The Best Stuff Ever!!!

[katrina]

Maria -- cinnamon oil and extract are two totally different animals. The oil does not stay suspended in the mixture and it can cause problems. [ask me how i know this]

[maria1971]

Ok, I'll bite, how do you know this? I've been using this without any problems whatsoever.

[karategirl73]

I also have filed away this recipe, I had a surprise when I took home an orchid two months ago and I decided to repot it right away. I was emptying the old medium in the garbage can, and there were two pretty large centipides squirming around in there! GROSS!! Since when do they live in orchid medium?? I don't know if they eat roots or not but it seemed like some of the roots were a little chewed up. ICK! Glad I repotted when I did, but it seems soaking in that recipe is a great idea.

[squire]

thanks gguys, need something to keeep the fungi away
any more ideas?

[Macy]

Cinnamon is a natural anti-fungal. I also put a little alcohol in the spray bottle.

[adelaidebunny]

omg. cockroaches in the pot?! I think I would be screaming and getting my vaccum ready.....

and I also read on the forum that there could be centipedes in your pot?! that is just..........disgusting!

[kmarch]

Originally Posted by squire

thanks gguys, need something to keeep the fungi away
any more ideas?

What kind of fungi? Does your orchid have fungal spotting on the leaves? Not all fungi are cause for concern. Given the organic medium most of us grow in pretty much all orchids will have some fungi in the mix somewhere. It's not necessarily a bad thing.

[anakcili]

Originally Posted by articuno75

10 drops dishsoap
1.8 ml cinnamon extract (about 1/2 tsp.)
2 cups tepid water

adjust ingredients as needed.

This is great for cleaning leaves, bacteria and fungal infections, bug teterrant, and now bug and slug killer !

Hi
Can I use the following as replacement
10 drop of normal dishsoap
1.8ml or 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder

Please advise.

[Lachlan]

Originally Posted by articuno75

10 drops dishsoap
1.8 ml cinnamon extract (about 1/2 tsp.)
2 cups tepid water

adjust ingredients as needed.

This is great for cleaning leaves, bacteria and fungal infections, bug teterrant, and now bug and slug killer !

Hi,
When you say "dishsoap" are you referring to dish-washing detergent or an actual product called dishsoap?
I ask this because soap is a natural product and detergent is synthetic.
All of my orchids are grown outdoors and I figure a wash before I re-pot with this recipe would do them a world of good but I would hate to use the wrong product and kill 20 orchids in 1 go, I think I would also drop dead!
Do you flush the pots with freshwater after?

Cheers,
Lachlan.

[orchids4me]

Originally Posted by Lachlan

Hi,
When you say "dishsoap" are you referring to dish-washing detergent or an actual product called dishsoap?
I ask this because soap is a natural product and detergent is synthetic.
All of my orchids are grown outdoors and I figure a wash before I re-pot with this recipe would do them a world of good but I would hate to use the wrong product and kill 20 orchids in 1 go, I think I would also drop dead!
Do you flush the pots with freshwater after?

Cheers,
Lachlan.

Hi Lachian,
Dish soap not detergent. I played it safe dawn dish soap safe for the enviroment used it to slide the new section on the bay bridge . They use it to wash water fowl and animals in oil spills. So this one is safe. I use this in my batches of brookin's recipe.
Good luck

[Greybeard]

I'm glad somebody reposted on this, I was having trouble finding the recepie, maybe scanning to fast for my old eyes it is tiny AS to centipedes, it is my understanding that most are carnivores, preying on other bugs, depends on what you have, they do love dark moist areas to hide and hunt Creepy crawlies, sometimes have a purpose

[mkduncan]

I used Palmolive Pure and Clear because someone mentioned use the green Palmolive. I used a little bit more Cinnamon and soap for a severe bout of spider mites on cucumber vines and it worked like a charm! I have had a problem getting rid of some mealy bugs on one orchid though. Nothing seems to work except alcohol swap every couple days.

[Phalkiller]

Originally Posted by articuno75

It was gross. But watching the critters surface and scramble for their very lives, only to go into a death rattle and fall back into the mix. It was creepy, but great. Pest free botanicals is all I care about.

I do have to make a note...It doesn't work on silverfish. (When I say everything was in that pot I meant it.) It slowed it down and stunned it, but didn't kill it. Man,,,, it was a fast littler booger too.

Hi articuno75!

