Jim:

Wow, and the plants aren't having a problem breathing?

It didn't burn them if you left it to dry and then they got sunshine?

Wonder if it would work for other beasties.

If this is true, you know where I'm surfing to with plastic in hand. (grin)

"an anti-transpirant and then rain for a month."... I hope you are on to something but it could also have been your month of rain because Mites don't do well where it is damp I have read.

Ruth Ann ; I went 3 weeks after the application without any mites. Then the rain. I have 75 + plants. Their eggs would have hatched. My mites do not care if it was wet or not. I read the same thing but we have average humidity of 90-100% most of the summer. I was hesitant to post any result until I was fairly sure it had worked.

Techno, I tried it on everything once a small test was done on different plants and types for a month. I sprayed everything twice in a week period. I sprayed vegetables, NBJ, Plumeria, cannas, roses, vines, Hybiscus, trees, day lillies, rubber trees, Honeysuckle, Plumbago, and about another 10-15 types of plants. I sprayed everything in my growing area. Zero ill effects and many positive effects other than mites and fungus control.

Give it a try and let us know, It has allowed me to go almost 100% without pesticides. There may be a down side but I have not seen it. The only variable I see that might surface is root growth on cutting since it is a polymer. I would spray light close to cutting time. I just do not know, maybe someone will test this item out. We have 90+ temps for another few months.

Jim

Thanks for your reply Jim.

Jim I'm surprised that you had a mite problem with all that rain and humidity but I'm glad you found something that works. I haven't had any problems with any of my plants so far this year but they'll be coming in for the winter in about a month. That's when the problems start for me and it's worse in the house then the greenhouse. I can keep the humidity much higher in the GH. I wonder if the anti-dessicant would work inside? I might have to give it a try.
Karyn

PS: The passion vines you sent have done beautifully here. They are the only ones I have planted directly inground and they are in the front yard. People are constantly stopping by to ask what they are then I take them in the backyard and show them the other 25 varieties. lol The baobob (?) tree that you sent is also doing great and has put on a ton of new growth.

Anti-transpirant it should work. I have been fighting them all year. It should work better inside due to the lack of ultraviolet degradation of the polymer.

Banyan Tree, I love them. In the tropics they grow for thousands of years. Whole armies in history have camped under a single tree. It is the worlds largest tree if allowed to form prop roots.

Passion Vines- the jury is still out on them I have researched them a bunch since there was a question of the species. I still have no definite answer. They are a native species and have been around this area 70+ years. This was from a 85 year old neighbor. She calls them Maypops. (incarnata) We all live on 5+ acres on my street. My plants finally got some wet feet and grew 50+ feet up to the tops of my oaks. They are blooming like crazy. PS the fruit is smooth. Maybe I will have some this year. There are no other passion vines around here and the bee population is very few. I understand they are not self fertile so we shall see. I tried one a few years back during a rainy year. I would not eat them myself. It looks like some type of larva inside.

Jim

PS: I told you they were invasive. I bet they make it through the winter. They do not know the word die. If not I have a few thousand more. My new super invasive trumpet vines have grown 18 feet in 3 months. I cannot wait till they bloom. I have 12 of them. LOL Lots of space, roundup and a tractor will tame anything.

Thanks Jim!

I'll get some. Im suffering something now - it's removing entire leaves on top - like someone gave them a bad haircut.

Hope your trumpets bloom soon for you! They are something to see when they're in full bloom!

Thank you!

jeep461, is right you can get mites with damp!! Keeping them healthy is the trick. We have moved to Raid and hot water baths up north which works well.

I thought I was the only one at WAR!!! LOL This is the first time I have ever had to deal with them...I went ahead and defoliated early and used water with a touch of soap... seems to work well but I don't have a 100 plants either...LOL Great info Jim I know you have done your homework you are very thorough...
Kylie

Yes I have done my home work and then some. I have not even thought of the hundreds of hours of research and thousands of pages of information. I did not wind up here by luck. I had enough conclusive evidence that I felt every brug growers needed. Their independent test will prove and give us all more insight into dealing with mites.

