Spraying Kontos.

[davidwood]

It’s been a few months now but I said I would write with the results of my switch. For those who where interested I switched to spraying Kontos rather than using it as a soil drench. I did it for financial reasons as I would be using 75% less Kontos and as Kontos actually advise using it that way I thought why not.
Well happy to say its been a 100% success and am very happy I switched, I use at the recommended rate of a half teaspoon per gallon per week and I find 1 gallon is plenty to spray my garden ,I was using 2 full teaspoons as a soil drench so a nice saving.
Also about 1 month ago I started adding the Kontos to my weekly spraying of Supernova with no ill effects so a bit of a time saver as well.
I haven’t written the above lightly, knowing how much we all love our Hibs I wanted to be pretty confident before I wrote, Spider mites where already a thing in the past for me using the drench method but anyone on a budget might want to give spraying a try.

I did at the same time switch also to feeding by spraying which was a complete disaster and lasted less than 2 weeks so shan't be talking about that haha.

[Charlie]

Thanks for your input, David. However, your situation is not typical of the one that most people have who use Kontos - that is, growing hibiscus indoors in either the house or a greenhouse.

The manufacturer says this on the label about using Kontos for mites:

"Make applications preventatively or when populations are first detected. Kontos will not control heavy populations."

David, your rooftop garden with many different types of plants more closely resembles an outdoor garden than it does the indoor gardens that we recommend Kontos for. Outdoor situations are less prone to mite attacks, although they do happen, because outdoor conditions are more difficult for the tiny mites to survive in and there are many predator insects that eat mites in an outdoor setting. Indoors, the conditions are perfect for mites and fewer predatory insects are found, if any. The whole idea of using Kontos was for people growing indoors to be able to drench their pots because spraying a pesticide inside a house is not desirable.

When Cindy and I used to take all our many hibiscus out from the house to spray for mites, I used more powerful and effective miticides than Kontos. But, we wanted to avoid the time and hassle of doing this and found Kontos to be a fairly effective way to deal with indoor mites without having to spray.

For those of you growing in greenhouses or inside the house I would not recommend spraying Kontos instead of drenching it. You will almost certainly get a major outbreak of mites down the line, sorry to say. Myself and other commercial hibiscus growers have tried spraying it in our greenhouses and it did not work in that situation where mite pressures are relatively high due to ideal conditions.

Also, David, your use rate might be high compared to what is recommended in the label, which is:

"0.05 fl oz (1.5 mL)  up to 0.1 fl oz (3.0 mL) of product / 3 gallons of water
(Note that this says for 3 gallons of water, not 1 gallon).

I said might be high because the US teaspoon is not the same as the UK teaspoon (not sure which you are using), being 5 ml in the US compared to 3.5 ml in the UK. The top rate when using the US teaspoon would therefore be slightly less than 1/3 teaspoon per gallon, according to the label.

Last point, when growing hibiscus outdoors or wherever it is OK to spray pesticides, you can control mites better with pesticides such as Avid or its generic equivalents that are available for less money and do a much better job than Kontos. The neat thing about Kontos is that it is the first systemic pesticide that has some effect on mites and that makes it very well suited for indoor use as a drench.

If anyone has more questions about this, please speak up as we don't want to confuse or mislead anyone using this product or considering it.

Charlie
 

[davidwood]

Thanks Charlie, I forgot about people having to bring them indoors where of course spraying would not be much use. No idea what my teaspoon is [I never knew there was a difference], in fact I use a free one that you get with a Pot Noodle haha.
Interesting what you say about Mites being less prevalent outdoors, I always wondered why I seemed to be a bit more lucky than others and never really got any serious attacks, that explains it.

[Mike]

Hi David
I tried spraying with Kontos also because I was using a lot of it , like about a bottle every 4 months at  $182. dollars . Spraying I use about one fourth of that and it was working well . then I also bought Avid and now I rotate them and I think the avid actually does a better job at about 106. dollars , almost half the price . I only use the Kontos as a drench on a few plants that are worse about getting mites than the rest ,all the others I just spray them .
I'v also noticed when the temperature gets up over about 100 deg. some plants need to go in the house they will defoliate , they don't like temperatures that high , I don't care how much you spray them the leaves will still slowly keep turning yellow and fall of until the plant sheds about 60 or 70 percent of it's leaves . I think it's heat stress instead of mites , others I can leave outside up to 107 deg. and they stay nice and green . You have to know your plants witch ones can take the heat and witch ones can't . But if you never tried Avid and your looking for a cheeper way to control the mites it works great at least for out side . I spray it in the house in a spare room with a small spray bottle where I can control the spray better once and a wile , but I have no pets & no kids around either .     

[davidwood]

Interesting what you say about the yellow leaves and defoliating Mike, I am not sure there can be many people in the world growing Hibs in the extreme heat conditions I have here in Vietnam and the cause of my yellowing is nearly always a lack of water, I only need to let them get to dry for a few hours and the next day I can lose 30% of my leaves. In fact because of this getting the watering right is my biggest challenge, I have lost more Hibs through over watering than for any other reason, getting the balance right is tough and all part of the hobby I suppose, fortunately I virtually live in the garden so I can keep a close eye on it otherwise I would have no chance, and of course its winter now with temperatures around 80f which makes it much easier.

I will look out for that Avid but in truth I am very happy with my results from Kontos and having enough for the next 6 years its unlikely even if I could buy it here that I would.

[ConstantGardener]

I started using Kontos on my many potted hibiscus outside a few months ago.  Last spring and summer the plants suffered through spider mite infestations that took the lives of five potted hibiscus.

The Kontos has been very effective, mixing it at a 1/4 teaspoon per gallon and delivering via sprayer.  At first I was doing a semi-drench with it, then started spraying the foliage.  Everything looks very good and the plants are blooming again; the blooms are increasing in size as the bushes regain their health.

I also bought some generic Avid and have used a bit of that, but have a question... Shouldn't I be rotating these products?  Is it OK to rotate Kontos to Avid to something else like Neem oil or insecticidal soap?

Also, I use the acidic version of HVH hibiscus food and wondered if the soil in pots can become too acidic, and maybe I should switch to the standard HVH food?

Thanks,

Chris