by Wally Richards

PROBLEM SOLVING

Yesterday I was watering the house plants that live in our home using a plastic watering can that has the rose head removed so it just pours the water out.

We have a problem with mealy bugs which I think arrived originally on a hanging plant that was a chain cacti. Cacti and succulent plants appear to be favorites of mealy bugs which live in the root zone sucking out goodness from the plant’s roots. The adults come up stairs onto the stems and leaves of the plants and are white like little blobs of cotton wool.

The adults are easy enough to keep under control with Wally Super pyrethrum.

Using a one-litre trigger sprayer, place half a ml of Wallys Super Pyrethrum into the one litre of water (it is a very concentrated product) and the bottle comes with a pipet that allows you to measure half a ml. a quarter, three quarters and a whole ml.

It’s so little used yet a deadly spray to hit insect pests with. The action of the spray affects the insects’ nervous system and kills them.

Pyrethrum has a very short affective life when exposed to light and in particular sun light so when you have any spray left over in the trigger sprayer, you need to put it into a dark cupboard to use again at a future time.

The adult mealy bugs can be sprayed directly when on the foliage to kill them.

The problem is with the young in the root zone and how to eradicate them.

Outdoors, I would say just sprinkle some Wallys Neem Tree Powder onto the growing medium where the container is watered and that will do the trick.

Indoors you may not like the smell of the Neem Powder as it breaks down indoors and it is more prone to molds which are aiding the breakdown.

So I have been placing Wallys Super Neem Oil into the watering can at around 5 ml per litre of water and watering that into the potting mix when watering the plants that have root mealy bugs.

The Neem oil and water mix gets onto and is taken up by the plants’ roots and thus when the bugs in the soil feed on the roots they get a dose of Neem and starve to death.

If you have the mealy bug problem with container plants you need to apply both treatments — spray and water — until no longer a problem.

Now, while filling my watering can at the kitchen bench where alongside was a bottle of dishwashing liquid, the penny dropped!

Why not put a nice squirt of dishwashing liquid into the water and Neem mix?

The reason is that in summer and dry times the growing medium of potting mixes dry out and do not accept water. Thus the water mostly goes to the sides of the container and out the drainage holes to fill the saucer below with water.

The plant gets maybe a little drink but is soon dry, wanting more water.

The water in the saucer may help or will, as it evaporates, increase the humidity of the air around the plant’s foliage.

By adding the dishwashing liquid to the water (I use warm water) it breaks the surface tension and allows the growing medium to accept water and be moist.

A nice trick to do three jobs at once: Neem Oil to kill any mealy bugs or other soil pests, liquid soap to make the water wetter and penetrate the medium, and the plant gets a much needed drink at same time.

At this time of the year indoor plants will need watering once or even twice a week to keep them happy.

Look for stressed signs of the plants; drooping leaves, darker than normal leaves.

One of my favorite tests to see if a potted plant needs a drink or not is to lift the container and if it is surprisingly light, then it is dry.

If it’s quite heavy then it does not need watering unless there are other indications such as drooping foliage.

Bear in mind a plant that has been over-watered can display symptoms of under-watering as the roots are rotting and the foliage is drooping.

So, for all you folks with collections of indoor plants. use the Neem Oil and dish washing liquid into the watering can you use; to water your plants.

Indoors the super pyrethrum can be used to spray flies and applied to places where they hang out or onto ceilings. If out of direct sunlight it can be effective in areas for several weeks. Use on carpets for fleas and moths, behind fridges and stoves for cockroaches.

Used against incoming ants, mix at commercial strength which is 2.5 ml per litre of water, remove foodstuffs from pantries and cupboards and spray shelving.

Spray where pipes are coming in under sink bench. Outdoors spray under the house in areas where ants are known to be and under eaves of the house for spiders (if you dont like spiders there, otherwise leave them alone they do a good job catching pest bugs).

This time of the year with soil in gardens and in particular lawns with dry conditions; a problem arises called dry spot.

In a lawn this is where a patch of grass goes brown and the grass around the area is lovely and green. Some mistakenly think it is grassgrubs that have eaten the roots of the grass causing the grass leaves to brown and die.

More often or not it is dry spot and even with irrigation system still the brown patch persists.

Put warm water into the watering can and a good big squirt of dishwashing liquid, lather it up a bit with your hand and water that over the dry patch.

It breaks surface tension and allows the water to penetrate. Then the brown grasses will come back to green again.

During dry times when it looks like it is going to rain it is a good idea to get the hose out and water your gardens. This helps moisten the soil so when it rains later on, the rain will penetrate into the garden and not run off taking top soil with it.

When buying seedlings this time of the year of vegetable plants you need to be aware that if they have been stressed at any time they will go to seed shortly after you plant them in your garden .

Look for the very small seedlings as less likely they have been stressed even if you need to grow them on a bit at home.

Now here is an exciting bit, I am trialing a product that helps keep bigger birds off buildings. I came across this imported product recently and have been placing the gel onto branches of my fruit trees near where there is fruit that currently are beginning to ripen.

So far it appears to be working on a nashi pear tree which the birds previously have been previously pecking at the ripening fruit. Since application there’s been no further damage, but early days yet. I will write more about this soon and if effective it will be a great easy way to keep some ripe for our use rather than feeding the birds.

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