I was wondering if i can use that mixture once a week as part of my watering regimen. My orchids are outside permanently as i am trying to mount them onto my tree. Snails are beginning to climb up the tree branches and eating my phal leaves. Would it be ok to use your formula to water the orchids with? i will also put some onto the leaves either with a spray or paint brush. Thank you for your help

[aslesha]

hi guys, im new here, and badly need some help...one of my dendrobiums, which is otherwise in good condition, and by that i mean has a fresh spray of flowers, has a healthy root system...but the leaves paint a different picture..most of the leaves have a speckled appearance...white speckles along the length of the blade,almost as if embedded in the leaf. im not sure if this is a viral infection, and how to go about treating it.its one of my favorite plants.....and i need help.

ps:this plant was attacked at the root by mealy bugs a few months ago, but i managed to flush them out, and hopefully the bugs havent caused this

[david8956]

Just found this thread....a lot of good info here.

For anyone looking for Cinnamon *OIL*, try your local pharmacist. The drug stores here (Florida) all seem to carry it, but you do have to ask for it because it's behind the counter. I bought a bottle recently for about $5.00 (1 Fl Oz, LorAnn cinnamon oil)

Off topic, but if you have any cinnamon oil......try soaking some wooden toothpicks in the oil for a week or more, then suck on them. I can guarantee it will light you up, but man is it good!

[funktified]

Hi Guys, just wanted to share my little experience - this could just be my ignorance, although be careful spraying this stuff on pods.

I had severe problems with those pesky aphids and sprayed about 750ml of this stuff between my 3 Cyms all along the spike, flowers, pods and base. What I found is that over the next week, all the flowers started to die and the pods all fell off after 1-1.5 months.

Well, I got rid of the aphids, and the plants are healthy - just no pods

[GKK]

I used to be an exterminator and yes dish soap is a wonder ingredient. In cockroaches it gets in kinda paralyzes their breathing "tubes" and they cant close them off so they drown in a matter of seconds. Also works on wasps and other flying critters. I have seen a few gnats recently and your post reminded me of all that. I keep cinnamon sticks soaking in my water sprayer all the time so I wonder if that would suffice if you had no extract.

[florence]

Originally Posted by Vivienne

has anyone tried this on scale??

Yes, I did try it on an orchid with scale...Itworks! Thank you sooooo much, Jenny! Flo

[coffeecup]

Does anyone know if its safe to soak Neofinetias in this? I wasn't sure...

[soundtweakers]

any particular brand of dishsoap?

[PaulB]

just liquid dishsoap, doesn't matter what flavor or brand.

[jayfar]

Originally Posted by PaulB

just liquid dishsoap, doesn't matter what flavor or brand.

I think it was recommended somewhere to avoid any dish soap that contains phosphates. I use NON-Ultra Joy, which does proclaim NO PHOSPHATES on the back of bottle label.

[Smurfette]

Sorry, what is dish soap? Is it like washing up liquid in the UK? Thought I'd check and make sure before I write the recipient out! I guess some things (like the word chuffed) get lost in translation in the global orchid world!!! Hehehehe!!!!

[Smurfette]

Sorry all, just backtracked the post a bit ( was speeding to the end to ask my question) and I see someone has asked similar so just ignore me - kid sent brain to mush!!!!

[SK7]

^Now i'm curious are washing up liquid and dish soap the same thing? I've been using Palmolive, soft touch with aloe. The chids don't seem to mind the aloe at all.

I'm using a recipe from Rays site with cinnamon powder soaked in rubbing alcohol, then filtered and add dish soap. It seems to be working well to get rid of spider mites.

[Smurfette]

Hahaha!!! It's catching.........

[soundtweakers]

doing the treatment now, and surprise critters running for their lives. holycow, glad I did this while the wife is not around.

great thread, thanks so much folks.

[Drezden]

Sorry if this is common sense, but when you make a large enough batch of the original recipe to soak plants in do you just multiply everything based on how much water you use use?

You need a lot more than 2 cups of water to submerge a plant, so if you multiplied based on that, it would be a lot of soap and a lot of cinnamon extract. Or can the teaspoon of cinnamon extract and 10 drops of soap be diluted with a lore more water without loosing effectiveness?

[ALToronto]

Originally Posted by Drezden

Sorry if this is common sense, but when you make a large enough batch of the original recipe to soak plants in do you just multiply everything based on how much water you use use?

You need a lot more than 2 cups of water to submerge a plant, so if you multiplied based on that, it would be a lot of soap and a lot of cinnamon extract. Or can the teaspoon of cinnamon extract and 10 drops of soap be diluted with a lore more water without loosing effectiveness?

