Weather forecast today (Melbourne CBD, 3000): min - 14°C, max - 31°C

  • melbaboutown
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    17 days ago

    New male flowers popped overnight with a female one getting ready to open. Not seeing any pollen tho.

    I am seeing what is probably thrips

    • TheWitchofThornbury
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      17 days ago

      Spray thrip with laundry/dishwashing liquid and water - 1:5 ratio. Can add 1 tablespoon of cooking oil (any sort) to mix if necessary for more lasting effect, but will need to shake up the spray bottle well before using. Won’t harm plants or pets and is a good sucking insect spray. I like using this better than chemicals. Best applied generously in the evening.

      • melbaboutown
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        17 days ago

        Are you sure? I was going to do this with garlic and dish soap but a bit worried about hurting the plants. Heard it’s bad for them and the ones I used to use dish soap solution on looked kinda damaged 😭

        • Catfish
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          17 days ago

          I’ve used a soup made of boilt onions & chilli with just a few drops of dish liquid. Worked ok, but goes off quickly in a really nasty way.

        • TheWitchofThornbury
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          17 days ago

          I’ve had good results with it. Trick is to be careful with the dilution ratio. Also a good idea to rinse it off a bit the following morning when you water the plants. To control thrip it only needs to be done a couple of times a few days apart. I’ve seen people use it with too much soap in it and this is damaging, especially in hot weather. I suspect problems occur when people think that more is better and aren’t careful about measuring the ratio and don’t apply it properly.

          • melbaboutown
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            17 days ago

            Ah ok sweet. This had actually been a science experiment in dish detergent being damaging to plants because of breaking up the lipids in its cell membrane or something so it was probably made strongish. I forget the ratio.

            I just forced myself out to the shop to see if they had any organic spray but no. I forgot to get garlic… but I did manage to find some nasturtium seeds and some alyssum seeds to attract good bugs. No marigolds tho