i live on 5th floor, too. plants galore- i really want you to think twice about using systemic insecticides. i've used it in one of my big pot and it's alot of troble and it's something that i regret so much. it doesn't really get rid of the pest. i know, funny, right? that's what they are there for. i had some weevils and some unidetifiable tiny pests on my moprning glories that was sucking many leaves. i applied systemic insecticidal granules and it didn't get rid of it at all, not only that, they come back even worse. plants are not doing well besides. and whatever the benificials that could come can't come such as spiders, can't have bird. can't touch the soil. always have to fear watering.... it's really TOXIC if the water comes out through the bottom of the pot and gets into neighbours balcony they could be affected , it could drip from the balcony and get on people, kids..... it also gets absorbed through skin , so you are just no where safe. hard to keep it safe. it's really hard to dispose. so you are basically stuck there with the poison. so i always have tray underneath the pot and i could only water tiny bit at the time so no water comes out ever. therefore the soils don't get enought oxegen and push out the air, that makes them unhealthy. it's hard to take care of, but you have to be very responsible. i mean , i need to call harzadous material branch or poison control to try to find the way to dispose the soil and left over at the end of the season.... basically i never ever want to see that stuff again in my life after i had better sense of what they are and what it takes. and at the end of it your plants don't do well. i'd rather battle it with my homemade insecticidal soap. i just normally go through daily patrol to keep them sort of undercontrol, if not completly. i understand exactly what you said and believe me, i had my fair share with pest and that's why i reached out for systemic insecticides. but now i think of it it creates far more problem than ever. have you tried differnt traps? diatomaceous earth? BT as someone here mentioned? Neem? Pyrethrum? Rotenone? Ryania? - they require same caution as toxic chemical but they are organic and the big differnce is that they degrades pretty quickly. i haven't used them yet myself but i've read many people experinced very good result.

I know it's scary. But it just shows us that Mother Nature will have her way, in spite of man's feeble attempts to alter the course of events she has set in place. I.e., we may will have to live with it - RRD. Not that it should stop anybody from doing more research work on it. Being in the medical field, one looks at these "particles" with awe, and realise how smart those little packages of DNA are. Simple, but extremely smart. Smart enough to outwit human beings. How could such a small particle of matter enter a cell, hijack the cell's DNA and have it function the way it wants it to? With such devastating effects. Smart? Yes. Have you noticed how quickly the Hepatitis B virus develops resistant strains to the specific antiviral agents designed for it, and it alone? Have you noticed how the influenza viruses change their antigenic "appearance", so that the flu vaccine you received last year may no longer be effective this year? Have you noticed how their exacting choice of vector hosts allows them to cover large distances? Think West Nile virus. Think Avian flu. This, of course, isn't anything new. The competition for survivor, propagation and dominance between different life forms on earth has been going on ever since life forms came into existence. What's different now is that human beings, as one of those life forms, decided, unilaterally, to change the rules. They set out to conquer the rest of the world by sheer brute force, rather than await the gentle, forbiddingly long, tide of naturally evolution to give us the advantages. Along with this single minded quest to conquer nature, comes an expectation that we shall be protected from Nature's harm at all times. Which, of course is unrealistic. So, my approach to this is in the words of Meher Baba and Bobby McFerrin - "Don't worry, be happy". Of course, for any one who has lost a whole garden of roses to RRD, who lost someone he/she knows to HIV, this is the hardest part. But eventually, many of us come to accept that philosphy. As I am starting to, having lost a treasured colleague to CMV infection. But we are inundated with black berries. We are under seize, they have surrounded us. Prickly canes poke through holes in our perimeter fence every day, mocking at my futile efforts to control them. So, the plague of RRD, although a major disaster for our garden, may rid us of the blackberries (if it's true that they get RRD, of course). However, I won't discount the blackberries' ability to generate a clone that is immune to RRD. And, hey, presto! And "we" have found a solution to the problem - RRD resistance! And the cycle will begin again. (Yes, we are really scared of RRD. But you will be shaking in your boots if you are a banana farmer and someone mentions the Banana Bunchy Top Virus.)

