I pick 1/2 ripe to ripe and soak for a few minutes in a light solution of dawn and bleach, remove and let dry. I believe the only prob I ever had was causing a few splits from forgetting and leaving in solution to long:dizzy::dizzy::?!?:
Pete

Hey Bill,

Not sure if you have experience with this regard to your mix, but I'm curious at the specified concentration will it bleach (color loss) materials? In addition to garden plots, I have tomatoes in buckets on my newly redone composite deck and do not want to ruin it. I know I could test a small area that cannot be seen, but figured you might have experience over years of using the solution that is better than testing a small spot.

Thanks,
Justin

[QUOTE=jmsieglaff;756603]Hey Bill,

Not sure if you have experience with this regard to your mix, but I'm curious at the specified concentration will it bleach (color loss) materials? In addition to garden plots, I have tomatoes in buckets on my newly redone composite deck and do not want to ruin it. I know I could test a small area that cannot be seen, but figured you might have experience over years of using the solution that is better than testing a small spot.

Thanks,
Justin[/QUOTE]

I have no idea what the deck material is or if it would lose color to bleach. I would find it hard to believe it would at the concentrations used in the diluted bleach spray. Is it painted or is the composite a solid color through and through. If your deck is newly redone why not find a little piece of the composite material that was left over and put a drop of bleach full strength on it and see if that bleaches out the color and if it doesn't then you should be fairly sure that a very dilute amount shouldn't affect it. However a pool of diluted bleach spray resulting from dripping onto the deck might leave a lighter spot if allowed to set and dry there.

I use a diluted bleach spray every year on parts of my painted home to remove mildew and have had no ill affects. I think it would be best to test a small area as in applying any chemical to something to make sure you don't have a negative result.

Bill

I skimmed this thread looking for the concentrations of DE, pyrethrin, and neem to deal with whitefly, but cannot find it. Forum won't let me search for "diatomaceous" or "DE", either too long or too short. Appreciate any help :)

Diatomaceous Earth as a seed starting medium.

Tried to copy paste article here re.DE.Switch the search to posts,not threads.Original from RayR.

[url]http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=22329&highlight=Earth[/url]

Thank you, however, that thread is about using DE as a seed starting medium. If you read this bleach spray thread, you will see some of the posters mix DE into their solution and spray it on the plant as a form of pest control. I'm trying to find out how much DE they use :) Hopefully clear?

[QUOTE=paradajky;766138]Thank you, however, that thread is about using DE as a seed starting medium. If you read this bleach spray thread, you will see some of the posters mix DE into their solution and spray it on the plant as a form of pest control. I'm trying to find out how much DE they use :) Hopefully clear?[/QUOTE]

I have used DE in sprays for insects and it works great with the right sprayer and concentrations. You have to have the food grade DE and you have to mix it separately in a jug with water and a bit of dish washing soap. Then you pour it through a fine strainer to get out any clumps. Once it is in the sprayer you can add more soap and I always add Permethrin for an initial knock down. This works really well on spider mites but you have to keep agitating your tank and you have to thoroughly clean it after or it can get clogged. If you have an in line filter it will need cleaning also.

I used a backpack sprayer that built up a very high pressure and it worked pretty good applying this combo most of the time. Sometimes I would have to set the sprayer courser in order to push out a small clog. I couldn't use the finest spray setting or it would sometimes clog up.

I bought a back pack Sthil fogger and now use it most of the time when I spray my plants because the fine mist coming out is much better at getting 100% coverage and it hasn't clogged yet. It is also far better at getting whiteflies as the fog is so much more effective because they can't escape the spray as easily. Of course neither can I so I have to be careful not to fog myself by spraying into the prevailing wind.

I have found that using with just a heavy dose of Dawn and some Permethrin can be pretty good at reducing the little monsters. With whiteflies it is best to spray several days in a row to really get them under control and to fog down other foliage nearby so they don't just move back in the next day or two.

If you only gave a few plants then it probably isn't practical to buy that expensive equipment like a gas powered fogger. I doubt you need it for mosquito control like I do but man has it cut down my spraying time and effort. I can do my whole garden in just a few minutes and it is so much easier to cleanup than a pump sprayer. If you decide to get one just remember they are heavy so get the smaller one because when you add a couple of gallons of liquid it is really heavy. I usually only do a couple of gallons though it will hold 4 gallons of spray but that is a bit awkward to carry but it does save on mixing time. Until I got the gas powered fogger I thought my good quality backpack sprayer was the be all and end all but I was wrong. It paid for itself the first summer I used it for controlling spider mites in the time and effort it saved me.

Good luck with the whiteflies. I find them to be one of the hardest pests to deal with because they are just so hard to spray and they concentrate on the underside of the leaves making them that much harder to get control of.

Bill

[QUOTE=b54red;766226]I have used DE in sprays for insects and it works great with the right sprayer and concentrations. You have to have the food grade DE and you have to mix it separately in a jug with water and a bit of dish washing soap. Then you pour it through a fine strainer to get out any clumps. Once it is in the sprayer you can add more soap and I always add Permethrin for an initial knock down. [/QUOTE]


Thanks for the tips! This will be helpful.


How much DE do you use per gallon or whatever your measurements are? I can do the conversion to my sprayer then, I have only two medium sized blueberry bushes, they are absolutely infested and my efforts to spray with neem oil have been failures.