Coffee for treating scale

[JungleGina]

Here's a great article on controling scale on cycads, but I'm sure it would apply to anything with a scale problem. I've also heard it works for killing mosquitos in the center of broms.

http://www.cycad.org/Documents/Broome-Coffee-2007.pdf

[Jeff Searle]

Gina,

   I tried clicking on and the site cannot be found.

Sidenote,

        I was down at Fairchild Tropical Garden this past weekend and noticed big piles of coffee grounds underneath many of their cycads.

Jeff

[Mats]

(Jeff Searle @ Apr. 10 2008,19:33)

QUOTE

I tried clicking on and the site cannot be found.

Jeff, that's the same article Danny linked to in this post last February.

Here's a working link: "Coffee, Cycads' New Best Friend?"

[cycadjungle]

From my now 20 months of experiments, I have found that using the coffee in different forms is killing all kinds of scales, mealy bugs and aphids. It does not matter what plants these insects are getting on, this stuff works on them all. I was sent out to do a talk to the chapter in Arizona and I was glad to hear people using my iodeas to save plants I haven't even had the chance to experiment with. A long time Cycad Society member heard my talk at the Huntington last year and tried it on his purple Opuntias. These plants native to Arizona are getting wiped out by a new scale I hadn't heard about and he said after 1 application, it cleaned up his plants and they are coming back fine.

 What gives me the greatest pleasure is to hear about people like him and now I see that the people at Fairchild are trying it too. I talked to a few people from different Florida botanical gardens that are now working with it as well.  I must admit as being an owner of a cycad nursery here in Florida, I try to sell enough plants to make a living, but helping people to save their plants and propagate their plants has always been important to me too. Now I am helping my own competition grow their plants, where they have been throwing them away instead. Hopefully some of what I do will come back someday, but for now, if this can put a serious dent in the Asian scale problem, it will all be worth it.

[LJG]

Such a great discovery. So simple. We do nto have the scale problems you do it the tropics and FL, but the coffee grounds will help with Mealy's.

[JungleGina]

Sorry for the repeat. I discovered that you guys had already discussed it on here after I posted. But I'm happy to know it works because I'd love a sago but have been too afraid to get one. Although it makes me wonder...if it's so good at killing bugs, should I continue drinking coffee?  ???

Anyway, I've been using coffee grounds for some time to build the soil quality in my yard and it works great. And it seems to work quiet well in mosquito control so it's good to know it is so multi-functional yet organic.

[_Keith]

(cycadjungle @ Apr. 10 2008,20:54)

QUOTE

From my now 20 months of experiments, I have found that using the coffee in different forms is killing all kinds of scales, mealy bugs and aphids. It does not matter what plants these insects are getting on, this stuff works on them all. I was sent out to do a talk to the chapter in Arizona and I was glad to hear people using my iodeas to save plants I haven't even had the chance to experiment with. A long time Cycad Society member heard my talk at the Huntington last year and tried it on his purple Opuntias. These plants native to Arizona are getting wiped out by a new scale I hadn't heard about and he said after 1 application, it cleaned up his plants and they are coming back fine.

 What gives me the greatest pleasure is to hear about people like him and now I see that the people at Fairchild are trying it too. I talked to a few people from different Florida botanical gardens that are now working with it as well.  I must admit as being an owner of a cycad nursery here in Florida, I try to sell enough plants to make a living, but helping people to save their plants and propagate their plants has always been important to me too. Now I am helping my own competition grow their plants, where they have been throwing them away instead. Hopefully some of what I do will come back someday, but for now, if this can put a serious dent in the Asian scale problem, it will all be worth it.

First, thank you for your hard and persistent work.

Second, a question.  I have a 25 gl Soil Soup Aerobic Compost Brewer.   What do you think about using it to brew a coffee spray?  Any speculation, positive or negative, would appreciated.

[cycadjungle]

"Second, a question.  I have a 25 gl Soil Soup Aerobic Compost Brewer.   What do you think about using it to brew a coffee spray?  Any speculation, positive or negative, would appreciated."

You should read the article again, you will see what I am using to brew it for pump sprayer use. It works real well. I haven't had to spray my plants with anything but coffee and a fungicide on occation, for the last 20 months now. I just picked up a bag at my local place that was marked expresso on it and that is what I'm going to use to brew my next 55 gallons of spray.

[_Keith]

(cycadjungle @ Apr. 11 2008,22:22)

QUOTE

"Second, a question.  I have a 25 gl Soil Soup Aerobic Compost Brewer.   What do you think about using it to brew a coffee spray?  Any speculation, positive or negative, would appreciated."

You should read the article again, you will see what I am using to brew it for pump sprayer use. It works real well. I haven't had to spray my plants with anything but coffee and a fungicide on occation, for the last 20 months now. I just picked up a bag at my local place that was marked expresso on it and that is what I'm going to use to brew my next 55 gallons of spray.

I did read your article carefully, and with great interest.  As a matter of fact, I just went and read it yet again.  

I like your rig, but this is me being lazy.  Rather than go find the drum and other parts and assemble the setup you were using, I was thinking of using what is already sitting on my bench ready to go.  

I just didn't know if the oxygenation component would add to, detract from, or have no effect on the chemical makeup of the spray, which in your setup is brewed in what is mostly an Anaerobic environment, I think.

I am not a scientist, so I may be missing something, or over simplifying.

[Cycadcenter]

Here are a couple of links to Organic Gardening sites.

http://invisiblegardener.com/magazin....hen.htm

http://www.1stoporganicgardening.com/alt.htm

The second one is from Oz where organic gardening is very big and spraying and mulching with coffe has been a standard for many years.