I live in a perfect mite environment where they can breed and multiply 10 months out of the year and their populations not be harmed by cold weather. I had 3 choices: solve the problem, cut my numbers down to maybe 15-20 plants, or quit growing them. The polymer smothers them and makes a barrier that is almost impossible for them to penetrate. It is a mite specific solution.

Also needing some research is ability of the polymer to carry and incorporate into its barrier items like Avid,Forbid, pepper extracts, IGR's and systemics for a total control of all sucking and chewing insects. I have found enough of a solution to my mite problem that it has made growing brugs on the same level as normal vegetables.

I am at the end of 8 week label protection period. It is 90+ and all my brugs are flowering. This is when they usually attack. I have not found 1 infected leaf yet. I was sacking up a plastic Wal-mart bag daily to the top with leaves before using a polymer. I am going to see just how long I can stretch it out. There are plenty of new unprotected leaves and flowers. I still have 1/2 a bottle left and it will cover 1 acre and spraying all my plants twice about $ 8.00 for 2 months of protection. I like it.

Those who do try it let us know. Knowledge is power.

Jim

Finally found some mites. Not where I expected them in a back corner on some cannas. I noticed they looked ragged and started an inspection. Sure enough on the underside of a leaf there was some mite webbing. The cannas did not get sprayed real well the 1st time. So I guess every 2 months is a time to respray with temps 92+ day and 78 nights. I was waiting to see how long I could stretch it out. ( Almost 3 months).

What have I learned?

1.It will prevent daily leaf drooping.
2. It will make the plant retain its leaves.
3. Plant growth in hot weather was accelerated.
4. Cactus should not be sprayed.
5. If you are transplanting in hot weather it helps.
6. Excessive amount of rain on sprayed plants had no negative results.
7. Plant turgidly is increased greatly it will make a drooping plants branches grow up.
8. Overall plant vigor was increased.
9. It has no negative effect on flowers and buds.
10. It does protect the plant from other insects other than mites for about a month after it is sprayed.
11.It reduces the labor to care for plants in the heat

Things I could not observe but suspect might be true

1. It makes the plant unattractive to mites due to smell.
2. It makes fertilization much more effective.
3. It prevents fungus and other diseases in plants.
4. Flowers that are sprayed remain on the plant longer.

I thought I might give an update. I am playing with some other things. Mixed with a polymer and in the soil. I am looking for long term shields in both above and below soil pests and diseases. It gets hard to analyze how effective a item is when your number 1 enemy has all but vanished. I might have to go look for someone with a mite problem or not. I am happy in my own little paradise. I have not used a pesticide in 3+ months that is a record here. I am amazed at the amount of tree frogs lizards and dragon flies. My mosquito problem has been reduced so much that we can defiantly tell the difference.

Jim

Hey Jim,

I posted your information at another brug forum, I dont know if I can say the name, but it starts with a "D". Anyway, the information that you provided sparked a very lively and positive discussion about the use of anti-transpirants to combat the mites; there were 67 replies and 825 views!!!

Many people ordered the products, some the Wilt-Pruf, some the Anti-Stress 2000. One person ordered and used Wilt-Pruf on their brugs, leaving one un-treated as a control. All of her treated brugs did not wilt in the hot sun, but the one left un-treated did wilt. The person said that the product was worth it just for that problem, even if it was not effective for all the other problems.

Using your initial research on the products we dug a little further. This is what we found out. The Wilt-Pruf product was originally developed for use on evergreens during the winter; to keep the plants from losing water through the leaves from the cold, dry winter winds. This is what a company representative of Wilt-Pruf sent to one person in an email.

"First you must know that Wilt Pruf is intended for evergreens. Applying it to deciduous trees and shrubs is experimenting.

I have applied it to a Chinese Plumeira on Kauai at a 10-1
concentration with good results. We have also used it on Rose bushes
many times but in hot weather it is possible to get burning so you
should begin cautiously.

The concentrate is a considerable better value. The RTU is a 1-5
concentration so you may need to dilute it to use it on tropicals.

Best Regards,

John Graff"

I personally spoke to the person who developed the Anti-Stress 2000 product. For the sake of having to re-type, I am just going to copy and paste what I posted at the other brug forum.

