Plant Pest Products That Work

Hey, what's up? It's Jeff here. How's everybody doing? I hope you're doing well. I'm great. Cleaning up. I'm just talking about planting some gingers out here and I was getting ready to do some spraying and thought let's talk about some of the products I'm using. I get asked about them, not a ton, but people do ask what I prefer. I don't normally like to talk about those things because it's kind of putting a target on your back on the YouTube, but you know I just I don't really care anymore. So I mean I care. I care about the environment, all these things, but about the the feedback the it's whatever. So I'm going to show you everything that I use and we are going to start with the more mild and work our way up and talk about what works for me and what really hasn't. I have some questions for you all too about one of the products and some things I've been hearing about from people that I haven't had the best of luck with but I'm thinking it's because I wasn't using it right. Yeah, lots of good stuff here. As far as products I use, just putting it out there right in the beginning, I like to use things that are, saying organic doesn't really make sense because some of these things are full-blown not organic, but more on the mild side and anything that's not going to be mild I'm very cautious about how I use it and try and be very responsible because I don't want to hurt the environment, right? So that's why we're starting with more mild and working our way up, but even like the worst of the worst you're using it right it's not so bad. I would start with saying peppermint oil. Love it. Peppermint oils and soaps work very very very well. Just oils in general, you just put them all up here at the same time. So I got the Neem Max, got cold press neem oil, they work well. They smother the insect, mostly soft-bodied insects, but it works on most things. Aphids and spider mites, pretty good at smothering them if you want to be nice and sticky. Sometimes I'll add a little bit of soap, shake it up, and that seems to help a little bit. I don't know, you know, soap and oil don't always work out though. If you shake it really well it can help with how well it sticks and that just helps smother the insects out. The thing with the neems is I have noticed that mealybugs do not respond to neem as well as they used to, so I haven't been using it quite as much as I have in the past. It also gives me a horrible headache. It is one of the safer products to use. Peppermint oil is very safe to use. Will clear your sinuses and make your eyes burn, but that's all right. Everything just feels nice and fresh. But the neem, I don't know, for some reason my body just doesn't like it. But I use it anyways, especially the Neem Max. I like the Neem Max, but again just hasn't been doing much for the mealybugs the last few years. But it's been great for aphids, spider mites, all these things you have to use on contact. However, peppermint oil, this stuff's pretty awesome. It has some drawbacks. It can burn your plants, so you got to be careful with it. You don't want to have too high of a concentration. But what I like about peppermint oil is that when you use this, none of these you use straight, right? Follow the directions. This one right here, if I'm using it as an insect spray, I usually would say I'm probably doing, I don't know, four to six tablespoons per however much this spray bottle right here is. This one. How big is this spray bottle? 25 ounces right there. I'm probably putting at least 30 ounces in here. So I don't know. There's that ratio. I use it till it smells very pepperminty. I add it, make sure it smells very pepperminty. Is that what I was going to say is this is a deterrent. The peppermint oil, a lot of insects just don't like it. So I have a lot of cellar spiders out here and I like the spiders, don't get me wrong. This will kill spiders. That's not what I use it for. I like to mix this up my sprayer and I hit the corners of my garage and the perimeter and it just kind of helps keep them out of here. The same thing with the house centipedes. House centipedes are great because they do eat spiders. If you ever had cellar spiders, then you know what I'm talking about. They're, you have a couple, no, you probably have hundreds or thousands of them. They're everywhere. But again, they're harmless. They don't bug me. They're, you know, kind of slow moving, sort of like a daddy long leg, which isn't even a spider. That's a whole different conversation. I'm not going to talk about that. It makes for a nice deterrent for spiders and rodents because it's just a smell that they don't like. And I just assume that that's probably the same for other insects. There's going to be more on that with the products that we talk about later. Deterrent type products. Do they work? I don't really know, but I do know that peppermint oil does a good job at smothering things out and keeping them at bay. Okay. And now the soaps and the pre-bottled sprays, which I try and get in a concentrate when I can. All right. Yeah. So you've just got regular insecticidal soap. This one right here is just your potassium salts, fatty acids, kind of dissolves the skeleton, the exoskeleton, just the exterior of the soft-bodied