AV First Aide Kit

15 years ago

Hello All.

I came home from work last evening to find one of my mini's (Rob's Loose Goose) covered with what I learned to be powdery mildew. I isolated the plant and googled powdery mildew. I found several pages from this forum to help me. I found two other plants with one or two leaves affected. I isolated them and went to work painting them with deluted milk. I think I was lucky that I had a mild case. Here we are , sixteen hours later and I see no mildew. I hope that is the end of it.

My question is. What treatments should I be keeping so as not to waste time treating what ever might come up. I think I should have Neem Oil, Marathon, and Lysol. What else? I also see how expensive some of the chemicals are.

This has been a wake up call for me to be prepared for what ever.

Thank you for your time. Thom

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Comments (5)

bspofford
15 years ago
One of the things I keep on hand are Vaponex strips. You can get them at Lowe's usually. They are todays version of the Shell No-Pest Strip from the 70's. I use these whenever I get new plants. I put the plants in a box, put in the strip, close the lid, and leave for 12 hours. If there are any thrips, it will kill them. I repeat two more times one week apart. I find this method much easier than spraying. I keep the strip in a sealed baggie.

Contact John Cook at Cape Cod Violetry for smaller quantities of some of the stuff you may need. He also is a great source for pots.

I use Lysol spray for powdery mildew.

Barbara

Here is a link that might be useful: Cape Cod Violetry
quinnfyre
15 years ago
The one downside to using Lysol to rid yourself of powdery mildew is that for the next few days, your AV will smell like Garden Mist or Spring Waterfall or whatever else scent you've decided on. And I'm pretty sure there is no true 'unscented' Lysol. Still, not a bad price to pay for saving your plant. It's just a little... odd, to pick up your plant and have it smell like that : )
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nwgatreasures
15 years ago
Thom,
Once I began running the ceiling fan on low speed 24/7, my problems with PM all but went away.
Once a week, I give them a mist of the Lysol and (knock on wood) I haven't had any more problems.

I'm going to try the No Pest Strip for the thrips cause dernnit, I found some last week again and I've got a plant sale coming up.

dora
thominindy
Original Author
15 years ago
Pest stripis an idea I will keep. I put all of the plants I aquired recently in a box with a pest strip for 12 hours.

I have always been afraid of drafts around my plants. I have a ceiling fan almost directly above my stands, but I have never turned it on. I also have a window close that I always keep, at least cracked. I think this was the cause of my mildew outbreak. It happened in a period of going from the 70's to the 30's.

I have read that AV's don't like drafts. That is why I have been afraid of using my fan.

Should I use my fan?

Happy Easter Sunday.
Thom
nwgatreasures
15 years ago
I'd keep the window closed - thrips can come in through that opening.

Keep the fan going.
Dora