Seasonal Pest Control

[Baku1875]

Hello guys,
I'm dealing with major pests (aphids, spider mites, southern blight) and have begun combat. Pics coming. Last summer I battled a massive aphid infestation with castile soap/neem oil and a strong sprayer to soak up every leaf, as well as the hose to finish blasting them all off. I managed to get all of the aphids off the lemon tree and it triumphed with tons of vigor and aphid free growth.

Now it seems that aphids and spider mites got into my dwarf poincianas, my recently repotted and recovering bucida spinosas, and a few others. Today I blasted the foliage on my bucidas and poincianas, applied neem oil, put a fan pointed at them, and moistened the ground around them to make an anti spider mite environment.
I am considering using companion plants and flowers, and 'bait' plants. I heard a lot of good things about pyrethrin, and using tanacetum coccineum daisies as companion plants rather than directly applying pyrethrin to help control spider mites. Also planting dill, fennel, and other lady bug attracting species, and introducing new lady bugs via kits from amazon.

Share your pest battles this spring and insights. My go to weapon is the jet setting on my hose and blasting foliage twice a day for 2 weeks until the bugs are gone

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Your program sounds like it is working. Keep it up.

Myself I would have resorted to a synthetic, chlorinated pyrethrin like Mavrik, applied in a tank mix with a juvenile growth hormone inhibitor like Enstar 2, and the latest WP formulation of Pentac for mites.

My mix is agri-chen, not at all "organic", but I prefer chemicals that really work with out endless rounds of repeat applications. I've never had to use the above mix more than 3 times in a treatment cycle, and rarely have to treat more than once a year.

Though, it is true that up north where I live, the "pest season" is only 4 months for outdoor trees. Relatively low pest pressure compared to Florida.

 

[dbonsaiw]

How dangerous are aphids to the trees? They seem to really love the JMs and many of my trees are infested at this point.

 

[BobbyLane]

A full blown aphid infestation is almost as bad as having a beaver in your yard

 

[rockm]

How dangerous are aphids to the trees? They seem to really love the JMs and many of my trees are infested at this point.

Dangerous is relative. They won't kill your tree, at least at first. Heavily infested trees get yellow leaves, and misshapen growth.

The most danger lies in side-effects of a lot of aphids. You will get ants farming them, as well as scale, which will spread to your other trees. All of leaf and growth damage can take a heavy toll over a growing season, weakening the tree. Weak trees get all kind of insect, bacteriological and fungi problems as they decline. The honeydew they excrete attracts other bugs, including wasps and hornets--which are predators, but they also can be very aggressive in consuming the honeydew and will sting you if you accidentally get in their personal space.

 

[dbonsaiw]

but they also can be very aggressive in consuming the honeydew and will sting you if you accidentally get in their personal space.

Now that's good to know. I assumed they were eating the aphids and paid them no mind. I will be more careful.

 

[rockm]

Now that's good to know. I assumed they were eating the aphids and paid them no mind. I will be more careful.

They're doing both. Yellow jackets in particular are after the honeydew.

 

[Baku1875]

Now that's good to know. I assumed they were eating the aphids and paid them no mind. I will be more careful.

try to get a good angle with your hose, cover the top soil of your pot with something like plastic, or a piece of cardboard box, and spray away, get under the leaves too. I also use a good spray bottle on jet setting but it's a forearm workout to go leaf by leaf blasting the aphids off and takes a lot longer than just using the hose.

If you can get the numbers down after repeat hosings, and pray for natural predators to show up, aphids could go away on their own. I got rescued by a wave of ladybugs recently and it really brought my pest count down.

The other annoying thing about aphids, mites and egg laying insects is that you gotta physically remove the adults that are suckin your trees dry, then remove several generations of egg hatchings because those eggs dont fly off easily with physical methods like hosing or even horticultural oils. It could take 2-3 weeks of blastin and neem.

Someone on here recommended bioadvanced rose 3 in 1 granules to me last year, and it was a life saver. It helped me control fungus/rot/aphids on a bunch of my trees and reduced my work load.

I dont blame Leo for using powerful systemic.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

I began using the agro chemicals when the value of my orchid collection exceeded the value of my house. That was a while ago. I still live in a neighborhood with drug houses across the alley from me and a otherwise low income neighborhood, but still at one time my orchids were worth quite a bit.

I have since downsized the orchid collection to just a hundred or two plants, now worth litt less than my 12 year old car.

Point is, when the value of the collection was high, I was NOT going to allow some little mealy bugs kill one of my $250 Paph orchids. Nor will I let them kill a tree I've worked on for a decade. I'll spend some on agro-chems to save a tree I've had for 20 years, damn it.

If you value your own work, you should get serious about pest control too. Q-Tips and alcohol says you think your own work is junk.

Perhaps that is harsh. Seriously, just because I was getting serious about bonsai, I took a Disease Control for Landscape Trees, from our local "College of Lake County", the course offered for their Landscape and Nursery Associates Degree. Alternative you can check out your local County Extension Service. ExtServ is an excellent resource for pest control know how. But here's a secret

When you ask for help from your Extension Service, tell them you are thinking of starting a landscape business. Then ask your pest control question. They will give you the correct agro-chems advice. Mention the tree species as a nursery plant. Don't mention bonsai.

If you mention bonsai or houseplants, they will tell you alcohol and Q-Tips.

 

[Paradox]

I agree with Leo.
I will use chemical controls for pests on my trees that I've spent years developing and/or paid decent money for.

I work too hard for both to let some pest destroy it