Bonsai

[pavel]

Tony, DUDE! that plant in the middle is SWEET!

Sorry to hijack the post. Anyone with experience on a fukien tea bonsai? I've had mine for about a month and it was doing well until this week. I noticed it had tiny aphids on it. It's sitting in my office on a windowsill, watered every week. I know this plant is sensitive to chemicals so I don't really want to spray it. Are there any natural remedies to kill these suckers (other than introducing ladybugs into the office? hehehe)

Try mixing up some dishdetergent in a spray bottle and thoroughly wetting the plant (underside of leaves too). Start off with about 1tsp per quart.

[AtantaR]

Try mixing up some dishdetergent in a spray bottle and thoroughly wetting the plant (underside of leaves too). Start off with about 1tsp per quart.

detergent used to be made with phosphate which is beneficial to plants.....but not anymore..it prob still works tho...but i dont know whats in it anymore

[Joyce184]

Thanks Andrew and Pavel.

I don't think I have enough aphids to make bug juice =P I'll try the tomato stuff first. If that doesn't work, then I'll try the dish detergent.

[pavel]

The phosphate was actually irrelevant to it's effectiveness in this case, Andrew. The exoskeletons of terrestrial arthropods are essentially hydrophobic (water repellant) by nature. If you see an insect sprayed with a fine mist you'll notice that the water beads up on its body as a result. It is also a contributing factor to why it is so difficult to drown an insect. Soaps contain molecules which are have a polar end and a nonpolar end. This enables, amongst other things, a water-soap film to coat the insect's body -- instead of being repelled and 'beading up" -- thus smothering the insect.

[Joyce184]

The phosphate was actually irrelevant to it's effectiveness in this case, Andrew. The exoskeletons of terrestrial arthropods are essentially hydrophobic (water repellant) by nature. If you see an insect sprayed with a fine mist you'll notice that the water beads up on its body as a result. It is also a contributing factor to why it is so difficult to drown an insect. Soaps contain molecules which are have a polar end and a nonpolar end. This enables, amongst other things, a water-soap film to coat the insect's body -- instead of being repelled and 'beading up" -- thus smothering the insect.

Mmm, I guess that's why it was so satisfying killing the aphids when I wasn't using the diluted dish soap on the leaves- LOL. Don't worry, I rinsed the plant off after my murderous spree....

[AtantaR]

oh i know pavel...i was just saying for the factor that the plant she was talking about was sensitive to chemicals..... hence that i dont know any benefits other then being an emulsifier...

[Germinatorman]

My best answer for bugs in summer is natural predators - get the plant outside where natural predators can take care of the bugs for you.

[otis226]

Sorry to hijack the post. Anyone with experience on a fukien tea bonsai? I've had mine for about a month and it was doing well until this week. I noticed it had tiny aphids on it. It's sitting in my office on a windowsill, watered every week. I know this plant is sensitive to chemicals so I don't really want to spray it. Are there any natural remedies to kill these suckers (other than introducing ladybugs into the office? hehehe)

Joyce,
Fukien Tea are notorious for attracting all sorts of buggers. The few I've had ALWAYS had ants on them and I would spray and put ant poison on and around them weekly. I'm sure ants are the reason your tea has aphids. Ants usually heard aphids like cattle for the nectar they produce. If you want to try something non poisonous, about 10 drops of liquid soap with maybe a bit of alcohol in a 32 oz. spray bottle and spray the heck out of the plant. You can repeat this every few days, as it shouldn't hurt the plant. I'd leave it out of direct sunlight until the spray dries of course, but other than that I think you'd be fine.
Cheers,
Tony

Guess I should have read the rest of the posts before offering this advice, :0. but it do work! Thanks for all the nice commenst on the tree. The older they get the easier they seem to be to take care of, (they get more stable). The basil is there due to lack of much yard space, and it may keep some bugs off the trees??

[AtantaR]

Mmm, I guess that's why it was so satisfying killing the aphids when I wasn't using the diluted dish soap on the leaves- LOL. Don't worry, I rinsed the plant off after my murderous spree....

LMAO..no offense...but this gave me a chuckle...hahha

[Joyce184]

Tony- I've had this indoors in the office for the past month and I haven't seen any ants around it. I water the plant and the pot thoroughly so I'd imagine if there were any ants hiding in the pot, they'd flush through the water and into the drain but I haven't seen any. Other than these bugs, the tree seems to be doing fine. There's new leaves and flowers blooming on it. I was thinking of bringing back home. It's too pretty to be sitting in the office with all of its white blooms.


Andrew-...