Aphids!

Lachy · Post by **Lachy** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 4:40 am

Well, it's finally happened... something has decided to attack my cacti, and it turns out that the villain is a herd of aphids. So, what's the best way to get rid of these uninvited guests?

stephen.prout@uk · Post by **stephen.prout@uk** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 1:23 pm

washing up liquid water, genral pestercide,
rose clear and a flame thrower if you can help it the No.1 thing the do not like is greese as washing up liquid is made from veg oil or other oily things + a bit of degreeser gets rid of them in a day or stick a hole lode of rubarb leaves in a bin with a large amount of water and let it ferment you have a very potent incect poison.

i hate wooly afid they must be destoryed

hegar · Post by **hegar** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 3:48 pm

Hello Lachy,
getting rid of aphids can be done in a number of ways. You could try the application of insecticidal soap spray, maybe a dormant oil spray during the winter months, or go the way some people grow roses and use a systemic insecticide, often found already present in rose fertilizer. The oil treatment could do some discoloration to your plant(s) and thus would most likely not be advisable. Yet another enemy of aphids are biological agents like lady bugs and lacewings. Also, an indirect control of aphids is at times to reduce your ant population. Ants do keep aphids like people keep cows, because they are fond of the honeydew excreted by the aphids. Ants actually protect aphids and move them around to host plants to feed.
I have yet to experience aphids on cacti and do not know if they also transmit viruses in addition to generally weakening the plant. However, if someone on this forum has had aphid problems on his cactus plants I am sure, that she/he will give you some good tips on how to control them. In my opinion, the armored scale insects and mealy bugs are harder to keep in check and will require an application of systemic insecticides. I would, however, always try a less drastic and more environmentally friendly way to get rid of the problem, i.e. soapy spray, natural predators, etc..

Harald

stephen.prout@uk · Post by **stephen.prout@uk** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 6:49 pm

oh and lady bugs and larva

Lachy · Post by **Lachy** » Tue Sep 04, 2007 6:12 am

Well, I've found that a quick application of "pest oil" has cleared the little vermin right out. My rebutia can now flower in peace.

dimales · Post by **dimales** » Tue Sep 04, 2007 10:01 am

Lachy wrote:Well, I've found that a quick application of "pest oil" has cleared the little vermin right out. My rebutia can now flower in peace.

Pest oil has caused phitotoxicity in my rebutias, they haved recovered but it took some time, I wouldn't recomand it. I would recomend only one thing that is effective for your case and it is systemic incecticide. In my country -Croatia it is called Folimat, or Confidor, I cant remember active ingridient know, but these products are widely known.. Leave the biological controll to experts, it is not soo productive for persons that are not in it. I was working in it for severall years..

iann · Post by **iann** » Tue Sep 04, 2007 6:38 pm

Oh poor Dimales, I hope you don't want your country to join the EU, because there will be no more Confidor or Folimat

In fact hardly any insecticides at all allowed in the EU any more. Just the Imidacloprid/Thiacloprid systemic, a few Pyrethroid contact insecticides, and stuff like oils and fatty acids.

phil_SK · Post by **phil_SK** » Tue Sep 04, 2007 7:51 pm

Curious as to what is in Confidor and Folimat I looked them up. Confidor appears to use imidacloprid, so is like our Provado bug killer. Folimat really would be a no no here, containing the organophosphate omethoate.

Lachy · Post by **Lachy** » Wed Sep 05, 2007 5:16 am

dimales wrote:Pest oil has caused phitotoxicity in my rebutias, they haved recovered but it took some time, I wouldn't recomand it.

Yikes, I hope this isn't the case with mine! As I understand it, the pest oil that is sold here is a very mild treatment, safe for use even on delicate species. Let's hope this is the case.

simrich · Post by **simrich** » Wed Sep 05, 2007 9:12 am

Lachy,
Good to see another Aussie here!
Regarding pests....
Pest Oil is a great product and i have never had any burning problems with it. I was informed Pest Oil is one of the least aggressive to damaging Cacti.
I also use Confidor from Bayer Chemicals,Foilamat (Aerosol)also from Bayer Chemicals, and Rogor (Aerosol).
If you have any problems use either product about 3 applications in 2 weeks.
Do not use the same product all the time as pests tend to grow immune to the products.
I hope this helps you!
Regards,
Simon

Lachy · Post by **Lachy** » Wed Sep 05, 2007 11:45 am

G'day mate. I think you'll find a few Aussies here - Cactuspolecat (aka CP)is a frequent poster. There's probably others, but I'm new here too.

Thanks for the advice on our pest oil. I'm glad to hear that it's a gentle option for use on cacti. It certainly seems to have done the trick on the aphids!

Danilis · Post by **Danilis** » Wed Sep 05, 2007 10:31 pm

Hello Lachy, you can use some contact insecticide. I use Reldan 22 and it is excellent to kill the aphids, acarus and even the cochineal (I bought it for the cochineal really, i have defeated a big invasion on my plants with it). The quality of this insecticide is that it it produces vapors wich attack the cochineals that are not directly shot by the liquid.
Another insecticide wich produces vapors is the Pennphos 240, it is even better that the Reldan 22.

However if you want to prevent the attacks to your plants I suggest you the Confidor 200SL. It is a systemic insecticide. By the way I don't like so much it. I don't like that a molecule goes into the plant tissues.

Feel free to choose

Dany

Lachy · Post by **Lachy** » Thu Sep 06, 2007 1:34 am

Thanks for the advice, Dany.

I'm honestly not a fan of systemics either, for pretty much the same reasons as you mentioned. As such, I tend to prefer using the most gentle treatments possible.

dimales · Post by **dimales** » Thu Sep 06, 2007 12:24 pm

iann wrote:Oh poor Dimales, I hope you don't want your country to join the EU, because there will be no more Confidor or Folimat In fact hardly any insecticides at all allowed in the EU any more. Just the Imidacloprid/Thiacloprid systemic, a few Pyrethroid contact insecticides, and stuff like oils and fatty acids.

Just to let you know, There are and it would always be such insecticides in EU and out of it.

I was working with Italians, Nederlands..ecc..they all use it frequently.. Folimat is belonging to second group regarding toxicity and it is very poisinous but if you use it properly, with the mask on your face, and ventilate it after it wont do you harm. It is more eficient than confidor,and any other kontakt insecticide.
Regarding fitotoxicity of oil products, I dont know about you but it have coused a shock to my rebutias, they haved stoped with the growing proces, expecially with the spines production. After several years they become normal..but it took so time.
I would newer tray it again..I have studdied about that and find out that oil is covering epidermal cover and full the stomas so they can hardly breath..
I am not fun of the cemicals but if you have a large collection you can not just leave it..