Hi Alison,
Can I just ask...why does it have to be this particular brand?? You obviously have your reasons.
Cheers,
Dee.

Yes Dee, the writer of the "recipe" said it was not toxic to plants at low concentrations. Check the labels of most detergents now and they are full of OTHER stuff. Great for dishes and human hands I guess but not so good for bromeliads

Alison,
I suppose you want it for sooty mold or similar. Have you tried Lux Flakes. I find soap is better than any detergent
and a tablespoon dissolved in about a litre of hot water and then mixed to make 19 litres of cold water. That will do at least 3 medium sized trees.

Doug.

Hello Doug and thanks, the Lux worked fine with a couple of other applications.
But this is for a canola oil-based mix for scale on bromeliads, I've used it before and it was fine, just can't get the ingredients this time

Hi Alison, I am interested - are you going to try the canola mix for flyspeck scale on the Broms? Have you spoken to anyone who has tried it - it certainly sounds a promising and well researched idea - I just havent been clear about the light levels needed for it to work so havent got to the stage of "seeking out the sil", which I think I have seen at an IGA store recently. Good luck - Robyn

g'day alison,

how would that earth friendly brand go? myself can't imagine how much damage a detergent could do it should only be a very minor ingredient in the white oil mix.

len

mail len

lens garden page

Hi Alison,

I will look for it up here for you. Do we simply look for "Sil" detergent? laundry or washing up?

Regards, Daniel

Folks, I believe Sil is soap, rather than detergent. Alison, I've read that Sunlight is, but have my doubts whether this is relevant for the Sunlight we have here.

Hello folks well Len I think one of the "planet safe" sorts would probably be OK if I luck out. Daniel it comes in a liquid form as a dishwashing liquid - or used to - preferably just a plain unscented one. And Robyn it was recommended to me (the spray) and I've used it twice before but not consistently enough. Bright light but not sun - if you can actually move them. I just had so many to do at one time when I broke them all up. Sorting out the ant problem a bit helps too.

alison,

the ants will be the major contributor as they have a symbiotic realtionship with thrips/mealy bugs & scale insect etc.,.

currently i have a problem with aphids on my chinese mustard and it's the ants doing it i'm not worrying the mustard is a minor plant in my system so would rather the ants used it as a host plant for the aphids than use something else.

len

I believe that Sunlight soap is a bar of yellow soap. Sunlight also make liquid detergent for washing dishes.
I read somewhere that the soap you have to avoid is one made with caustic soda.
I do agree with Len though, that the amount you use is really quite small, so does it really matter that much?
Cheers,
Dee.

The way I read the recipe is that alginox can be used to replace the sil?!