insects and then smothers them. I feel bad. I like bugs. I feel bad killing them, but you got to keep things under control with your plants. You need to try and find a balance. The super soap has been great for me this year. I'm really liking this. It has extra stickiness to it. And it's also the potassium salts right here, but it also has spinosad in it. So a little bit of a broader range with it. And it's sticky. So there are a lot of plants like the alocasias, the callocasias, my bananas, they usually are spider mite prone and it's hard to get the spider mites off of them. I pointed you up here because you can kind of see them over there by the grow shelves. Not really. Well, hey, it's a different view. Those leaves are hydrophobic. So you spray them down, you know, give them a good, good squirt. Everything just runs right off the leaf. That's not useful. So that's why I usually add just a couple drops of soap when I'm using a neem or pretty much anything else to help it stick. I use that as a sticker. Make sure if you do that, you're using a soap that doesn't have dyes in it and a lot of perfumes, right? Scents. Just, you know, if you can get like a castile soap, those work really well. The super soap is super sticky and it's been working wonderfully for me. And what I'm most surprised about is how well it's working for me with the mealybugs. I've been dealing with mealybugs for the last like 10 years because of one calathea I bought in clearance from Home Depot. You think you've gotten rid of them and then all of a sudden, boom, they're back. It's all about consistency and I am on it every single day. Every morning part of my routine is checking on the plants and I walk around with one of these things because this is working very well for the mealybugs. I know it's working well for the mealybugs because when you spray it, the mealybugs go from being white to getting that gray color so it's dissolving that hydrophobic coating that mealybugs have on them. Typically I would have to use alcohol for that and that's all fine and dandy but alcohol can burn the foliage on your plants so you need to rinse it off. You can't just let it sit there, at least on some plants, right? So I would spray things down with the alcohol. That helps dissolve that waxy coating on the mealybug and then whatever soap or oil I'm using can actually get to the mealybug. It's a two-step process. The insecticidal super soap, because it's a spinosad, and those potassium salts, fatty acids, helps dissolve that coating really well. I don't know, it's just it's working well together. This combination is working well and this one also does help with dissolving that coating. Both of these do because it's the potassium salts. I mentioned that. I keep mentioning it. You know what I mean. But the super soap is working the best out of anything I've tried as far as a contact spray goes for the mealybugs and it's been great for the spider mites on any of my elephant ears, anything with that really slick foliage. It's extra sticky. Maybe you could do that with just the regular one, just add a couple extra drops of soap to it. I don't know. This one is still fairly sticky too. So on that note, a soap is going to be better than an oil on plants that have that foliage where water wants to bead right off of it. So that's something to remember. Okay and then over here, this is just Captain Jack's dead bug. It's just spinosad. So I think it's two different forms of spinosad. Pretty broad range of use right here. Something you're going to use more for, well it says right here, leaf miners, bagworms, tentworms, coating moths, so caterpillars, those types of things. Works really well for them. And it's a broad range too. It's a contact situation. This one has been good with my thrips. When I've had thrips. I'm mostly just using the super soap this year because it's doing so well and about every week just switching over to something else. I haven't been using this one because this is both, this is spinosad, right? And this one's the potassium and the spinosad. So I have, I don't know where it went. I think I'm out. So I won't be alternating this week. But a neem, just a sprayable neem, something that has a different active ingredient. It's good to mix things up because pests do build resistance to the products. So that's why I try to not just use any one product exclusively. It's not just the product, it's the active ingredients, right? So these are very similar as far as their active ingredients go. So they need to be alternated with a different type of product. Like for the mealybugs, imidacloproid works very well, but that is a much harsher chemical too. So I don't use that as often. When I do, it's under very controlled situations where I'm able to control runoff. There aren't many flowers nearby, those sorts of things, because it can be taken up as a systemic as well. That's something you got to be careful about. Speaking of systemics, got a few of those to talk about. Systemic granules from Bonite. I really like these. Good for up to eight weeks. It's the imidacloproid. I'll put it right here so you can see it. At a .22%, which is a high enough number. It does get higher than that and more extreme and more effective, but it's pretty good. Pretty good