Flower and plant sap-sucking pest control methods and edible mushroom cultivation techniques

Aphids, red spider mites and scale insects are the three most common sap-sucking pests that harm flowers and trees. The following simple, easy and effective control methods not only use readily available materials, but also do not pollute the environment.

Aphids: They occur in all four seasons. They gather on the buds, tender leaves or tender branches of plants, suck the sap, and damage the bud tips and petals. Control methods:

1. Take 50 g of fresh chili peppers or dried red chili peppers, add 30 to 50 g of water, boil for about half an hour, and spray the filtrate on the affected plants for a particularly effective result.

2. Take 3 to 4 g of washing powder, add 100 g of water, stir into a solution, and spray continuously 2 to 3 times, with a control effect of 10%.

3. Use "Fengyoujing" (essential balm) diluted with water at 600 to 800 times, and carefully spray the pests with a sprayer so that the insect bodies are covered with the liquid. The kill rate for aphids, scale insects and other pests is above 95%, while it will not cause phytotoxicity to the plants.

Red spider mites: Their nymphs often gather on the undersides of leaves and on the flower buds of some flowers, using their piercing-sucking mouthparts to suck the plant sap. Control methods:

1. Soak citrus peel in about 10 times its amount of water for a day and a night, filter, and spray the plants; this can control aphids and red spider mites.

2. Mix 15 g of washing powder, 15 ml of 20% caustic soda, and 7.5 kg of water evenly, then spray; the mortality rate of adult and nymph red spider mites is 94%-98%.

3. Light one mosquito coil and place it in the pot of the diseased plant, then tie the pot tightly inside a plastic bag. After about one hour of fumigation, both eggs and adults can be killed.

Scale insects: Scale insects suck the sap of plants. Affected plants not only grow poorly, but also show symptoms such as yellowing leaves and early leaf drop. The actual insect body is wrapped in a layer of horny shell, so direct spraying with chemicals is not easily effective. Control methods:

1. Mix white liquor with water at a ratio of 1:2. When treating the insects, water the surface layer of the potting soil thoroughly. Apply the medicated water once in mid-April, then about once every half a month, and results appear after four consecutive applications.

2. Take 50 ml of edible vinegar (rice vinegar), dip a small cotton ball into the vinegar until wet, and gently wipe the stems and leaves of the affected flowers and trees with the wet cotton ball to wipe off and kill the scale insects.

3. Prepare a stock solution with diesel oil, washing powder and water at a ratio of 10:0.6:6. At this point the stock solution looks like milk. Dilute it with water, then carefully spray it on the scale insects on milan trees, kumquats and sago palms. After one week, most of the scale insects change from their original fresh orange color to a shriveled state. Source: Beijing Suburban Daily)