How to Eliminate Flower Pests at Home Without Pesticides
Every plant lover has a few potted plants at home, and it is inevitable that they attract some common pests like aphids! Here are a few key tips for killing pests! You can kill pests without pesticides.
(1) Aphids: use 5 grams of laundry detergent, mix with 1.2 kg of water, stir thoroughly and spray, once every 3 days, for 2-3 consecutive times; the kill rate can reach 100%.
(2) Snails: pour beer into a shallow dish and place it on the ground and on the potting soil. Snails smell the aroma of the beer and crawl into the dish by themselves and drown.
(3) Ants: crush garlic cloves, dig 3-4 holes in the flower pot, and bury them in the potting soil. After 2-3 days, the ants, as well as earthworms and nematodes, in the potting soil will be gone.
(4) Red spider mites: light a mosquito coil containing pyrethrum, place it in the orchid pot, then seal the whole pot with a plastic bag and fumigate for 1 hour; this can kill red spider mite egg clusters and adults. (5) Scale insects: use 500 grams of ripe neem tree fruit, soak in 1 kg of water for more than 1 month, and take the liquid for later use. In late spring and early summer, use a 1:1000 dilution for prevention; if small scale insects are found, use a 1:500 dilution to kill them, once every 5 days, for 3 consecutive times, and the small scale insects can be eliminated.
There are also several other methods for dealing with pests:
1. Tobacco. The nicotine and nicotinic alkaloids in cigarettes can control pests such as aphids, red spider mites, stink bugs, and ants. Preparation: (1) 40 grams of native tobacco leaves or tobacco stems, add 1 kg of water, soak for 24 hours, filter, then add an equal amount of water to dilute, add 2-3 grams of laundry detergent and dissolve it (if using cut tobacco, the concentration can be a bit higher; adding laundry detergent both helps it adhere and also has an insecticidal effect). (2) If you do not have weighing equipment, you can soak several de-papered cigarette butts in about 30 times their amount of water, and after the water turns yellowish-brown, add a little laundry detergent and dissolve it.
Filter the above liquid before use. Spray the front and back of the leaves. When the pest infestation is severe, soak the affected parts of the flower in the tobacco water for 1-3 hours, and also soak the growing medium, which can effectively kill pests on the leaves and in the soil. The remaining tobacco water can be poured into ant nests or sprinkled around the pot to eliminate ants. Unsoaked cigarette butts buried in the soil can control small flying insects.
Notes: (1) It contains nicotine, so it is not suitable to add vinegar, otherwise it will weaken the insecticidal strength. (2) If laundry detergent is added, rinse with clean water on the next day after spraying (or immediately after soaking). (3) If it is mainly used for controlling scale insects, it is best to add laundry detergent, or use laundry detergent alone.
2. Garlic. It can control pests such as aphids, red spider mites, scale insects, and nematodes, and can also control powdery mildew. Preparation: take a few cloves of purple-skin garlic from the north, peel, mash, dilute with 10-20 times the amount of water, and after 24 hours filter out the residue. Spray the leaves with the prepared liquid; pour the residue and remaining liquid into the pot to control nematodes and scale insects.
Notes: Garlic juice has a certain viscosity; to prevent dust accumulation, the leaves can be rinsed after a few days.
3. Chives. They can control pests such as aphids and red spider mites, and are even more effective against aphids. Preparation and use: mash 500 grams of chives, add 1.25 kg of water, soak for a day and a night, then filter, and spray the supernatant 3 consecutive times every other day.
4. Onion. It can control pests such as aphids and red spider mites, and is even more effective against aphids. Preparation and use: soak 20 grams of onion bulb scales in 1 kg of water, soak for 24 hours and it is ready to use, then spray 2-3 consecutive times within 1 week. To fully extract the active ingredients, it can be chopped or mashed before soaking, and it must be filtered before use.
5. Hot pepper (dried red chili). It can control pests such as aphids, red spider mites, whiteflies, and stink bugs.
Preparation and use: (1) Dry the hot peppers thoroughly in the sun, grind into fine powder, add 50 grams of chili powder to 1 kg of water, boil for 10 minutes, then cool and filter. (2) Take an appropriate amount of dried chilies, add 20 times the amount of clean water, boil for 20 minutes, let cool, and filter. (3) Use 250 grams of dried chili seeds, add 2.5 kg of water, boil for 30 minutes, let cool, and filter. Moisten the leaves and then dust with powder; coarse powder can be sprinkled in a small amount on the pot surface; spray the leaves and pour into the potting soil.
