My pest Invasion

[Bella]

Hey, I'm new here but I'm gonna jump right in and start talking. I have had a pretty full on couple of months trying to rescue my poor trees from an onslaught of various little thorns in my side. First was the red spider mite. I remembered this from my horticulture days working on a cucumber farm and I hated it then too. I got out the white oil and got rid of it eventually but it almost killed my chinese elm. Luckily winter came on and my trees werent in the middle of thier prime growing season so they have come back well this spring. I did lose one Japanese maple tho leaving me with just one. Next was the oncoming of the monsoon season. I normally keep them inside and they do really well but I asked mum to put them out to get a little rain. I wasnt home and the laundry trolley fell on my melaluca and busted the main branch off. When I got back from the weekend I picked them up off my veranda floor outside and brought them back in but the soil didnt dry out due to all the moisture in the air cause of all the rain so the soil got mouldy and the thrips that the trees must have picked up outside thrived. All through all my stock! I didnt know what to do cause trying to drown the thrips would potentially also drown all my trees but repotting them and messing about with thier roots during prime growing season when they were already weakend didnt seem like a bright idea. I went with drowning the whole pot in soapy water and they seem ok for now but what do I do if the little pests come back? I have also had a nice variety of scale which I have been picking off religiously by hand. My melaluca didnt like the white oil so is there anything I can use instead to get rid of pests on the trees?

[Taffy]

Hi Bella. First of all, welcome to Ausbonsai. I reckon you've come to the right place here for the information you're looking for.

I must say, you've really been through the wringer with your tragedies so far, so let's hope the worst is behind you now.

Let's see if I can offer you some assistance:

Confidor will kill Thrips. Before using it though, does your infestation result in the leaves being curled in along the edges and the leaf having dimples in them? If so, have you uncurled them and found little black insects less than 1mm thick and 2 - 4 mm long? Those are the Thrips I get here - in particular on my Figs - sometimes on the leaves and sometimes they get into the actual buds. If the infestation isn't too big, I usually take the affected leaves off, uncurl them and squash whatever is inside and then put the leaves in the garbage bin. If you do decide to go with Confidor, don't forget to make sure the spray goes in under the leaves (especially if they are curled up) otherwise you won't get the little sods.

White oil isn't a good idea on any tree - it clogs up the stomata on the leaves (they can't breathe), so they die and drop off. That's a likely cause of your Melaleuca dying. A far better choice is PEST oil mixed as per manufacturers directions. It's just as effective, but doesn't damage the tree. You can also add a bit of wetting agent to the mix to help it stick to the tree. Make sure that you also spray all the bark on every branch and trunk. If even one critter gets away, you'll have another infestation in no time.

Dunking your trees is a very good idea, because it means the whole tree gets treated in one go.

Hope this goes some way to answering your questions - and please don't hesitate to post again with any other questions you have. Hey, I have a reasonable knowledge of this fascinating subject of Bonsai, but I still ask questions - and this forum is one of the best places for you to get the answers your looking for.

[Bella]

Yeah, ur prolly right about the white oil, it was kill or cure at that point with the spider mite and I wiped off the leaves of the other trees with a wet cloth after a day or two but the melaluca had such fine leaves that it jast wasnt possible to get them all. Ohhh welll, we make mistakes to learn from them. Thanx for the tips.

[senseijames]

Hi Bella, if you want to go "Natural", on a very early post of mine, I had a pest problem, I was advised to try picking the leaves of a Tobacco bush ( wild tobacco its a pest " noxious weed"), and fill a large drink bottle with the leaves and fill up with hot water, leave the mix to ferment over a few weeks, and then spray the infested trees ( leaves ) with the nicotine mix, I must say I just remembered this, my mix must be really off by now, forgot all about it cheers.
James

[Chris]

Hello Bella welcome to the site

senseijames thats a great mix now all i need to find is some tobaco seeds

[Graeme]

Nicotine Spray is a great "Natural" insecticide, as is soap and chilli, along with many others. To make an easy Nicotine spray take a few cigarette butts and soak them in a jar of water. After a week or so strain the soup in the jar and store in a clean sealed jar. Use at a dilution rate of 10:1. Soap can be mixed at about the same rate with water and sprayed over a plant to protect from many bugs. The thrip that attacks many species of Ficus can be slowed with soap spray applied in the evenings. Mix a couple of sliced chilli's in a jar of water and allow to seep for around a week/ Again mix at 10:1 with water and spray over the plant. Onion can be used instead of chilli, as well as Capsicum, but not as efficient as Chilli.

Also White Oil gets a bit of an unwarranted wrap. It is a great product, but must be used with caution, as must all Hort' products. White Oil should be sprayed over the plants in the evening and then washed off again early morning, before the plant gets to much sun and warmth. Pest Oil can also ve harmfull to some plants and should also be used with caution.
Make your own White Oil by combining 2 cups of vegetable oil with half a cup of dish washing liquid in a blender. After completely mixed store in a sealed glass, labeled, jar. Again use at a 10:1 ratio mix, but remember to wash it off in the morning.

[Bella]

I never thought of tabacco. Ill have to try it. I have a pyrethrum plant and a wormwood plant both of which are supposed to be natural insecticides but i havent experimented with dosage with these so I wasnt game to try it for the first time on all my trees. Ill get around to it. I totally forgot about the chilli and soap mix. My mum uses that sometimes. Im gonna write alll these down on my bonsai white board so I have them there for the next invasion. Touch wood its a long way off!