I hope you will remove all of the blooms from your plant as isotox is toxic to those hummingbirds. Attracting them to a toxic plant is unusually, ironically cruel. Wiki: "In the US, lindane pesticide products were regulated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), while lindane medications are regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). It was registered as an agricultural insecticide in the 1940s, and as pharmaceutical in 1951.[12] The EPA gradually began restricting its agricultural use in the 1970s due to concerns over its effects on human health and the environment.[18] By 2002, its use was limited to seed treatments for just 6 crops,[12] and in 2007 these last uses were canceled.[19]" "Lindane is a persistent organic pollutant: it is relatively long-lived in the environment, it is transported long distances by natural processes like global distillation, and it can bioaccumulate in food chains, though it is rapidly eliminated when exposure is discontinued.[32]"

This article written by Evelyn, at Weidners, Southern California. Fuchsia Gall Mite is a West Coast fuchsia problem. You go out one day and notice that the growing tips of your fuchsia looks thickened and curled, maybe furry and reddish looking. Somehow it reminds one of a cancerous growth. What you are looking at is the results of a tiny microscopic mite called Aculops fuchsiae. This mite came in from Brazil into the northern California area in 1981. You need a good microscope to see this mite so don't bother looking for it. When the mite feeds it inject saliva into the leaves and they get this swollen distorted look, a little like peach leaf curl. Some fuchsias are supposed to be more mite resistant than others. We will have a few of those this summer but until we try it we don;t really know if they are more reistant or not. Fuchsia gall mite seems to be much worse in cool weather. How did you get this nasty little mite onto your beautiful fuchsias and what can you do about it. We'll try to help you with your problem. This mite is spread mostly by hummingbirds, but also by hands, wind and passing insects. Be careful as you are looking at your other fuchsias. I can see you now with a friend in the garden. . "Look! this fuchsia has gall mite, You hold the branch up to see it better. See the twisted leaves." You then walk over to another fuchsia, lift a branch up and examine the tips. "This one looks just fine. You triumphantly proclaim to your friend." Well, it may have been clean before but now you have spread a few mites onto your new fuchsia. You need to take off all the affected foliage, wear throw-away gloves and put your foliage in a plastic bag and throw it all away. Then you need to start to spray. There are a number of sprays that are supposed to be effective miticides. At the end of this page we will list all that we know about. We carry most of them at Weidners. Lots of nurseries will tell you to just throw away your plants. Thanks to one of our customers who tried and succeeded in solving her fuchsia gall mite problem with the spray Sevin. Here are her tips and she says they really worked. She used the spray called Sevin. We carry Sevin and also Isotox. We used to have 'cygon 2e but that is no longer available so Isotox is the next best. Both are good miticides. The new spray by Bayer called Rose Advance is also a possible spray. Now comes the important part. The four day schedule. You need to spray on a four day schedule at least 3 times. Think about it....the gall mite has a 21 day life and the gestation period for baby mites is 4 days. By spraying on a 4 day schedule you catch the little tiny baby mites as they hatch. If you wait to spray or only spray once then the mites can grow up and lay moreeggs and start to work again. After you have cut off the bad parts you need to spray thoroughly all the fuchsias that you have. Only fuchsias, this mite doesn't bother other plants. Watch carefully for any re-infestation and deal with it immediately. Here is a list of some of the other materials that are available to fight Fuchsia Gall Mites. Sevin, Isotox Insect Killer by Ortho, Bayer Rose Advance, Ultra Fine or other light Horticultural Oil sprays, Hot Pepper Wax. There may be other miticides out there that I do not know about. We have not tried these particular sprays so we are not making any recommendation. Always read the directions all the way through. Wear gloves, long sleeves or other protective clothing and wash up afterwards. When you have to spray it is better to spray thoroughly and only spray the plants that need it. A light spray can allow the insects to more easily develop immunity. Good Luck. Attack of Fuchsia Gall Mite