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Re: [compost_tea] Aphids



One thing that I think many  are missing is that there is a balance in Nature.  You've got good bugs and you've got bad bugs. If everything is in balance, you're going to have a few bad bugs doing bad things to your plants, but the good bugs are going to keep the bad bugs in check. Much like a a well run, educated populace might run a community of people, but hey, that's another subject (a sorely needed one!....sorry).
 
I think that it is absurd and going completely against the nature of things to think that we're are going to complete rid our plants or our gardens of bad bugs with ANYTHING. And we DON"T WANT TO!
 
If you get rid of the aphids, what are the ladybugs going to stay around for?
 
If you let the wasps thrive, you won't have a problem with tent catepillars (at least here in Texas)!
 
If you destroy the whole gamut of "bad bugs" what are the lacewings going to consume? The Giant Wheel Bugs? Trichogamma wasps? Encarsia Formosa? Lizards, birds, and horny toads? And all the predators in the soil?
 
This is not directed at you Jeff. But it seems that there is too much emphasis placed on "killing all the bad bugs" when what we need to be doing is creating habitats and conditions right for encouraging the natural state of things. Let us not fall into the Pest Control business.
 
I'm with Susan Cruver. Let's not overblow this AACT. And let us not forget that we are operating within that set forth by Nature.
 
AACT is but another tool in the box. It is not the be-all, end-all for all our wishes or problems.
 
A few aphids, let them live to feed those glorious lady beetles.
 
Steve Bridges
Kimas Tejas Nursery
 
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Thursday, August 21, 2003 10:01 PM
Subject: Re: [compost_tea] Aphids

Don't want to start a flame, but AACT is not an 'icide.' Don't get us in trouble with the EPA by suggesting it is......It works because it helps add the beneficials needed to create and maintain healthy foodwebs with all the benefits that come with that state of nature...
 
APHIDS:  IMHO Compost tea means healthier plants that are not under stress. Plants under stress have higher incidents of aphids.
 
As for direct application and results on aphids, if you have a severe enough spray, it will knock them off the plants, but after a year, I still have them in my greenhouse, though now they seem to predominately hit the Orchids when in bloom. What self respecting Alaskan aphid wouldn't......
 
TENT CATERPILLARS starved.....that is not being killed directly by AACT, right?  Starving tent caterpillars means they wouldn't eat the leaves probably because there was something on them they didn't like or that they eat once and it shuts down their digestive system as in the action of bT. And maybe there was some bT strain or similar acting in the tea mix.
 
SLUGS?  Got me there. Perhaps the healthy foodweb at the sprayed plants includes plenty of opelias and slug eating microarthropods  as well as slug killing nematodes.
 
In any case, AACT isn't an 'icide' any more than mother nature, so be careful or we will have to register with the EPA because of the wrong claims on behalf of AACT.
 
 
Cheers,
 
Jeff L


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