stuff. It's a granule you have to coat the top of your soil. Good to use a fork, a gardening fork, work it into the top and then water it in. I don't like to ever water these into the point of runoff. I just like to water it in enough so that it's being dispersed into the soil and then I generally avoid watering for a good like seven to ten days afterwards so that that can do its thing in the soil. Hey, and even right here it says, this is probably why I do this is because at one point I read the directions, with potted plants, water them thoroughly after you've worked it in and then avoid watering thoroughly again for 10 days. That way the plant has a chance to take up the product. And there's a lot of safety information with these things, right, so you really need to be careful about using them near natural bodies of water, anywhere that you're going to have runoff into storm sewers, flowering plants and those sorts of things. It's something to be careful about. I only use these on my house plants. I don't use any systemics on anything that flowers and it's stinky. It doesn't smell good. I have one that's similar that I'm about to show you. It smells even worse. Yeah, so this one is meant to be used outdoor. Actually, this one says outdoor use. I don't know if you're supposed to use any of the systemics indoors. I don't ever use systemics inside, at least not a granular systemic. Liquid ones, I might, but I don't, I don't know if I would recommend it. But sometimes you just have to. So, you know, there are options out there. We'll talk about those too. The bear, I actually didn't know that I wasn't supposed to be using this indoors until just now. And I was reading and it said somewhere on here, I don't remember where, something about outdoor use only. But I mean, we're kind of outdoors in here. I would never use these in my house regardless. I have cats, so systemics just won't work for me. I usually line the tops of my containers with pine cones to keep the cats out. But well, actually the cats I have now aren't really interested in getting into my plants, but still this stuff stinks. So even with the safety aside, I wouldn't use it in my house because it smells bad. This one right here, I apply it whenever I bring my plants inside. And all of these, well systemics, it's suggested to use them at first sight, right? So as soon as you see a problem, that's when to use them. It's a lot more difficult for these to do what you want them to do if you already have a massive outbreak of something. So something you do need to be fairly proactive with. I just like to make sure I have these around this time of year because, well, I got to put them down. This one says 12 month insect protection. Maybe. I don't know about that because I put on my plants about every October as they're coming inside because I don't want this product to be getting into the runoff and everything outdoors. By inside, I mean into my garage, not into my home. I keep saying I don't use these in my house. And it works pretty well. But it says 12 months and I usually notice by right around, well, now February into March or really January into mid-February, all of a sudden the insects are popping back up everywhere which means that its effectiveness has worn off and that's not even close to being 12 months. It does say right here for use on outdoor tree, shrubs, containerized plants and do not ever use these on anything that you're going to eat, right? You don't want to do that. And then there's the big old list of things it does. It's one of those things you just have to look the product up. It's a higher rate of the Imidacloproate and that stuff is, it's intense, right? So that's a 0.55% which is about as high as you'll find for most systemics. So this is the big guns only for plants that I know are very, very, very susceptible like my Cordyline fruticosa. Always had spider mites and or mealybugs during the wintertime. And my Eureka palm. Actually, I think that's about it. Otherwise, I use this one right here or I use a liquid. Oh, and my Colocasias and, uh, not my Alocasias, pretty much just my Colocasias. So here's the liquid version systemic. It's a different active. So this is acetate and it works pretty well. I don't know if they say anything in here about it being for outdoor use. Only makes 16 gallons. I just, you know, like I said, I don't use these in the house. That's something I haven't paid attention to. Let me look into it. Outdoor use only. It's under the restrictions. Do not apply this product where we'll contact people or pets for outdoor residential use only. And then the same thing, don't use it on turf and also no lawns and nothing that is edible and you're going to eat. So yeah, pay attention to that on your systemics. I would imagine the majority of the systemics you're going to find are going to say for outdoor use only. So proceed with caution. I cannot advise that you do anything that's against the labeling under restrictions because that is technically breaking a law. So, um, yeah, follow directions. Use the products responsibly. I have found all of these to work really well. This one right here as a liquid just gets taken up more quickly into the plant. I've had good luck with it. More on my level of luck towards