Pest management is complex, if you want to learn, a good place to start is here: Integrated Pest Management This lecture is presented in two parts. Each part is 90-minutes in length. Recorded in Sacramento County in California's Sacramento Valley, this lecture is by Mary Louise Flint, Ph.D., Director, IPM Education and Publications, UC Statewide IPM Project and Extension Entomologist & Cooperative Extension Specialist. Education: B.S. Plant Science, University of California, Davis Ph.D. Entomology, University of California, Berkeley Appointment: 100% Cooperative Extension Research Interests: Integrated pest management of landscape, agricultural and garden pests; biological control of arthropod pests; alternatives to pesticides; adoption of alternative practices by practitioners; innovative delivery of pest management information. Topics discussed in the Integrated Pest Management Lecture: * IPM references and resources * Preventing pest problems * Natural common enemies * Making less toxic pesticide choices * Controlling aphids, scales, caterpillars, coddling moths, tree borers, snails and slugs, and lawn insects. You can watch the programs now online: Just make sure you have Real Player installed or download it free. Integrated Pest Management Part1 90 minutes Integrated Pest Management Part 2 90 minutes You'll want to bookmark the following link to Professor Flint's Lab Research on: Controlling Pests in Gardens and Landscapes: Vegetables and Melons I promise you'll learn one or two things to put in your gardening bag of pest management arsenals. ;)

What Pam said ^^^; and, the most significant factors in determining whether or not a grow medium is appropriate are whether or not the soil contains anything phytotoxic and particle size. Container media do not wear out, even though this idea is often suggested. Soil particles just become smaller and smaller, which increases the amount of water a medium can hold while decreasing the amount of air porosity. There is no question it's better to err on the side of more porosity and water more frequently than to err on the side of too little porosity and see the planting suffer from poor root function or even wrecked root health. One cannot take a quart of fine material, like peat, coir, or sand, and "amend it by adding coarse materials like pine bark. That practice actually DECREASES o/a air porosity until the fraction of coarse materials becomes so large there is no longer enough fine material to fill the larger spaces between the coarse particles. Two observations about mixture reaches the "threshold proportion", which occurs when there is exactly enough fine material to fill all spaces between large particles: 1) It will have less aeration and be more difficult to grow in than peat, coir, or sand or a mix thereof. 2) Adding additional coarse material to mixtures at or beyond the threshold proportion such that the coarse material becomes a very large fraction of the medium (around 80%) quickly increases o/a air porosity. Container media is all about structure and its ability to retain that structure for the expected life of the planting. So, as Pam and I mentioned, there is little sense in reusing a medium, the structure of which is inappropriate. That seldom ends well. Used media can be used as the much smaller fine fraction we might add to coarser material when putting a medium together, but even then, particles of slightly larger size 1/20-1/10" (about the size of coarse ground pepper) would be the better choice. As in life, our growing experience and how much reward we're able to realize from our efforts is a product of the decisions we make. There's no judgement to be made about what a grower does or doesn't do, we all order our priorities differently, but that doesn't change the fact that what the grower chooses will always have an impact on how the plant responds. Al

Jean, yes, inspect ALL your plants.. It's the crawlers, (babies) that are hard to find.. That's the reason it's important to spray all parts of your Agave/s. Leaves/stems, etc. I think Baby Wipes contain Rubbing Alcohol, right? It's been a long time, lol. If it does, alcohol will help somewhat, but Jean, to rid those suckers, literal suckers, you better get to work. Clean and inspect daily until you get hold of Bayer or whatever you choose to use. They multiply fast. Are these guys hard-shelled? Yuck, plant bugs are gross looking, especially when magnified. I read an article that explained how eggs are in waiting, during winter months, then when climate is 'just right' they come out of hiding. Hatch. As much as I dislike Scale, IMO, they're easier to rid than Mealy.. I purchased an Olive tree from an online nursery. I ordered from this place several times, and never ever found insects, but there's always that first time, you know? The olive tree arrived. I set it beside a group of citrus and other tropicals. (BTW, it was winter, days cloudy, and my eyes aren't what they used to be.) I can't recall how many days later, while misting, I spotted a brown lump on a leaf..then another and another. Jean, I wanted to cry..there were hundreds of scales..truly that many and more. Then, I looked at citrus neighboring the olive..all branches growing nearest the Olive had loaded..which is one advantage..scale move slower than say, mites. What do you do with a hundred scale? Hand-pick each? What? Earlier in that summer I spoke with a woman in Fl who owns a citrus nursery. She's the person who told me they use Fish Emulsion as a scale preventative and insecticide. I phoned her, explained the situation, asked the portion of FE to water. She gave me the recepie, and it worked! Talk about grateful. One thing that bothered and still troubles me to this day. The olive was delivered in winter. It was very cold outside. Yet, the cold didn't bother or kill the scale. This was pre-heat-pack days..the cold didn't bother the tree either, so I don't have an answer. The olive is alive and well to this day. So are the citrus. So, IMO, scale aren't terribly destructive IF something is done, but if left to live, bye-bye plant.Good luck, Jean, Toni

I just moved into a new place. I transplanted plants from old garden to new one. My neigh has a tree with branches hanging over fence. No problem gives plants a little shade. Until I noticed that my plants had black soot all over the leaves. I looked up and the tree is infested with white mealy bugs. They stuck the sap from leaves and the excrement left behind is this horrible black stuff on my plants. In articles it says you can spray with isopropyl alcohol mixed with water. It's a large tree so I'll have to use a special sprayer. Has anyone tried this? I dont like pesticides I have animals so I'll try this next year.