"This evening I had a lengthy conversation with the gentleman that developed the Anti-Stress 2000 product. He was a former college professor. He developed the product for large scale agricultural use; to not only help keep plants from becoming water stressed, but to also give the treated crops a significant degree of frost protection.

He told me that when they were in the development stage for this product that; they dipped the leaves of tender tropical houseplants into the product undiluted with no ill affects whatsoever.

In their research to determine if that the product would give plants frost protection, they sprayed apple trees in full bloom, I think he said this research was done in Washington State. It did give the blooms frost protection, and it did not damage the blooms in any way, and it did not interfere with pollination either. He told me the bees would not attempt to pollinate while the blooms were wet but after it dried they went back to pollinating the blooms. Not only do they use it on apples, but almonds, peaches, etc. with no damage to the blossoms.

So I would have to say that, if this product does not damage the blooms of fruit trees that are thin and delicate, that brug blooms should not see any bad effects. Especially since that they are thicker and have much more substance to them.

He also explained to me that the product would cause plants to have accelerated growth. In their studies, tomatoes and melons were market ready 7 - 10 days earlier because the plants were not under the "normal" stresses that they would experience in the field. On the (Tests) page of the website look at "EnglandÂs Fruit Growing Area Has Amazing Yields With Anti-Stress" about the tremendous increase in productivity when using this product on their orchards.

Last thing about our conversation this evening. I asked him about Wilt-Proof vs. his product Anti-Stress 2000. He told me that the Wilt-Proof product is quite different than the Anti-Stress 2000 that you have to be careful with the dilution rates. He said that Wilt-Proof could possibly damage the foliage, but that could just be "Sales Talk". However, he was very cordial and more than willing to answer any questions about his product".

Also Jim, you noted that you suspected that Anti-Stress 2000 might prevent or control fungus and other plant diseases. Well, your thoughts are correct, the Anti-Stress 2000 is supposed to be effective against powdery/downy mildews, black spot on roses and apple scab too. I canÂt remember where I read all of this, but I remember reading it. So, from all that I have read and could find out about these two products, I would have to say the Anti-Stress 2000 is the better of the two.

Here is another link to the Anti-Stress 2000 product that would be worth visiting and reading. http://www.antistress.com/MSDS/MSDSAS.html

I will have to bring my plants in for the winter in just a few weeks, so I am going to wait until then to spray. I always strip the leaves off the plant before bringing them in the house; they are going to fall off anyway. I hope that when I spray them it will keep the broad/cyclamen mites from over-wintering on the plants.

Plus, since I have to keep them in an up-stairs bedroom, where it is very warm and dry in the winter, I hope it will keep the plants from dieing back due to desiccation. It seems that I always lose a plant or two due to the root ball drying out too much.

Jim, thank you for providing us with your experiences and the information on the products, it has been a tremendous help and relief. I know what you were going through with the mites. I too had spent many hours researching and reading too many websites to even think about.

David

Wow - card in hand, ordering right now. . .

Still suffering problems - chew marks - leaves gone. Maybe it would help mine over the winter also.

Oh rats - no way to order on line. Guess I'm calling tomorrow.

I wonder if this product used on houseplants and tropicals overwintering indoors makes them better able to cope with low humidity and poor air circulation in the home.

I will definitely be getting some anti-stress and try it out.

x

xerophyte nyc,

I plan to use the Anti-Stress 2000 not only on the tropical plants, but on my regular house plants too. It is so hard to keep the soil moist enough during the winter. And if you do, then you take the chance of having root rot and fungus gnats.

I tell you this product addresses so many problems; such as, keeping plants from losing too much water through the leaves, seals out fungus and bacterial spores from infecting and spreading on the leaves, and then sealing off the leaves from a host of sucking insect pests, it is almost like a magic bullet.

I cant wait to start using it on my plants!!!

I accidentally "bumped" into this thread. I live in San Antonio.

WOW-is about all I can say.

I have a question though: The anti-stress 2000? Does it clog trigger sprayers? Is there a special type of sprayer that you use to broadcast it?