the end. You gotta take everything I'm saying with a grain of salt because I've been battling bugs for years out here. So how well are any of them working versus how consistent am I? That's, that's a good question. Systemica. This is a new one that I'm trying this year. I just watched something fall off the desk and got distracted and I was gonna poo-poo on it. I was gonna be like, yeah, I don't think I like this one because I just drenched one of my plants with it, I don't know, a couple months ago and I mean drenched it, did what the directions said to do and it has had aphids for quite a while now and Systemics are usually pretty good with aphids. Mealybugs, meh, but aphids, they're usually pretty good with those. I did notice though that the directions say to reapply and I actually feel like I remember talking about this in a vlog when I first tried this product and I of course just totally forgot, but this one needs to be reapplied fairly frequently, I think every seven to ten days. So if you are very dedicated, you can do that. I'm probably not gonna remember to reapply this every seven to ten days. But this moves on to what I was talking about earlier, piggybacks on what I was talking about earlier with the peppermint oil, about things that help repel. It even says That's because the active ingredient, main active ingredient in this one is rosemary oil at 56% and clove oil. Rosemary oil and clove oil both work wonderfully, wonderfully for repelling insects and killing insects as well. I've been seeing a lot more in the cannabis industry over the last few years with people saying that they're using rosemary oils and tinctures and systemics because the, basically the bugs take a bite of the plant and they go, I don't like the way that tastes, and they move on. I don't, you let me know. Have you tried that? I have used clove and rosemary oil and peppermint oil combined into my own concoctions with a little bit of soap as a contact spray, but as a systemic where it's just making the actual plant itself taste different, I don't know. I can't say whether or not this works really well because I have not been reapplying it every seven to 10 days. So I have options. I can either add it to my calendar and start trying to remember to do that or just, you know, go ahead with one of these liquids that's good for usually several weeks or apparently a year, but I don't think that's true. Though at 0.55% with the Imideco Pro, that probably is what you probably wouldn't want to do more than that. Okay. I had to pause. I opened up my calendar and set myself some reminders so I will remember every single week to use this on that one plant that I'd started it with just to see how well it works because I do think that the rosemary is a promising avenue, but it's something you just have to do more frequently, but it's so, so, so, so, so much safer than these systemics are, right? The soaps and the neems are fairly, you know, safe. You don't have to worry about those too much. They can be irritating and annoying, but you know, probably not going to hurt anything too seriously. But neem on that note, while neem is thought to be really safe, very bad for fish and amphibians and birds. So that's something to keep in mind. You know, it can be rough stuff. The Systemica, I don't know what else was in it. It was the rosemary, clove, water, soap, bark, humic acid. I mean, that seems very promising. So we went from what I consider to be the safer routes, which are oils, soaps, and then up to the systemics, and then to a systemic that's even more safe. Probably very, very, very safe. It even says on here, long garden, home, long lasting, systemic protection. Might be worth giving a try, especially if maybe it doesn't even kill the bugs and it just repels them. That would be nice, right? Because there are plenty of instances where I have an outbreak on a flowering plant and I'm not going to spray it or put a systemic on it because I don't want to hurt the pollinators, right? And usually I either end up just cutting the plant down and getting rid of it or just living with the problem, right? Or, you know, being very responsible about, you know, using a mild soap or something spraying underneath the foliage at night time. It's a safer time to do that and a quantity where I know it's not going to be wet the next day. With this, I don't really think that would be something you have to worry about as much, but, I mean, still got to be careful and I'm sure this will still hurt anything. It's not going to discriminate any bug that it comes in contact with, at least soft-bodied insects for sure, could have an effect on them. You may notice on top of here we got some powder. Well, that's the last thing. That's DE powder and I'm not going to haul my bucket over here because it's old and it's broken and when I touch it, it starts to crumble. I need to find a new container to put it in, but it's just this very, very, very fine white powder and it is so, so, so safe to use for humans. It can be irritating to the eyes and to the lungs and just, you know, mucus membranes, so, you know, your mouth and your skin, but it's not usually a problem. Wash off right afterwards, probably wear safety goggles and, you know, follow appropriate, appropriate, that's