inserted in a potted plant would
eliminate mealy bugs. If that is true I wonder how it works.

Pencils are generally made using cedar, IIRC, which is
sufficiently aromatic to aggravate some pests.

Whether it works on mealies, I don't know.

The address in the header isn't valid. Send no email there.

-AJHicks
Chandler, AZ

Well that's it! I am going to play loud rock music in my greenhouse.
(((LOL)))
Remove peterpan for email reply

Cheers Wendy

Steve wrote:
wrote:

There was an article in the Phila. Enquirer about the new SAT and a
companion article about the history of the lead pencil. It stated in
the article that an unpainted pencil inserted in a potted plant would
eliminate mealy bugs. If that is true I wonder how it works.


Did you ever see one of those old movies where some sort of
monster/creature/space alien is threatening to take over the world? They
try every thing they can to stop the thing but it seems indestructible.
Just when it is hopeless, someone figures out its weakness. Maybe it
can't stand rock music. They turn on the loud speakers and the thing
explodes. End of movie.

If you can kill mealy bugs with a pencil, it's like that.

Steve

Do pencils still contain actual lead? With all the talk about lead poisoning
in kids, I would tend to doubt it. So, maybe it is the cedar. But I like
Steve's theory the best!

Diana

Diana,

Pencil "lead" is really graphite.

Bob


"Diana Kulaga" wrote in message
nk.net...
Do pencils still contain actual lead? With all the talk about lead
poisoning
in kids, I would tend to doubt it. So, maybe it is the cedar. But I like
Steve's theory the best!

Diana

If it's the wood then why does it have to be a #2 pencil?

(I just had to ask)

Gene



"Bob Walsh" wrote in message
...
Diana,

Pencil "lead" is really graphite.

Bob


"Diana Kulaga" wrote in message
nk.net...
Do pencils still contain actual lead? With all the talk about lead
poisoning
in kids, I would tend to doubt it. So, maybe it is the cedar. But I like
Steve's theory the best!

Diana

Bob Walsh wrote:

Diana,

Pencil "lead" is really graphite.

Bob

I've always assumed they used real lead at one time or that name would
have never been used. I wonder how long ago real lead was last used?
It's past my bed time and I can't think of what words to google to find
that answer. Someday.

Steve

I read that there was a time (and unfortunately I don't know when) when they
thought that lead was good for you, and they added it to pretty much
everything, including toothpaste -- yikes!
Joanna

"Steve" wrote in message
...
Bob Walsh wrote:

Diana,

Pencil "lead" is really graphite.

Bob

I've always assumed they used real lead at one time or that name would
have never been used. I wonder how long ago real lead was last used?
It's past my bed time and I can't think of what words to google to find
that answer. Someday.

Steve

Sorry, Wendy, already tried that VBG. Kenni

"Wendy" wrote in message
news:DQYYd.73768$FM3.69091@fed1read02...
Well that's it! I am going to play loud rock music in my greenhouse.
(((LOL)))
Remove peterpan for email reply

Cheers Wendy

Steve wrote:
wrote:

There was an article in the Phila. Enquirer about the new SAT and a
companion article about the history of the lead pencil. It stated in
the article that an unpainted pencil inserted in a potted plant would
eliminate mealy bugs. If that is true I wonder how it works.


Did you ever see one of those old movies where some sort of
monster/creature/space alien is threatening to take over the world? They
try every thing they can to stop the thing but it seems indestructible.
Just when it is hopeless, someone figures out its weakness. Maybe it
can't stand rock music. They turn on the loud speakers and the thing
explodes. End of movie.

If you can kill mealy bugs with a pencil, it's like that.

Steve

Actually, in a wooden pencil, it's usually blended graphite and clay. In
some of the hi-tech mechanical pencils, it's graphite and polymers,
sometimes other pigments replacing the graphite.

--

Ray Barkalow - First Rays Orchids - www.firstrays.com
Plants, Supplies, Artwork, Books and Lots of Free Info!


"Bob Walsh" wrote in message
...
Diana,

Pencil "lead" is really graphite.

Bob


"Diana Kulaga" wrote in message
nk.net...
Do pencils still contain actual lead? With all the talk about lead
poisoning
in kids, I would tend to doubt it. So, maybe it is the cedar. But I like
Steve's theory the best!

Diana

I know that today's pencils are graphite, and have been for a long time.
That's why I question the idea that lead from a pencil source could be the
mealy bug deterent.

Who knows, said the Shadow? Um, the Shadow knows.....

Okay, sorry...

Diana

Steve wrote:
Bob Walsh wrote:

Diana,

Pencil "lead" is really graphite.

Bob

I've always assumed they used real lead at one time or that name
would
have never been used. I wonder how long ago real lead was last
used?...


At least 200 years ago. There were pencil factories in the US in 1800
which used graphite.

Artists used silver styli and charcoal for drawing as far back as
Leonardo's day, if not earlier.

The core of a modern cedar pencil is a mixture of graphite and clay.
Hardness is determined by the amount of clay in the mixture--more clay,
harder pencil.

Mechanical pencil leads use graphite and some kind of polymer.

J. Del Col

Steve wrote:
Bob Walsh wrote:

Diana,

Pencil "lead" is really graphite.

Bob

I've always assumed they used real lead at one time or that name
would
have never been used. I wonder how long ago real lead was last used?
It's past my bed time and I can't think of what words to google to
find
that answer. Someday.

Steve

Steve wrote:

I've always assumed they used real lead at one time or that name
would
have never been used. I wonder how long ago real lead was last used?


Real lead was never used. Apparently pure graphite was intially
referred to as "plumbago"--black lead-- because people thought it was a
form of lead.
Apparently the thinking was something like this"...hmmm, soft, heavy,
black, sort of greasy feeling, must be lead."

Chemistry wasn't an exact science back then.

J. Del Col