Brushing instead of spraying for aphids

jesse_2008

15 years ago

Here's a spray recipe for white fly (works for aphids and Japanese beetles too) I got from Organic Gardening several years ago. It is non-toxic and can be used right up to harvest.

1 Cup rubbing alcohol

3 Cups water

1 tsp gentle liquid soap (Dr. Bronner's, Ivory, or Arm&Hammer)

1/2 tsp peppermint oil or cinnamon oil (or 1 tsp spirit)

Shake well and use in any spray bottle. Spray both tops and undersides of leaves. This will not prevent any future infestations, but will kill any bugs currently on your plants, and it is non-toxic and washes off easily, esp. if you use some mild, non-perfumed soap. I even use it on my parsley.

I forget who posted this recipe. My question is how will brushing the leaves and stem instead of spraying with this recipe work ? will it do more harm than good. Also what is spirit ?

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Comments (6)

smokemaster_2007
15 years ago
I read somewhere that brushing your plants off to get rid of aphids is supposed to break off their little sucking thingies and they starve.
Wanna come over and brush off my 9 ft. tall habanero arbol?LOL
It really likes it's nodes rubbed... :)

I believe Spirits of something means it's mixed with a solvent-alcohol or whatever.
For instance you could soak mint leaves in pure alcohol to get spirits of mint.
I assume in your recipe that Spirits in this case are 50/50 mix of mint extract/essence and alcohol since you double the amount of spirits if you don't use the oil.
kutang_tang
15 years ago
I will use your recipe thank you. As for brushing or spraying, I currently use neem oil which works really well, yet would prefer to spray only because of time/coverage and use the neem oil to strerilize any eggs, and of course to assist acting as a fungicide, miticide and so forth. Immediate response, your recipe is top shelf I am sure and will try it out. Thanks
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Hi GreenDreamhome: I applaud your experimenting, and would love to hear the results. Years ago we had a drought, with temp. over 100, my Eglantyne rose had spider-mites from the nursery. Spraying with water didn't help. It was planted near a brick border, which reflected the heat onto the rose. I kept pruning, that didn't help. Finally I moved it away from the brick border, to a partial shade location, with a wet manure mulch. After spraying with water, I used 70% rubbing alcohol with paper towel to rub off the affected branches. That rose was freed of spider mite, and sprouted healthy leaves. I checked all the sites on spider-mites, and could not find garlic as effective. From U. of Colorado Extension: "Spider mites: Symptoms of injury include flecking, discoloration (bronzing) and scorching of leaves. Natural enemies include small lady beetles, predatory mites, minute pirate bugs, big-eyed bugs and predatory thrips. One reason that spider mites become a problem is insecticides that kill their natural predators." **** From Straw: Ever since I rubbed off all the branches with alcohol & pruned off the tip ... zero spider-mite in my garden for the past 3 years. I planted lots of Calendula which host green lacewings. Best wishes in combating spider-mites, they are hard to get rid off. From eHow: "Spider Mite Predators - Three main predators are: phytoseiulus persimilis, neoseiulus californicus and mesoseiulus longipes. All three are effective in temperature levels from 55 to 100 degrees and in humidity as low as 45 percent. Beneficial Insects - Green lacewings can be introduced to a garden as larvae and will consume spider mite populations. Ladybugs & Praying mantis and spined soldier bugs have been used to combat mites." Some info. from below link: "Washing away the mites' webs will interrupt their natural life cycle and prevent them from multiplying. Use a strong blast of water to wash. Do this in the morning for three days in a row. You can use a hand-held vacuum to remove the mites and webs from your plants. After vacuuming the plants, place the contents of the canister in a plastic bag and put the bag in the freezer for several hours to kill the mites." *** From Straw: the spider-mite infestation of my Eglantyne was so bad that if I had pruned more, it would had been too short. That's why I rubbed the branches & some leaves with paper towel doused with rubbing alcohol. When I wiped the kitchen floor with 70% alcohol, even ants got killed. The advantage of alcohol is it evaporates quickly, easily washed off, and won't harm beneficial insects introduced later on to the garden. Calendula seeds are sold cheap & the flowers are pretty & edible & used for medicinal purpose. I also use calendula petals in cooking to give rice-casserole a yellow color. Calendula thrives in hot & dry conditions, and host green lacewings which devour both aphids and spider mites. See picture of yellow Calendula flower that I used in my bouquet, along with red Firefighter rose: Here is a link that might be useful: Organic ways to stop spider mites This post was edited by Strawberryhill on Wed, Apr 2, 14 at 18:16
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francescod
15 years ago
Make sure to follow the recipe exactly. Every ingredient listed, except water, will kill the plant in high enough concentrations. The recipe may be safe for plant but I wouldn't go so far to say that it is non-toxic.

I prefer good old pyrethrum-an extract from a chrysanthemum relative. You can even grow your own pesticide. It is approved for organic gardening. I doubt that a certified organic grower would be allowed to use the above recipe though.
jesse_2008
Original Author
15 years ago
The recipe that I mentioned was not mine It was written by another member on the GW. I don't want to take credit or cause any damage to anyones plant. Here are the recipes that were posted on the GW fourm back in Nov. 08. It. was under the topic "Indoor Pests". I hope I don't offend anyone by re-posting their recipe.
Posted by rick_in_va 7 VA (My Page) on Wed, Nov 12, 08 at 0:07

Here's a spray recipe for white fly (works for aphids and Japanese beetles too) I got from Organic Gardening several years ago. It is non-toxic and can be used right up to harvest.
1 Cup rubbing alcohol
3 Cups water
1 tsp gentle liquid soap (Dr. Bronner's, Ivory, or Arm&Hammer)
1/2 tsp peppermint oil or cinnamon oil (or 1 tsp spirit)
Shake well and use in any spray bottle. Spray both tops and undersides of leaves. This will not prevent any future infestations, but will kill any bugs currently on your plants, and it is non-toxic and washes off easily, esp. if you use some mild, non-perfumed soap. I even use it on my parsley.

Posted by rootdoctor 5 (My Page) on Wed, Nov 12, 08 at 10:28

another,
1/8 cup neem oil
puree 3 habaneros, 2 cloves garlic, strain
1 T gentle soap
4 cups water.
spray all
it also helps to put diatomaceous earth all over the soil mix, leave no spot untouched! Timo
Again These recipes were not mine. However I did use the first one it seems to work ok.
No harm intended
Jesse in So. CAL.
francescod
15 years ago
Make sure to follow the recipe exactly. Every ingredient listed, except water, will kill the plant in high enough concentrations. The recipe may be safe for plant but I wouldn't go so far to say that it is non-toxic.

I prefer good old pyrethrum-an extract from a chrysanthemum relative. You can even grow your own pesticide. It is approved for organic gardening. I doubt that a certified organic grower would be allowed to use the above recipe though.
francescod
15 years ago
sorry about the double post-don't have a clue how it happened

Brushing instead of spraying for aphids

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Brushing instead of spraying for aphids

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