Hidden Valley Hibiscus Forum
March 28, 2024, 05:09:09 AM *
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
News: 2011 HVH Online Store is Open!
 
   Home   Help Search Login Register  
Pages: 1   Go Down
  Print  
Author Topic: Very old hibiscus, major white fly problem. need help!  (Read 9081 times)
inkeys

Posts: 3


« on: April 06, 2017, 03:31:24 AM »

Good morning fellow hibiscus lovers.

I have a very old tropical hibiscus that I grow as a house plant. It is 32 years old, around four foot tall when pruned and it is in a large plastic pot that I move from my balcony (apartment) to a spare room with a West facing window during winter.

I always hard prune the plant when I bring it in for the fall, and it does get a bit scraggly during winter and usually has issue with white flies but never like this!

This winter they have been out of control and I feel like I'm doing more damage to the leaves with my treatment than anything else. I'm using a mixture of dawn soap, rubbing alcohol and vegetable oil. There are times when they seem to die down a bit but then they come back full swing. At this point I'm spraying every other day, to every day. When they die down I try to give the plant a break and go a few days but the flies keep coming back.

I have showered the plant, but It's very difficult as you can imagine such a large plant in my tiny apartment shower! I don't have the ability to spray it with a hose either.

My questions are really, is there anything I can do to get rid of these things?! Keep in mind I live in Ontario Canada so I don't have access to all of the pesticides and soil treatments I read about online. Is neem oil any good for this or worth the try?

Second question is am I doing damage to the plants with my mixture? Some of the leaves are drying (Green) and falling off, but I thought possibly this could be because of the flies?

Last question, will the white flies kill my beloved hibiscus? I would be devastated to lose this very old friend!

Sorry for the very long post and thank you to any one who will take the time to read it and help!
Logged
Merkity

Posts: 94


« Reply #1 on: April 07, 2017, 11:49:08 AM »

the leaves will be dying because of the flies.  If you can hose it down at all, that will start to help. There is another thread here talking about Rosemary oil - haven't tried it yet myself, but i have been adding worm castings to my soils, yellow sticky traps, spraying with neem oil, and changing the soil out.  any leaves with major egg patches I cut and toss.   it is not easy.   I really can't get rid of them on indoor plants until i use bayer - which is not an option for my seedlings...   
Logged
Kyle

Posts: 334



« Reply #2 on: April 21, 2017, 10:34:22 PM »

Hi Inkeys
Wow that's an old potted hibiscus you have there.
I to have lived in an apartment before and know what it's like not having  a hose and dealing with pest.  Strong showering works well in the tub but many showers is needed to get rid of pest or  to put them in remission.
Where did you come up with the dawn/veg oil/ rubbing alcohol?   That's sounds like a  bad combination to use on the bush.  That combo may be doing more damage than the white flys or is a triple whammy stressing the hibiscus in addion to winterizing.
I refuse to use spray pesticides indoors that contain harmful ingrediants so caution if you use them.
Maybe a systemic pesticide will help by watering it in the roots.   Something you can water in that travels everywhere to the plant to discorage them from feeding.
One of the things you can also do is hang  a sticky trap near the flys on a branch to try and catch them.
If you figure out a way to get rid of white flys give us an update.

Kyle


Logged
Ellen

Posts: 23


« Reply #3 on: August 20, 2017, 02:16:00 PM »

https://sierranaturalscience.com/product-category/free-sample-kits/
Sierra Natural Science (SNS) has both a systemic (209) and a spray/drench (203).  The spray drench contains rosemary.  Check out their website to see how they say it works.  I have a terrible time with spidermites wintering over my hibiscus and will be trying this this winter.  Have not used it yet.  Read about it in the orchid society magazine.  Their free sample offer is a way to try it out.  Last year we carried the plants outside when the temp got up to 40o and aprayed with Bayer 3 in 1 insect nd disease control but that absolutely can NOT be used inside (tried it and nearly died)

Kyle has a long post on the SNS products, just not sure which topic includes it
Logged
Pages: 1   Go Up
  Print  
 
Jump to:  

Powered by SMF 1.1.11 | SMF © 2006-2009, Simple Machines LLC