Re: [compost_tea] Aphids

From: Jeff Lowenfels <jeff_at_gardener.com>
Date: Thu, 21 Aug 2003 19:01:02 -0800

Don't want to start a flame, but AACT is not an 'icide.' Don't get us in tr=
ouble with the EPA by suggesting it is......It works because it helps add t=
he beneficials needed to create and maintain healthy foodwebs with all the =
benefits that come with that state of nature...

APHIDS: IMHO Compost tea means healthier plants that are not under stress.=
 Plants under stress have higher incidents of aphids.

As for direct application and results on aphids, if you have a severe enoug=
h spray, it will knock them off the plants, but after a year, I still have =
them in my greenhouse, though now they seem to predominately hit the Orchid=
s when in bloom. What self respecting Alaskan aphid wouldn't......

TENT CATERPILLARS starved.....that is not being killed directly by AACT, ri=
ght? Starving tent caterpillars means they wouldn't eat the leaves probabl=
y because there was something on them they didn't like or that they eat onc=
e and it shuts down their digestive system as in the action of bT. And mayb=
e there was some bT strain or similar acting in the tea mix.

SLUGS? Got me there. Perhaps the healthy foodweb at the sprayed plants inc=
ludes plenty of opelias and slug eating microarthropods as well as slug ki=
lling nematodes.

In any case, AACT isn't an 'icide' any more than mother nature, so be caref=
ul or we will have to register with the EPA because of the wrong claims on =
behalf of AACT.


Cheers,

Jeff L



Received on Thu Aug 21 2003 - 23:50:45 EDT

This archive was generated by hypermail 2.3.0 : Tue Feb 07 2012 - 14:29:27 EST