I listen to Garden Talk on WTIC radio (from Hartford). This past week, a woman who led the organic gardening movement here in CT since the early 80s was a speaker......it was noted how things have changed....for the better! In the 60s & early 70s, it was the hippies who believed in organic gardening....now, it's followed by many. New Morning, an organic store a few towns away from me, is always packed......I've always kept an organic veggie garden, have never used any type of chemical on my plants or in my soil. However.....the land I live on was once a commercial orchard.....never thought about it, but the soil is probably loaded with chemicals from the spraying of the crops...
I grew up in a town of many apple orchards. I often wondered if the high incidence of fibromyalgia type symptoms in many of my classmates now in their late 50's, stemmed from pesticides. I hated the sound of sprayers.
My neighbor next door & the woman across the road from her both were diagnosed with fibromyalgia....I'm living with psoriatic arthritis.....we all were diagnosed in our 50s!
I can ask my dad what we used to use on the trees. The neighbor sprayed ours. We only had 15 or so trees in a line and did some "Pick Your Own" but mostly we stashed enough in the basement to take us to the next April. I dunno if dad will remember. He is 89 and forgetting some of those things. In the back of my head, I am thinking maybe this was the spray of the 70's: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D...
Name: Jacquie (JB) Berger Wrightstown, New Jersey (Zone 6b)
If you have a fruit tree as a houseplant, do you have to spray it like they do field fruit trees....I wonder??? I could not do that because of the birds. Hmmmm. Just a thought.
Nah. Those kinds of bugs don't usually come in your house. If you had a bunch of fruit trees outside, there are viable okay sprays like copper sulfate and lime, or neem oil.
Name: Mother Raphaela Holy Myrrhbearers Monastery NY (Zone 4b)
I also (believe it or not) use a friend's suggestion: Put Listerine mouthwash (no substitutes) in a spray bottle. If you spray infested plants daily, you can finally get rid of the buggers. But do start by washing them off with the mild dish soap and water solution.
Paris Green was once used to kill rats in Parisian sewers, hence the common name.[citation needed] It was also used in America and elsewhere as an insecticide for produce, such as apples, around 1900, where it was blended with lead arsenate. This quite toxic mixture is said "to have burned the trees and the grass around the trees". Paris Green was heavily sprayed by airplane in Italy, Sardinia, and Corsica during 1944 and in Italy in 1945 to control malaria.[5]
Does anyone want any cuttings before it gets too cold to mail them? I have African Violets, Spider Plants, Angel Wing Begonias, assorted Coleus, Thanksgiving Cactus, Aloe, Jade, Wandering Jew, Hoya, Devil's Ivy....
Name: Mother Raphaela Holy Myrrhbearers Monastery NY (Zone 4b)
I'm a sucker for cuttings but I'm like Marilyn -- no more room... I made myself a light stand a couple of years back when a local place was getting rid of baker's shelves and unbelievably, I've filled that up, too!
Oops. Should have dusted the tops of my lamps. Well, next time! MR
Name: Janice Hurd Thompsonville Village, Ct. (Zone 6a) "Where flowers bloom so does hope"
Celeste-hoya's are easy peasy and very rewarding. A lot of varities have very fragrant blooms.
“Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.” – Leo F. Buscaglia
Wow....quite a collection, Mother R. I just have the plants on a shelf built over a cabinet....mostly cactus & amaryllis...will take a photo when I clean up the shelf!
