Dyna-Gro packages cold-pressed neem oil. In a 1 quart spritzer bottle, mix: 1 pint very hot water 1 teaspoon neem oil (cold-pressed or virgin oil only - Dyna-Gro packages a very good product) 4 drops Murphy's oil soap (or dishsoap) Shake well and add 1 pint of 70% isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol. Spritz Shake frequently while spritzing. Be sure to cover the entire plant. Don't spray in full sun. A little more Murphy's is ok, but unnecessary if using the isopropyl. Repeat at 1-2 week intervals as needed. Copy paste to your browser: http://homeharvest.com/insectspraysneembased.htm Al

Builder provided trees here in my subdivision were either BPs or Maples. I got a BP as did neighbors on either side. The next spring, my landscape planners/installers recommended deleting the BP. (No, I didn't kill it, it got re-homed to a friend's large empty lot where I'm sure it is very happy now.) Had it been left in place, combined with the BPs on either side of me, I'd be mowing moss on my driveway 'bout now! My plan put a small (?dwarf) Carolina Silverbell in the BP's place and a Shackleford Serviceberry closer to the neighbor's now incredibly ginormous BP. Serviceberry is holding its own and I just can hope that when/if that neighboring BP fractures, it will fall the other way! IF you do decide to replace your BP, take a look at the Styrax trees. I have one in my side yard which is putting on the most incredible bloom show these days and while slower growing than BPs, in but five years this has gone from sapling to major focal point. The Carolina Silverbell I mentioned above is in the same Styrax family - both trees are true winners. HTH.

I agree with the majority, the little beasties are a true pest! I always thought they were the workhorse of nature and that their good out-weighed the bad but no more! I have great soil and mulch with different kinds of things, pine needles, bark mulch and straw from my chickens. They have multiplied into the thousands. The last 2 years they have eaten off the sprouts of my Angel Trumpets so bad that they have failed to bloom for the last two years. They are in the dead stems from the previous years growth. I can't eliminate them unless I dig up the plant and cut away those stems. It is not happening because the clumps are very large and I worked hard to get them established. They are also in the hostas and in my tomatoes. They get in every house plant that I put out over the summer and I have to repot everything every year or lose them over the winter because the little turds eat the roots and leaves of my house plants. I am ready to use whatever I have to do to eliminate them. I have plenty of birds and toads, frogs and parasitic bugs in my garden, I encourage spiders and all other good bugs and even my chickens will not eat them. I tried and suffered the damage from my chickens in the hopes that they would eliminate the little buggers. Spinosad is a natural organic method of killing pests the same as Bt has been used to eliminate cabbage worms. It is also the ingredient in Comfortis that I give my dogs for flea control. I will try the beer but if it dosen't work I am going to bring out the big guns!!!

Here's an updated picture of the original papaya at the top of this thread. I brought it inside the first part of October to avoid a killing frost. The change in temperature and light made it loose all of it's leaves except a few at the top. I thought it had died. It lost some of it's fruit, but it has recovered and two of the fruit still remain, so I'm hopeful it will continue to ripen next Spring/Summer.