Timeline for Soil insects in potted gardenia
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
13 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Nov 11, 2013 at 13:54 | comment | added | Bamboo | Ok - I admire your persistence, I must say. Gardenia is one of the most difficult houseplants, specially if you want it to flower again. | |
| Nov 10, 2013 at 16:38 | comment | added | Tom W | RE 'drowning' - I had it in the sink immersed you've described, by letting the tap fill it up slowly over the space of about quarter of an hour to encourage any bugs to do a runner of their own accord. That photo is taken afterward. It has quite a few very tiny shoots visible, but they don't seem to be growing at all. Then again, at this time of year, why should it? | |
| Nov 9, 2013 at 13:04 | history | edited | Bamboo | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Nov 9, 2013 at 12:58 | comment | added | Bamboo | I've still got some... but only use it for Phormium mealybug. At my age, I'm full of the stuff anyway... | |
| Nov 8, 2013 at 22:04 | comment | added | Tom W | Ouch, and I can see why. It's still used to treat head lice, but in my research I also discovered that potassium-based soaps are effective insecticides and still completely legal. I'm going to look for one that I can water in, since to get hold of malathion I'd have to either have someone qualified write a prescription, or try to synthesise it. Both cases are probably a no-go. | |
| Nov 8, 2013 at 19:49 | comment | added | Bamboo | Malathion - used to put a few drops in a small amount of water and water it in. Been banned for some time now because it's a nasty organo-phosphate, which is retained for life in human and mammalian nervous systems after exposure. | |
| Nov 7, 2013 at 22:57 | comment | added | Tom W | Out of curiosity, you said there isn't much available to treat these with any more - what WAS available in order to prompt that statement? I have ways and means... | |
| Nov 7, 2013 at 21:51 | comment | added | Tom W | It might be wishful thinking, but I swear some of the yellowing on the leaves has receded since about 24 hours ago. I can well imagine that if I've killed a significant proportion of whatever was sucking its sap, it'll suddenly lurch into life. If it does that, I'll keep an eye on it and hope it recovers. If it doesn't, I'll resort to phase 2 and hope it pulls through. | |
| Nov 7, 2013 at 15:52 | comment | added | Bamboo | Might do the trick then, saves disturbing the rootball | |
| Nov 6, 2013 at 21:37 | comment | added | Tom W | Well, am simulating a flood now. There are definitely quite a few tiny grey jumping bugs escaping. | |
| Nov 6, 2013 at 13:36 | comment | added | Bamboo | Well you could certainly try drowning it in a bucket to see if that does the trick, but I'd 'drown' it a second time in clean water. Be interesting to see what, if anything, comes out. | |
| Nov 6, 2013 at 13:28 | comment | added | Tom W | Thanks. I had read somewhere that for some infestations, drowning by slowly saturating the pot inside a larger container can work, particularly if the rising water level is slow enough that it forces the population to flee. I have also read that gardenias in particular dislike having their roots disturbed, so for all I know this will finish it off, but I think I will just re-pot it as suggested. | |
| Nov 6, 2013 at 13:17 | history | answered | Bamboo | CC BY-SA 3.0 |