6. Plant ash. It can control aphids. Preparation and use: soak 1 part plant ash in 5 parts water for 24 hours, filter, and spray. For prevention by the above method, generally once a month. It is best to use them alternately.
Home Flower-Growing Tips
Many friends like to grow flowers, but sometimes the flowers "die young" because they do not know how to care for them. Based on personal experience, the author provides some flower-growing tips for reference.Home Flower-Growing Tips
One,Repotting and Changing Soil
The specific time for repotting and changing soil is from February to May, before the flowers sprout or are moved outdoors. For those that bloom in early spring, it is best to repot and change soil 1 to 2 weeks after flowering; other flowering trees and shrubs can be done during the dormant period or in early April before new shoots have sprouted; evergreen flowers are easiest to keep alive when repotted before they send out branches and leaves, and it is best to choose a cloudy day for repotting or potting.
Most potted flowers are best grown in sandy loam rich in humus, well-drained, and highly breathable. It is also fine to directly use ready-made potting soil bought from the flower market, but it should be as close as possible to the original soil.
Usually, each time you repot, the new pot should be one size larger than the original pot, but it is not easy to grow small flowers in a large pot. If using an old pot, wash it clean, and expose it to the sun or scald it with boiling water to kill bacteria and insect eggs.
When repotting, try to keep the root ball from breaking apart when taking the flower out of the original pot. After removing it from the pot, remove half of the old soil, trim the root system, and at the same time prune the above-ground parts accordingly to reduce leaf transpiration. In addition, this period is very suitable for division propagation of flowers, which can be done together with repotting. After the flowering plant is planted, water it thoroughly once, then place it in a cool, wind-sheltered place, and gradually restore light after half a month; during this period, do not fertilize.
Home Flower-Growing Tips
Two,Moving Flowers Outdoors
In early spring, the temperature is changeable, so do not rush to move heat-loving flowers outdoors. Generally speaking, deciduous flowering trees and shrubs have strong cold resistance and should be moved outdoors when the outdoor minimum temperature is above 0°C. Flowering trees and shrubs with medium cold resistance, such as jasmine, osmanthus, and banana shrub, should be moved outdoors only when the outdoor minimum temperature is about 3°C. The time to move them outdoors is around Grain Rain; they must not be moved outdoors before Qingming. Subtropical flowers such as Cymbidium orchids, croton, and poinsettia should be moved outdoors even later.
Before flowers are moved outdoors, they should be hardened off in advance, starting with 2-3 hours of sun each day and then gradually extending it. From 7 to 10 days before moving them outdoors, they can be moved outside on sunny mornings and moved back before the sun goes down in the afternoon, with the frequency going from few to many and the time from short to long. At the same time, spray the branches and leaves once at noon every day to replenish water.
Home Flower-Growing Tips
Three,Fertilizing Flowers
Fertilizing flowers should follow the principle of "light fertilizer, applied frequently." For a small number of flowers that like fertilizer, foliar application of liquid fertilizer can be used; for northern flowers that like acidic soil, some black alum (ferrous sulfate) water can be watered on them.
The best fertilization method is to alternate the use of chemical fertilizers and organic fertilizers. For example, use fermented rapeseed cake or sesame oil residue solid fertilizer mixed into the potting soil as a base fertilizer; after the flowers sprout, choose a sunny evening to apply once a fully decomposed cake fertilizer water, chicken and duck manure, or other liquid fertilizer; half a month later, in the early morning or at dusk, spray the leaves with a liquid chemical fertilizer at a concentration of one-thousandth plus trace elements. After another half a month, apply solid fertilizer. Repeat this cycle over and over.
Home Flower-Growing Tips
Four,Pest Control for Flowers
After flowers suffer pest damage, you can first use folk remedies to kill the pests, and if the folk methods do not work, then use pesticides.
