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Flea collars as pest control

seedjar

Let's positive thinking!
So I've been battling aphids since mid-winter and I finally exhausted my big bottle of pyrethrum. I thought they were finally gone for good, after five weeks with no sightings, but today I found one on the flower stalk of my D. spathulata. I've gotten most of them, but they persist among my sundews and other leafy plants because I can't get at them in all the little nooks and crannies. I think I'm going to try flea collars next, as they seem to jump from plant to plant and I'd like to treat my whole rack all at once. I'd like to use a systemic like acephate but I don't have anywhere to put the plants to air out after treating them. (I would try drowning but I doubt it would make my cacti very happy.)
What kind of collars should I use? I figure that the size for large dogs will give the best coverage. I know they need to be kept clear of the media and water trays - how far can they be from the plants to be effective? The Savage Garden says that they should be in a tank with the affected plants - do I need an enclosure to make that work? My CPs could easily go in a tank but I'm concerned for the cacti.
Thanks,
~Joe
 
Funny you should say that.... I just bought a dog flea collar 10 days ago. I still have aphids. I'm not impressed. I am too nervous about using Orthenex and can't find Orthene powder. Drowning works. It was also suggestedto get ladybugs to eat the aphids. That might work if one's plants are indoors, as mine are. But if outside, they will just fly away. Isn't pyrethrum in chrysanthemums?
 
I had a lot of aphids in virtually all of my plants and tried Orthenex on a few of them.  Thank God it was only a few.  My Dixie Lace turned brown on the edges and the beautiful carpet moss looked dead.  My VFT suffered badly and the burmanni just shriveled up.  All except the burmanni have since recovered.  My conclusion...the aphids do not do as much damage as the Orthenex.

I immersed the rest of my plants in r/o water (It took 10 gallons) for 72 hours.  The aphids are gone and there was absolutely no adverse effect on any of the plants.
 
I know lady bugs can wipe them out pretty easily, is that an option?
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] (unknownclown @ May 25 2005,6:11)]I know lady bugs can wipe them out pretty easily, is that an option?
I sure hope so. I'm going ladybug hunting.
 
Lady bugs are actually pretty cheap in gardening stores. I was amazed how well they worked in my moms garden last year.

Here is a link to some info on aphids on CPs. Id do some more searching but Im at work at the moment and dont really wanna get into trouble.
 
Thank you Shelley!
smile.gif
I didn't know that garden stores sell them. Since most of my plants are inside, residing on window sills, they stand a better chance of staying around.
 
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