What's new
TerraForums Venus Flytrap, Nepenthes, Drosera and more talk

Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

Ah! aphids!

  • Thread starter Big Mouth
  • Start date
Well I was checking on my plants yesterday and I noticed my D. Aliciaie had a few yellow colored round things on it and didnt think much of it.I check it today and its covered with them and I notice that they are moving! Ive heard that you can drown them but how do I go about doing this? Ive also heard that sprinkling cinammon works too.Which method should I use?
 
Personally I would use an insecticide and make sure the job is done properly. I don't think sundews will take too kindly to being submerged in water for a few days to drown aphids like you can do with VFTs. I've never heard of using cinnamon as an insecticide either. Good old Provado will sort the problem out, I recommend it for any cps.
 
The cinnamon is used successfully by our terrarium growers for dealing with mold. I have had 100 % success (so far) by taking the infected pot and placing in a glass jar that is significantly taller than the pot, overfilling the pot by a few inches. And then I wait a week or so. That's the easiest way and every plant that I have done this with recovered (D. adelae, capensis, and spatulata) The sphids haven't returned.
 
Oh I guess I got a little confused with the cinnamon,oh well.I think Im gonna dunk my plant.My only question is how do you prevent the media from coming up and uprooting the plant?
 
Put the pot in the jar and add water slowly. Let the media soak up the water and keep adding more water. It hasn't been an issue.
 
Well I did the dunking thing.I probbly didnt do it long enough as there is still signs of aphids.Would Ortho Miathalon 50 work and not kill my sundew? If its not good to use what kind of spray would work?
 
You need to do the water dunk treatment for atleast 2 days. What you want to do is pretty much keep your pot flooded, so you place it in a larger container filled with distilled water. This way the water level is above the media. This will drown the bugs. You can spray the leaves/foilage that have the bugs on them with a spray bottle to get them to fall in the water. Then they will drown.

Personally though when I had an attack I used Ortho Systemic Insect Killer. You can find this at local garden centers, home depot, or lowes. It is recommended by the people at Cobraplants.com, who use it on all their plants. I use it for the following reasons:
1) The cost for all that distilled water
2) The effectiveness

It kills the aphids on contact, and immunizes your plants for 4 weeks to future attacks. I also did not notice any negative effects from it.
 
I had my D. capensis in water for 2 weeks, but I didn't know how long to do it. That plant later flowered for me. I have dunked D. spatulata & adelae for about a week and the plants recovered, while the aphids drowned, never to return. In short, the plants can take being immersed for several days.
 
I'm sure glad I grow most of my plants in terrariums! I would hate to have to deal with aphids
confused.gif
 
  • #10
I've been using the drowning method quite successfully lately. I left a D. capensis in for about a week. It didn't take very kindly to the treatment but it quickly resumed growth. The D. anglica came out fine as well. I think one day works, two days works for sure. See they don't have any eggs, so once you kill the existing pests, theyre gone.

Peter
 
  • #11
Thats great that you guys are still discussing which method works best and all but....I wanna get rid of them for good; so would Ortho Miathalon 50 be safe to use on my sundews and VFTs?
 
  • #12
Malathion is bad. I don't know about using it on sundews, but it totally toasted one of my flytraps and severely damaged my Sarracenia. Pyrethrum (Chrysanthemum extract) worked well on my D. capensis; it killed all the tentacles on the leaves in about twenty minutes, but got rid of the aphids and the plants made a full recovery a few weeks later - the immature leaves that were sprayed managed to open and do just fine as well. Only the older leaves sustained damage. Pyrethrum is also foodsafe and safe indoors (apply it outdoors only,) which is a plus, but is topical, which means that you can miss some of the bugs and they might come back. Acephate (Ortho makes it by the name 'Orthene') is a systemic insecticide, which means it gets into the plant tissues and poisons anything that eats it for a month or so. Acephate is very toxic and for outdoor use only, but it is safe for all CPs so far as I've been told. It's the active ingredient in Ortho Systemic Insect Killer.
If you've caught the infestation early, submersion should do just fine. If things get out of hand, try the Pyrethrum. If you have space outside or in a greenhouse, though, you might as well go with the Acephate/Orthene, 'cuz it's dirt cheap.
~Joe
 
  • #13
Ok just to be sure the stuff I got is correct;its Ortho Orthenex Garden Insect and Disease control.Its contents are 4% Acephate,3.25% Triforine,and 0.75% Fenbutatin-oxide,and 92% other ing. Go ahead and use it?
 
  • #14
Hi. i just was reading and, i hear is bad use chemicals... like comecial insecticides, on cp, right??, well i use for all my plants a cup of water with some coffe and 2 or 3 cigarrets (dont know if thats the word). But i never use this for my cps, cinnamon is good to??
 
  • #15
Cinnamon has been used with success for some that grow their CP's in terrraria, as a topical remedy. We have many debates about the best approaches to dealing with aphids. If I had to compile a qualitative, not quantitative impression, it's basically a tossup. There have been some very bad experiences with the use of chemical pesticides, but that hasn't been evryone's experience. And while drowning is safer and has been 100% effective for me, a few others haven't fared as well.
 
  • #16
well as an update I sprayed my plants....aphids gone in about 2 hours.I havnt seen one since and its been about a week or 2 so yay
smile.gif
 
Back
Top