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pests Pest Control: Best solutions

it suffocates them- be careful of the percentages, start low and work up.Side winder -you mentioned microwaving dirt...how about some input there?
I am going to try to stick with growmixes for seed staring next year...or even more this year :rofl: . That is my concern -killing the larvae of fungus gnats and whiteflies....
 
Its the fatty acids that clog the insects' pores. If you're not sure of what soap to use then be safe and buy insecticidal soap, there are many brands on the market.
 
sidewinder said:
I live in the UK and I can't find ]Pyrethrin anywhere. For the moment it's going to have to be microwaving the soil then put the nutrients back into it with plant grow liquids. Not the best idea but I'm not seeing much choice, and I'm blowed if I'm going to have these little buggers eat the rest of my crop. 80% of it has gone.!![/background]
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Check the ingredients of the insecticides at the store, a lot of them contain pyrethrins but don't advertise it in big letters on the front, you have to read the ingredients to know it's in there. For example, I don't know if you have this over there but Garden Safe brand House and Garden Insect Killer contains pyrethrins. Or you can just buy pyrethrin concentrate off the internet. Pyrethrins will wipe out aphids and probably most insects pretty easily and quickly. Here there are a ton of insecticides that contain pyrethrins even at the big box stores, they're pretty easy to find.
 
For "soap", I use dish detergent. I mix a 50/50 solution of rubbing alcohol (starts about 70%) and water, then add a small squirt of dish detergent to a quart size spray bottle. I apply it after giving the plants a good shower to physically knock off what I can first. Spray the soil too to get them as they emerge.

As for pyrethrins, I'd be careful with those. Natural doen't always equate safe. I was spraying some outside (I only use that outside, not safe to breathe, and even outside I've had a breeze blow it back at me and send me into a coughing fit) on a step where an ant trail into the house formed when my cat dashed right through the freshly applied insecticide. The poor little thing ended up having a seizure as it absorbed through the pad of her paw, and I can assure you that it's very difficult to get a seizing cat's paws under running water to wash the toxin off. Thankfully, her exposure was low enough and I saw the seizure start and knowing what she'd done was able to get her paws washed quickly so that it didn't last long and she wound up okay since it of course happened on a weekend when the only emergency vet is about a 30 min drive away. They do a great job killing bugs, but I prefer omething more selective that won't kill me and the cat too.
 
Here it is illegal to use pyrethrins or basically any pesticide outdoors but I believe they have been used in the past for controlling fleas in dogs. "Toxicity related to pyrethrins is usually associated with applying much more of the product than directed. Overdosing can cause toxic signs in both dogs and cats" but permethrin is a synthetic product which is apparently more toxic for cats.
 
I've used the tobacco tea with a few drops of liquid soap before to spray my yard. Does a number on just about every bug out there. Be careful with it though, the poisons in tobacco can kill a human.
 
Yes, nicotine sulfate is toxic to humans. That's why I advised not to breathe it or get any on your skin. If you were to drink the whole half liter of tobacco tea it would probably be fatal if you managed to keep it down long enough. If you didn't, you would wish you had died... I remember an encounter with chewing tobacco when I was sixteen, and the donor of the tobacco failed to mention that you weren't supposed to swallow the juice. It kind of made an indelible impression... Years later, when I was reading accounts of the exploits of SOE agents in WW II I learned that they would be given a suicide pill before parachuting behind German lines on moonless nights. In case of capture, they were to take the pill to avoid ratting out the agents already in place. The Germans weren't stupid though, If they found someone suspected of being a spy, one of the first things they did was search the person for the pill, and they were pretty good at finding them. The agents were taught during training that the first interrogation method the Germans would use would be by being nice to them. It was the cheapest after all. If they were separated from their suicide pill, the agents were told to ask for a cup of tea and a couple of cigarettes. If possible, they were to make tobacco tea with the cigarettes and drink it to suicide. There's enough nicotine sulfate in those two cigarettes to kill an adult human. The reason it doesn't when you smoke them is that most of it is burned off.
 
Look up the great story of Paddy Mitchell and the stop watch gang. Paddy escaped from prison by eating tobacco which caused heart attack symptoms and his buddies were dressed as paramedics to free.him.
 
So I can make my own pesticide with a couple of ciggies and hot water.
Is this going to be absorbed by the plant and poison the chilies??.... Or just kill the owner.

I can feel a chernobyl moment coming.
 
Oops... Mea maxima culpa... I did a little digging, and found that I was wrong to suggest tobacco tea for peppers. It won't poison you or your plants if you are careful, but the tobacco could be carrying a mosaic virus that will nuke your pepper plants or other vegetables in the Nightshade family. So NEVER use tobacco tea for peppers! See the attached link:

http://www.sptimes.com/2004/07/24/Homes/Deadly_doses_for_bad_.shtml
 
I found this article on whitefly control from an Australian source that looks very helpful... I never would have thought of using a vacuum cleaner to pick up the flies and freezing them to kill them. Other sources say that the whiteflies need a perennial plant nearby to feed on, and they're very fond of privet. Do you have a privet hedge in the near vicinity?

http://www.greenharvest.com.au/pestcontrol/whitefly_info.html
 
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