not a word, appropriate procedures for safety. I use it inside of a duster, so it's like a tube with a thing in it. That's weird, but that is what it's shaped like. It's a thing and you squeeze it and it just sprays everywhere. It's a white powder and as long as it's dry, then what that does is it hyper-exfoliates the outside of the insect and it kills them. It causes lots and lots and lots of tears on their exoskeleton and does away with them. The DE powder is something that I like for getting down underneath. I can just take it and spray big powdery proofs of it down underneath my tables and back inside, like, the crevices in the garage where things might crawl across them. Not as affected with really long-legged insects, but for things like the mealy bugs, it does usually work really well. So, when I use this DE powder, just, you know, this white stuff up here, when I do use that, I typically spray it out at nighttime and I do it usually the day after I've watered everything, so that way the foliage is dry because water just breaks it down and doesn't work more once it's wet. Once everything is dry, soil can still be moist on top. I go through and just try and coat everything, tops and bottoms, and if I can, I usually can't, but if I can, try and wait a good seven to ten days before I water again, which means I also usually drop my temperature in here just a smidge, not too much. I don't want things to have moist soil and be cool at the same time, and I want the insects to be active, too. So, if I drop my temps too much and the insects just go, they need to be active, they have to crawl across it for it to do anything to them. I usually don't make it more than three days before I end up needing to water something or the powder just drives me crazy and I have to hose it off of everything, but it really does help as far as just keeping things at bay and you don't have to worry about the odors from it, and like I said, it's relatively safe to use. Everything comes with a risk, don't they? Even water is a chemical. Follow directions and try and be responsible with what you use, and this is for the most part what I use. I have some other things that I use, but they're really not relative to this video. There are things where you have to, like, have a greenhouse to even get the products, like, bug bumps. I shouldn't say I use. I have used them in a controlled situation where things are inside of a tent, but those are really outside the scope of this video, not likely to be something you'll ever need to use or would even want to use. I prefer to use these more mild, just, contact sprays when I can, which is most of the time. The Systemics, I try and reapply them. Obviously, this one, I haven't been. I haven't had to reapply it that often. The Bonide is typically what I use the most out here. The downside is that it smells absolutely awful, and it is a Systemic. It's Imodeco ProWood, so you've got to be careful with it. Okay, hey, that's all. Comment down below. Oh, no, there's one more thing. I don't know where they went. Just sticky traps. It's a good idea to have sticky traps out for your gnat control, and then the control for fungus gnats, which is the Bacillus thuringiensis right there. It needs to be the Israelensis type. So, see that right there, up there? That's what it's talking about. It's a bacteria. I mix it with the water, water it into the soil, and that bacteria kills the fungus gnats and their larvae. You usually need to repeat that, right? Same thing with all of these things. You've got to follow a schedule for them to be effective. This has worked better for me than anything else for fungus gnats. I like to use the sticky traps. I don't know where I've set them, but I do have some. I'll just use the yellow traps. That way, I can quickly see if they're around. Maybe I wouldn't notice them otherwise, and that's when I go ahead and use this. Now, this product's been discontinued, but I believe there's one from Microblyft, which one of you mentioned in a video where I was talking about this, and I totally forgot about that. Microblyft's a good brand, and just anything you can find that's Bacillus thuringiensis with that Israelensis variety, you dilute it. You can use mosquito dunks if you want to. I found that this works much better. Oh, Natrol, or Neutral Natrol. One of those. Same thing. Works really well. Yeah, okay. Now I'm done. Comment down below. What do you have to add? What are some things that you do? It is best practice to just really blast things off in the sink when you see them. That's what I do in the home with my smaller plants. I can just take them to a sink or a shower. I try to just wash everything off of them, and then hit them with a soap or an oil, and try and repeat that frequently. At least once a week, usually for about six weeks. Sometimes you got to get them with a cotton swab or a little brush to help get the critters out of the crevices. But, you know, I prefer that over knowing that I have something that's really harsh inside my home. So, not this. This is fine. But those, yeah, I wouldn't want those in my house. That's just me, though. Yeah, hope everybody's doing well, having a great day, a great life, and everything's just going absolutely beautifully for you.