Many organic type products tend to clog sprayers. Also, I'm kind of "blond" when it comes to sprayers. Some people know how to get a pump sprayer to broadcast "clogging" types of things. I'm clueless.

Thank you!

Mixed it will not cause a problem. Most problems come from failing to clean a sprayer before use. Yes I clean before for the simple reason is insects and dirt enter from the air pump. This should be take off and a few pumps with a garden hose running on the air entrance should do it. Also clean tank as somehow a closed tank still has dirt. You will operate 100% clog free.

There is no way to spray a clogging substance. Not even with a 800 PSI orchard sprayer it has to be strained.Even when I used a flour and buttermilk mixture in my orchard sprayer you have to be clean. I believe you could run it through a hose end sprayer if you wanted. I would shake the bottle real well and mix 1/2 undiluted to 1/2 water and adjust your oz per gallon accordingly. I use a pump myself.

Normal mixture of a anti transpirant flows like regular water.

Jim

Thanks David,

I was feeling like a toxic dump for a while trying to cope with mites. The one thing that keeps coming back if enough research is done is that mites will over come all chemicals rapidly. I had found some way off label safe pesticides. Seems our government EPA will not allow them at this time for use on mites. ( New age termicides) .

My new hobby has kind of baffled my friends. Brugs are addicting. I had never had a battle I could not find a solution for. So off I went researching. I decided we needed a barrier after looking at the meek mite under the microscope for hundreds of hours. I could kill them but they came right back. Mites are very intelligent by luck or nature? Chemical companies have no incentive to solve the problem. Agricultural concerns grow so much that it is not cost effective to treat for them. Mites favorite food is Brugmansia.

Now I tested a bunch of products some with good success but throw in the wrench that it had to be organic and non toxic. They fell real fast. I was researching and testing polymers and coatings. It had to breathe and benefit the plant and possibly carry other ingredients without rapidly degrading. There went most of my stellar hopes. So I googled Polymers for plants. Then Glycoscience for plants after a few hundred pages some interesting facts :
http://www.biophysj.org/cgi/content/full/84/5/3147?ck=nck
I was in pretty deep. LOL I knew I had found what I was looking for. Somebody had to have developed and tested a similar product. Then it was to the patent office online. Back to polymer plant coatings and 3 products came to the surface Cloud Cover, wilt-Pruf and anti-stress 2000. I researched them all and cross referenced them to plants usage. Powerful, safe and affordable. Ok, now to test one. Their MSDS and their patents showed similar structures.

Well to make this long story short. This is not an ornamental product. I do imagine it will soon become one if word gets around. It is bad for chemical companies and commercial plant nurseries. It might get bought up by a chemical company, and moth balled. I do hope that our sector of the market is insignificant enough to be allowed to use it. Yes we are fooling mother nature but we also are saving millions of beneficial insects and creatures by using a safe product that allows us to not use harsh pesticides weekly. My crowd of little green tree frogs likes me. Be earth kind use a Polymer. You will be amazed at what pops up in a few months. Nature does have a way of recovering from pesticide pollution.

Jim

Jim:
Thanks for the info on the spray technique. It's probably best to invest in a separate pump sprayer and desiginate it for the anti-transpirant.

I'm sure it's worth the extra $20 or so.

pricklypearsatx- San Antonio is a breeze to grow in compared to the coast. I grew up there and always had beautiful gardens. Our humidity keeps diseases going almost year round with perfect conditions. The we have salty water to irrigate with.

You are going to like this stuff. I put my pesticides away. Nice to see frogs and such all over. I love my tree frogs as much as my plants. Cactus and morning glories are the only things that do not like it. I use only 1 sprayer. I wash it good each time and before reuse.

Side benefits to it are it will knock down flying insect with a light mist. Good for fly's and mosquitoes. Be careful of tree frogs hiding when you spray. I try to do it late but when it is still hot enough for them to be hiding out. It does not kill them but it does P@#$ them off. I always use what I mix if you do not then depressurize tank and clean nozzle and tip. Cover the pump with a plastic bag on the top. It keeps critters out. It should hold for a while this way.

