Ninja
Well-Known Member
- 107
- 24/02/14
- 39
- 48
I wanted to do something similar like worldgardens or a how everyone grows hibs in his place... with bloom pict and of course including issues and pitfalls.
so before I get distracted more over thinking about what to post here I'll just start -
In late summer (2012) we moved to a bigger flat with a balcony (yey!!!) - its a south-west facing rooftop flat, the balcony gets full sun most of the time. most of the windows are slanted, so there's plenty of light for tropicals
well I thought I'd have plenty of space for plants now, but.. well I guess no matter how much place you have it gets crowded really fast if you're a plant-addict...
here I was in the process of filling out the balcony during the move and build shelves (by that time I was wondering how all those plants had place in my old appartment)
the living room is like a green-house so the plants almost don't slow down in winter.
however, good climate for the plants unfortunately also means that pests will like it. during summer 2012 the first white flies appeared..
I was able to keep them under control during winter/spring 2012/13 and thought that the problem would be solved as soon as they get outdoors (that's what people usually tell you)
I guess I made one significant mistake (along with a few other things that just added up) - I wanted to grow tomatoes and other eadible stuff on the balcony. turns out that they are a magnet for white flies. additionally we had long stretches of extremely hot weather - so not ideal to spray pest repellents (which is not a good idea anyways on a small balcony - neighbors won't like it, also a no go with eadibles). so I tried spraying with water when it was hot - if course you can't use a hose too.. and K-soap solution when it was cooler.
then autumn came, I did a lot of travelling then, but as it was mild I kept the plants outdoors as long as possible. I figured that the flies won't like the colder night temps. at the end of october (thats already quite unusual) I had to get the plants back indoors, another trip was due that extended into November. so I crammed in the plants without washing them (next mistake), then they were basically alone for two weeks- a friend of mine was watering, but nothing done against pests.
guess what happens with heavily whitefly-infested plants, two weeks more or less unattended in a sunny warm appartment... - they multiply (the flies..)!!!
when we came back the entire flat was sticky with mildew, white flies everywhere (imagine a dark brown sofa covered in those things - ugh..)
well.. so I stuffed all the plants into one room under quarantine and started a routine including a mosquito-plug, anti-pest/fertilizing sticks and some more sprays.. the plants didn't like that much, along with much less light, so quite a lot started loosing leaves. as soon as the plant was leaveless I'd wash it and move it out of quarantine, I did that more or less over the entire winter. In the end I manually defoliated the more hardy plants to move them out of quarantine. Its quite radical, but I figured that was the only way to get rid of the flies and their eggs since they resisted all the chemicals (and at some point you don't want to spray anymore..).
I lost most of the seedlings from last year who were not strong enough and unfortunately also a couple of grafted cvs.
the rest of the plants is recovering though and I'm starting to get blooms again... ugh
that winter definitely was a slap in my face...
sorry for that monster-post
so before I get distracted more over thinking about what to post here I'll just start -
In late summer (2012) we moved to a bigger flat with a balcony (yey!!!) - its a south-west facing rooftop flat, the balcony gets full sun most of the time. most of the windows are slanted, so there's plenty of light for tropicals
well I thought I'd have plenty of space for plants now, but.. well I guess no matter how much place you have it gets crowded really fast if you're a plant-addict...
here I was in the process of filling out the balcony during the move and build shelves (by that time I was wondering how all those plants had place in my old appartment)
the living room is like a green-house so the plants almost don't slow down in winter.
however, good climate for the plants unfortunately also means that pests will like it. during summer 2012 the first white flies appeared..
I was able to keep them under control during winter/spring 2012/13 and thought that the problem would be solved as soon as they get outdoors (that's what people usually tell you)
I guess I made one significant mistake (along with a few other things that just added up) - I wanted to grow tomatoes and other eadible stuff on the balcony. turns out that they are a magnet for white flies. additionally we had long stretches of extremely hot weather - so not ideal to spray pest repellents (which is not a good idea anyways on a small balcony - neighbors won't like it, also a no go with eadibles). so I tried spraying with water when it was hot - if course you can't use a hose too.. and K-soap solution when it was cooler.
then autumn came, I did a lot of travelling then, but as it was mild I kept the plants outdoors as long as possible. I figured that the flies won't like the colder night temps. at the end of october (thats already quite unusual) I had to get the plants back indoors, another trip was due that extended into November. so I crammed in the plants without washing them (next mistake), then they were basically alone for two weeks- a friend of mine was watering, but nothing done against pests.
guess what happens with heavily whitefly-infested plants, two weeks more or less unattended in a sunny warm appartment... - they multiply (the flies..)!!!
when we came back the entire flat was sticky with mildew, white flies everywhere (imagine a dark brown sofa covered in those things - ugh..)
well.. so I stuffed all the plants into one room under quarantine and started a routine including a mosquito-plug, anti-pest/fertilizing sticks and some more sprays.. the plants didn't like that much, along with much less light, so quite a lot started loosing leaves. as soon as the plant was leaveless I'd wash it and move it out of quarantine, I did that more or less over the entire winter. In the end I manually defoliated the more hardy plants to move them out of quarantine. Its quite radical, but I figured that was the only way to get rid of the flies and their eggs since they resisted all the chemicals (and at some point you don't want to spray anymore..).
I lost most of the seedlings from last year who were not strong enough and unfortunately also a couple of grafted cvs.
the rest of the plants is recovering though and I'm starting to get blooms again... ugh
that winter definitely was a slap in my face...
sorry for that monster-post
