Ooh, nicely done and easy to read. Thanks for sharing this.

Kimm, you are mistaken about the bad health of plants being an issue for why pests invade. Grubs never attack a poor lawn....why would they, there's nothing there for them to eat. What the grub wants is a good healthy rooted lawn that will feed them until the cows come home. Same for houseplants; they want the good stuff, the green, healthy leaves and stems where there's lots of juices to suck and eat of the foliage. True, the more healthy a plant, better it can stand up to adversity....same goes for a lawn. But when looking for bugs, they, like us, only dine where the food is good and plentiful. Bugs when they are in numbers, can cause harm to a plant, can cause stunted growth, loss of bloom, otherwise wilting plants that do not live very long. "water is an insecticide"! Where did that come? I think you mean if you blast a stream of water at a bug, he loses his grip and so falls out of the plant...and in so doing, cant harm the plant. Yeah, I guess that counts for something too. Many garden centres have on their shelves an insecticide that is safe for most houseplants. The label might identify the contents as being "for houseplants". In so identifying, the contents will treat what is commonly the pests that are found on all our houseplants. aphids, whiteflies, scale, thrips, mealybugs, spider mites and so on. Other product labels might identify one pest in particular that it treats. But the very best ridder --you cant beat it---is on the ends of your hands. Pick a bug up and squeeze it between thumb and forefinger. He'll never again eat at your plant. I guarantee it. Now its his children that is the problem. They should be given the loving hug as well.

I've learned a lot here from you, kimmsr, and others about conditioning soil, and that is my preferred anti-bug war strategy. I have 12 very large compost piles going under the snow, and spread shredded leaves, horse and llama manure and spoiled hay on my entire two acres last fall. I know this will help with pests. I was just curious about the possibility of the silver mulch as extra insurance. I don't like using row covers due to the looks. I have to use them for frost protection, so am hoping to not use it for the bugs. I am interested in any personal evidence on the silver. It's surprising how much data is NOT out there considering that many of the seed catelogues are selling the stuff. Thank you Ronalawn for the university study information. I think I will get some and try my own tests this year. Thank you all Laura Here is a link that might be useful: Silver mulch

ooo, rats darn! I had waited for a reply and after 4 days of rain frustration with thripes and crushing citrus blackfly on one of my patio tree roses(a different type of aphid) between my fingers and tissue (had never noticed them before until the rains hit) I went out and got the Shotgun. For the first time I was able to stop the thripes from totally attacking the huge beautiful green leaves of my roses... Part of the problem Kissmer is that STUPID, STUPID ME planted zillions of gladiolus RIGHT NEXT TO MY ROSES! I found out all too belatedly that they are thripes magnets and it would require some major effort to dig them all up because they've gotten so huge and would mess up my mulching ... I would always find many edges and tips of my otherwise beautiful healthy rose leaves stained with brown patches. This is the first time I've ever seen no more added patches so far... to any of my roses... both garden and the elevated Patio tree roses... But sadly I haven't seen any bees around my wonderfully fragrant Aromatherapy blossoms... No bees so far! (sad-face) I am realizing that the pepper spray may be scaring them off... when I used Greenlight, there were some leafhoppers who'd still eat bits of my rose petals, but not so when I used the Pepper spray, vapor aim was off and may have gotten to the flowers...