Jim

Jeep

In an earlier post where you listed "what you've learned", one of the things you mentioned was that cactus should not be sprayed. Please elaborate: what were your experiences, why do you think it was detrimental, do you think the same advice would apply to other succulents, do you think the results have something to do with CAM metabolism? Thanks,

x

Probably, I lost 1 of 3 cactus that I had. I do not believe they need it anyway. I irrigate a lot due to sandy soil, they I assume could not copy with the extra amount of water. I was spraying at a 20:1 ration. Now if you are irrigating only for cactus then the dilution could be adjusted. I am stating only personal observations, I would proceed cautiously on any of the item I found that did not benefit. Others who use it should give their observations on plants. Good and bad so we all can benefit from their experiences.

Jim

I am thinking about ordering the antistress 2000 product to use on my angel trumpets and I am wondering if the product has any positive effect on aphids. They are my number two problem along with the dreded spider mites.

After it is sprayed a few times even the grasshoppers and earwigs leave them alone. I guess they do not like the taste. LOL Maybe it gives them indigestion.

Jim

Nooo wayyyyyyy. . .

Earwigs too?

Whoaaaa. . . .now THAT'S amazing. To me, earwigs are like the cockroaches of the plant world. Nothing kills or repells them except a can with something in it. And the number you drown are not even close to the number you're fighting!

That's fantastic! Thanks Jim!

Ewww! Earwigs. Gross!!!!
Karyn

Once I had the mites under control I was happy. Then I had leaves long enough to see somebody was eating them. I figured it was ok they needed to eat. Then it stopped. I know the hoppers and the earwigs were still around cause I could see them. They were not on my plants. Now cooler weather is setting in a happy plant will bloom. I have been addicted to it for 5+ months.

Keep those little tree frogs around, they will eat up all the earwigs and grasshoppers. They especially like earwigs because they come out at night when the frogs are actively eating.

I have a brugmansia, but my main interest is for my plumerias...

Jim - you said you sprayed it on yours and had no ill effect?

Joe

I could see none. I have sprayed mine about 6 times. My Plumeria never had mites. I just plain and simple am addicted to it. It makes my plants look great and they look sad if I do not spray them at least every 30 days. The one thing you should not spray is cactus. I have sprayed all the tropicals here. I actually tried to see if it would hurt anything. Sometimes I feel like a salesman. To me it is as important as fertilizer and water. Then again I live in bug paradise.

I've tried it on Adenium, Plumeria, Palms, Hibiscus, Pachypodium, and other things. No evidence of any detriment.

It should probably not be used on CAM plants, like cactus and thick leaved succulents. These plants already have effective anti-transpirational mechanisms, so any more is seemingly dangerous to their metabolism.

x

I finally got my order in. Spider mites didn't get my brug, but they're currently doing a job on my juniper!!!

They've been at it with my summer phlox and red ruellia. My tropical hibiscus attracts so many bugs that it's pathetic.

I will also try it on my semi-hardy plants that I've waited for the last minute to plant!

I wonder how this product would adhere to cast iron plant or tropical bird of paradise? Cast iron plant is hardy, gets lots of shade in summer, but it gets too much sun exposure during the winter.

Tropical bird of paradise...Well I'm in zone 9a or 8b....(Meant to move it under my eaves, but covering usually works quite well anyway.)

It's just that these types of plants, cast iron and tropical bird of paradise, have a glossy coating on their leaves.

I've got some bromelaids, (billbergia) so I know I can't spray it on them. Thanks for the CAM info!!

BOP I think are pretty resistant to mites, I've only seen an occasional mealy on mine, and they're easy to spot.

Bromeliads I think are risky because the stuff will accumulate in the cups

I had a problem with spider mites and especially whiteflies on my brugs earlier this year but a siple spray of oil soap, rubbing alcohol, and water worked wonders. It only took about 3 applications to get rid of the problem.

Pagrdnr:

Oh I had such a bad problem - it was terrible. I think the weather took care of whatever kind of mite I had.