For powdery mildew, remove diseased leaves early in the initial stage of the disease. To deal with sooty mold, the standard practice is to spray lime sulfur mixture; the author has tried spraying a dilute solution of household sulfur soap, and the effect was also quite good. Mash garlic, add water, and spray to control leaf spot disease of flowers. Soak one cigarette, two dried chilies, or one electric mosquito coil tablet into half a teacup of water, and spray to kill aphids. Put a small bottle cap of sewing machine oil or high-grade machine oil, or even the waste oil filtered from a range hood, into a teacup of very dilute dishwashing liquid solution, place it in a bottle and shake vigorously until it becomes an emulsion, then spray it on the leaves and branches; scale insects and red spider mites will quickly disappear. Afterwards, frequently spray water mist on the flower leaves, and these pests will not come back. To deal with pests such as longhorn beetles, scarab beetles, and caterpillars, catching them by hand is the most environmentally friendly method, or fumigate the whole pot of flowers with a mosquito coil for one hour, which also makes them easy to kill.
Simple and Easy-to-Learn Methods for Preventing Flower Pests at Home; How to Prevent and Control Pests in Home Flower Growing?
Recently, a plant lover asked the editor what to do when pests are found in home flower growing. The fastest and most effective method is of course to use chemical pesticides, but long-term use of chemical pesticides to control flower pests easily pollutes the environment. Making "homemade pollution-free pesticides" yourself to control flower pests has good results, with no pollution and no pesticide damage.
Garlic JuiceTake 0.5 kg of purple-skin garlic, add a little water and soak for a moment, mash and take the juice, add water to dilute 10 times, and spray immediately; it can control aphids, red spider mites, and scale insect nymphs; pouring garlic juice into the potting soil can control nematodes and earthworms. Tobacco leaf water. Take 50 grams of tobacco leaves, or 100 grams of tobacco stems or smoked cigarette butts, add 1.5 kg of water, boil for half an hour, or soak for a day and a night, rub repeatedly by hand, filter with gauze, and add 0.1%-0.2% neutral laundry detergent before spraying; it can control aphids, red spider mites, leafhoppers, thrips, leaf rollers, and various other leaf-eating pests. Chili water. Take 50 grams of dried red chilies, add about 1 kg of clean water, boil for 10-20 minutes, filter and take the clear liquid to spray; it can control aphids, red spider mites, whiteflies, and so on. Sichuan pepper water. Take 50 grams of Sichuan pepper (or pepper), add about 1 kg of water, boil for 30-40 minutes, filter, and spray the plants; it can kill aphids. Boiled Chinese pulsatilla water. Take 500 grams of Chinese pulsatilla tubers, add 5 kg of water, boil for half an hour, filter, and spray the flowers; it can kill aphids. Boiled peach leaf water. Take 0.5 kg of peach leaves, add about 3 kg of water, boil for 30 minutes, filter, and spray; it can control aphids, inchworms, and soft-bodied pests; after chopping the peach leaves, drying them in the sun, and grinding them into powder and applying them into the soil, it can control underground pests such as mole crickets and grubs.
Common Household Folk Methods for Pest Control
1. Mix half a teaspoon of detergent with 4 liters of water, and spray the underside of the leaves once every 5 days until the whiteflies are completely eliminated.
2. Put the flower pot into a basin of water so that the water level is slightly higher than the surface of the potting soil, and leave it for half an hour to 1 hour; this can suffocate the fly maggots in the soil to death.
3. Use chilies or chopped oleander leaves, add 20 times the amount of water, boil for 20 minutes, let cool, then water the flowers or filter the residue and spray; it has a good pest-control effect. Note that the boiled oleander leaf liquid must be used up in one go to prevent accidental poisoning of people and livestock.
4. Cut the leftover soap ends from laundry into small pieces, add water and stir into an alkaline soap solution, and spray a small amount into the flower pot; it can effectively kill black flies.
5. Pour flour and whole milk powder into a container at a ratio of 8:1, then add 4.5 times the amount of water and mix well, filter with gauze, and spray the filtrate on the branches and leaves of the flowers; it can kill most spider mites and their eggs.
6. Light 1 mosquito coil in the flower pot, cover the potted flower with a plastic bag, open a small hole at the top, and fumigate for 1 hour; it can effectively kill butterfly and moth larvae and adults. Spraying with a 1:1000 neutral laundry detergent solution has an extremely high kill rate against whiteflies. Spraying with a 1:600 essential balm solution can kill more than 95% of pests.
Through the detailed introduction in this article, I hope everyone can gain something from it! Thank you for your support and attention to Duorou Huapu!