You would need to scale the recipe - double, triple, or multiply by 10 all the ingredients. Otherwise, you're just wounding the bugs and making them stronger.

[JLu]

Originally Posted by ALToronto

You would need to scale the recipe - double, triple, or multiply by 10 all the ingredients. Otherwise, you're just wounding the bugs and making them stronger.

And your evidence for that statement? Not to mention evidence that this nonsense even works. Note that none of the original pushers of this are even around. I suspect they gave up orchids when their potions failed.

[Catt Mandu]

Originally Posted by Drezden

Sorry if this is common sense, but when you make a large enough batch of the original recipe to soak plants in do you just multiply everything based on how much water you use use?

You need a lot more than 2 cups of water to submerge a plant, so if you multiplied based on that, it would be a lot of soap and a lot of cinnamon extract. Or can the teaspoon of cinnamon extract and 10 drops of soap be diluted with a lore more water without loosing effectiveness?

If you are making a larger batch (example, 10 times as much), then use 20 cups water and 10 times the other ingredients as well.

My personal experience with this mixture ("the best stuff ever" aka TBSE) is that it works to significantly knock back mealybugs, but only temporarily (this was on a Paph). You have to keep using it, and it gets rid of bugs each time, but they come back each time. I've not tried it on other bugs or snails. For me, it was a reasonable, useful stop-gap until I could find a pesticide I was comfortable using on plants inside the house. It is not "nonsense" at all, but it is just one tool in my bug-fighting toolkit.

For the final mealybug treatment, I settled on Bayer Rose & Flower insect killer, labeled for house plants (Beta-cyfluthrin = 0.0015%; Imidacloprid = 0.0120%). Use as-sold from the spray bottle (it's not a concentrate). Thoroughly remove the old medium, clean the roots, clean the leaves with TBSE, spray the roots, leaves, new medium with Bayer R&F, then repot. This may not be your cup of tea if you want to avoid pesticides 100%, but it worked for me.

TBSE also does clean leaves (not surprising - contains soap). I have no idea or opinion regarding the other claimed benefits; not tried it for those purposes.

[Catt Mandu]

Sorry - double posted by accident.

[Catt Mandu]

Originally Posted by JLu

And your evidence for that statement? Not to mention evidence that this nonsense even works. Note that none of the original pushers of this are even around. I suspect they gave up orchids when their potions failed.

And your evidence for that statement?

[JLu]

They are gone

[PaulB]

Originally Posted by JLu

They are gone

Well then, maybe you can offer a remedy that isn't nonsense.

Oh, and people come and people go. I don't think they go because their "potions" didn't work.

[JLu]

Sure they do. They find out they can't raise an orchid so they quit. They never heard of a book and try to learn from others who also can't grow an orchid. The Google generation

As to suggesting a remedy. .. try some of the excellent materials on the market for treating the condition you have. Imadicloprid is an excellent for insects, but not arachnids like mites. it is the active ingredient in Merit. Safari has a similar ingredient in the same chemical class.
Other problems have their own remedies. I don't plan to cover all of them.

None of this is rocket science. People just insist the answer to every problem is in the kitchen cabinet. It isn't.

[Catt Mandu]

Originally Posted by JLu

They find out they can't raise an orchid so they quit. They never heard of a book and try to learn from others who also can't grow an orchid.

Seriously?

The arrogance thing - are you self-taught, or did you take a correspondence course?

There are MANY prior posters on this thread that most certainly can raise orchids. Paul is definitely one of them. There is a wide range of expertise here, and yes, learning from others is an excellent way of learning just about anything. I'll bet there are experienced growers that have learned a new trick here and there from beginners.

Although not every answer to every problem is in the kitchen cabinet, some definitely are - this "potion" is one that certainly has its uses.

Time to edit my "ignore list" again - warmest personal regards.

[RachaelHall1376]

Thank you to everyone who had POSITIVE contributions in this thread! I (being a beginner --- with books AND Google and more than a shred of intellect and humility) have learned quite a lot. Actually, considering this information was found on the Internet rather han a book I'm stunned

I have such a wide range of green friends that I needed some "potion" that was at least mostly non-chemical and TBSE was perfect.

Praise be to all you "Kitchen Witches" and please keep the helpful info coming.

[Reg22]

An article from the Colorado State University Extension service on using soap/detergents to kill insects:
CSU.edu

Excerpts from the article:
"Soaps have been used to control insects for more than 200 years." ...
"In most cases, control results from disruption of the cell membranes of the insect. Soaps and detergents may also remove the protective waxes that cover the insect, causing death through excess loss of water."

