Date: Sat, 26 Aug 2000 16:23:26 EDT From: CALIFCARN@aol.com To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg2624$foo@default> Subject: Re: This and That
Hey kids, Peter here at California Carnivores: As for spider mites, I
reported several months ago the repeated problem we've had here on some of
our display plants with this pest, namely on Cobras, Flytraps and
Heliamphora. Over the past two years I had tried Orthene, Diazinon, and
other insecticides. Even tried spider mite preditors but all they did was
cost a lot of money. Finally someone gave me some AVID and I must say that
after two applications not a spider mite in site. Usually with other
insecticides (and mites are not insects of course) the little tiny beasts
were back in a week or two. I don't know what's in AVID or if it's available
overseas, but folks at botanical gardens always told me AVID was the only
workable treatment, and I must admit that so far it's true. As for
spider mites disliking humidity and wetness, that is true for only a few
species. Many others thrive in wet conditions, as my soaked flytraps and
Heliamphora can attest to.
I had a fairly large response to my Savage Garden column recently on
"Chilly Nights". Several people wanted to know about the portable air
conditioner I spoke about. I recently saw it advertised on the Weather
Channel, and it's a Longines "Penguino" (as in Penguin). They are
expensive; about $900 U.S.
Yesterday, also on this subject of cool highlanders, I received an
interesting email from Nick Hayward, a customer of ours. He came up with a
clever idea that I thought I would mention to ya'll, to see if anyone wanted
to give it a try. He suggested that one could try cooling small to medium
sized tanks (say up to 55 gallons) by placing in them those Igloo-type frozen
ice things one uses to put in coolers and stuff. Here in the U.S. there are
several brands, the most famous I believe is the Igloo brand. You could keep
them in the freezer and put them in your tank when you go to bed at night.
Then take them out and refreeze them the following day. Might be worth a try
for those growers with a small tank that needs to cool down by morning for
those fussy highland plants....
Th-th-th-th-that's all folks! Peter
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