Now inside - yesterday - I just saw a tiny web on one of the new plants I have. They all have dropped their leaves because now they're INSIDE. . .so - I got myself some spray bottles - and I'm going to mix up the spray now for inside. Gotta stop it before the new growth starts.

The assault has begun! It's time to reconnoiter. . . .

(Mission Impossible theme song in the background)

This is a question for the followers of this thread and anyone else for that matter. Can a surfectant spray (ie-oil soap, palmolive) serve the same anti-transpirant purpose that anti-stress 2000 does? I imagine the strength of the 2000 is its staying power, its residual effects and just wonder if Murphy's oil soap is a feasible substitute.
Tyler.

The link embedded is to a site with info regarding research being done into creating biodegradable polymers from orange peels. I think this may be of interest to people who are looking for an organic alternative to synthetic polymers for anti-transpirant purposes.

open the link and scroll down to "The Next Plastic"

Tyler

I'm having a miserable time with mealy bugs on my citrus. I've tried the Anti Stress and haven't noticed much of a decline so I hit them with neem which is also somewhat ineffective. It looks like I'll be wiping the citrus down with cottonballs and Qtips dipped in alcohol/water and dish liquid for a while. Thank goodness none are above 6'. On the positive side I don't see any spider mites and I also used the AS on all my outdoor plants. Hopefully it will protect them from the cold dry wind.
Karyn

I hate that.. I found a couple on a Passi a month or so age.. I cleaned everything and moved it I haven't seen anymore.. . I just dread having things in the house.. I did good last yr. But I had a couple of Brugs that I battled for a month with SM.. Those guys pi** me off.. They are suvivors..LOL
Chena

AS works great for SM. Its the broad mites now that I am after. Leaf curl and stem die back. When it is sprayed the leaves start to go normal but will go back to a curl on new leaves. Grrrrrrrrrr. I get tired of spraying. If I do nothing I can track their progression across the yard. They also are wind riders. I am going to try some horticultural oils mixed in between AS and spray everything including the neighbors yard. That is where they are coming from. I am a miteaphobe and have 0 tolerance for them.

"- No highly effective miticides appear to be available, with horticultural oil the primary material present. Some combination products with acephate contain fenbutatin-oxide and can be used on outdoor ornamentals. A bit of dicofol/Kelthane remains on shelves. However, overall there remains a paucity of effective materials to control mites"

"- A new systemic insecticide, dinotefuran, was found for the first time in two products. This is only the second neonicotinoid insecticide sold in this market, following imidacloprid"

Imidacloprid will wack everything else but mites and good. Neonicotinoid, we banned nicotine but now make synthetic. Go figure. It is very good even on mealy bugs,and white flies so I hear.

Now we are down to Oils or coatings AS and the new family of mectins the mother of the current $300.00 a pint miticides. Now that is way too expensive for commercial ventures and farming. The item designed as a wormer is the current hope on the horizon. The mectin patent has expired and now is generic. The Avids and Forbids are patented. Be so very careful if you use them. They have the capability to wipe out entire colonies of bee's and such. It is not a contact killer. Anything that touches can transmit enough of a dosage to kill an entire colony by casual contact over time.

My vote is with the mechanical barriers and small amounts of oil. The oils are supposed to work on the soft body insects like mealy bugs and white flies. I have never used oil but it is already purchased. Any of you with oil experience fill me in. I am going by pure research. I would like to try some oil with AS in our winter months to see if it will combined work on broad mites.

Tyler, good research. Plastics are becoming biodegradable which is good. As for oil soap, try it. I have used it but with little effect on bugs. Maybe not strong enough? Keep up the good work only with growers trying something new can we find solutions. I guarantee big chemical companies have no incentive. The retail pesticide market is real big and highly profitable.

I was never organic by choice. LOL Now I have learned through the mite battle that it is a better way. Ok, maybe I am semi organic I do not randomly spray anything. There is a whole new world that develops in the micro climate plants develop. I am in love with my tree frogs and chameleons. Mainly the frogs. I will do nothing to harm them. They in return stand guard over my plants. There are always 2-3 on every brug.

Thanx,

Jim

Can I use this on my peppers and tomatoes to protect from spider mites?

thanks

Dip