So much for kitchen "potions," it's more like kitchen SCIENCE.

[PaulB]

Definitely would rather mix up a batch of The Best Stuff Ever and not even think about how many pennies it cost, than spend anything from $7.95 to $15.95 for something that's going to sit on a shelf for the next ten years after I used it once or twice.

and let's see... Vinegar (distilled white), mixed 10 to 1 (water/vinegar) sprayed on powdery mildew on roses, etc... kills it;
Thin gauge copper wire wrapped once or twice around a table leg or pot will deter snails;
Worm Tea deters aphids, scale, whitefly;
Milk, diluted 10 to 1 on grapes before they bud, takes care of black spot.

The list goes on....

[RachaelHall1376]

In animal care, you can only use the same flea/tick shampoo 3 times before the new eggs are immune. To break the cycle, we use dish soap (dawn, Ajax, Palmolive, whatever). It kills the live fleas and ticks by coating them and they cannot breathe. They "flea" the animal or smother. In a couple days you do it again to get any newly hatched. Then you are good to go with the flea killing shampoo on your normal cycle again. I figure if I will use it on Goose and August I can use it on my next most beloved. (Michael hates it though!). As for TBSE, well, I used it yesterday after reading this thread. THANKS

[PaulB]

Originally Posted by RachaelHall1376

In animal care, you can only use the same flea/tick shampoo 3 times before the new eggs are immune. To break the cycle, we use dish soap (dawn, Ajax, Palmolive, whatever). It kills the live fleas and ticks by coating them and they cannot breathe. They "flea" the animal or smother. In a couple days you do it again to get any newly hatched. Then you are good to go with the flea killing shampoo on your normal cycle again. I figure if I will use it on Goose and August I can use it on my next most beloved. (Michael hates it though!). As for TBSE, well, I used it yesterday after reading this thread. THANKS

Thanks for the tip, Rachael!

[Margarita]

When you spray this great recipe for bug deterrent, etc., or another bug insecticide, how long before you water again? tHANKS for any replies to this question. I have some thrips on my vandas which are drying up my spikes before they open, and have sprayed for that. However, don't know if I should continue watering as usual, or wait a few days?

Thanks

Margarita

[rocio5678]

Hi! This post is going to give me nightmares LOL!!

I have another recipe that works wonders, I found it in an orchid site in Spanish, bare with my translation please!!

In a pint spray bottle pour 2 tablespoons of cinnamon in powder, the one in your kitchen and a cup or rubbing alcohol; shake well, put the cap without the tube (it can clog with the powder) of the bottle on and let it rest overnight. Then filter the solution with a coffee filter (takes forever, but is worth it). Wash the bottle and return the solution to it. Add 2 tablespoons of liquid dish soap (any brand) and fill the bottle with water.

It works wonders, I have it always at hand!! It's great to treat mild pests, fungal and bacterial infections, and also to disinfect cutting tools and cauterize cuts and wounds.

I use it also when I buy a new orchid and get it home, after talking it out of the medium it comes in, I spray the whole plant with this spray "just in case".

Maybe by leaving the cinnamon in the alcohol we get some kind of cinnamon extract?

Hope it helps!!

[jayfar]

Originally Posted by rocio5678

Maybe by leaving the cinnamon in the alcohol we get some kind of cinnamon extract?

Precisely that. The ingredients listed for McCormick Cinnamon Extract:

Propylene Glycol, Alcohol (40%), Water, And Extractives Of Cinnamon.

Cinnamon Extract | McCormick

[kdennis14]

wow, I am going to try this. Thank you so much!!!
Karen

[JosephLopez]

Thanks for sharing.

[dahlia]

thanks for the recipe...i'll be sure to add this to my 'tool kit'...i'm new to orchids so every tip helps

[dahlia]

i was told that cinnamon is good for treating cuts on orchids, eg. cutting damaged leaves, spent spikes, rotted roots, etc.. Is this true?

[Fishmom]

Cinnamon powder is a dessicant and a fungicide. Carefully applied, it can help heal an open cut on a leaf or other localized wound. However, it should NOT be sprinkled all over the roots or a plant, as it will damage whatever it contacts and dry it out. When I use it, I apply with a Q-tip (cotton on a stick) so it doesn't get where I don't want it.

The cinnamon in this solution is a liquid, not a powder. I have used this formulation on my plants without any problem, and it is a good contact killer.