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Is petroleum jelly on the stem going to harm them?

neongreen

Active member
Veteran
So I spotted what I thought was mites on my clones, and till I can neem them I decided to put a small ring of petroleum jelly around the stems to stop mites spreading.

After having done that, I'm now wondering if it was a bad idea!? Am I in danger of "ringing" my clones? Should I clean it off?
 

Weird

3rd-Eye Jedi
Veteran
i use horticultural mineral oil but too much can fuck up tissue esp if it is young and tender
 

neongreen

Active member
Veteran
They are all fairly mature. Cloned over two months ago now, and many in need of potting up!

48 hours and the plants seem fine, although I guess it's still early days. I may take clones from the larger clones, just to be sure I don't loose anything important!

:tiphat:
 

Dawn Patrol

Well this is some bullshit right here.....
Veteran
I think you'll be fine. I've been experimenting with a strip of very dense foam (Magic Eraser sponges cut up) saturated with essential rosemary oil wrapped and tied around the base stem. Every week I add more oil and I've seen no adverse effects at all.

Next step is to test my essential oil mixes but i don't anticipate any issues with them.
 

aridbud

automeister
ICMag Donor
Veteran
I think you'll be fine. I've been experimenting with a strip of very dense foam (Magic Eraser sponges cut up) saturated with essential rosemary oil wrapped and tied around the base stem. Every week I add more oil and I've seen no adverse effects at all.

Next step is to test my essential oil mixes but i don't anticipate any issues with them.

Great idea!
 

Dawn Patrol

Well this is some bullshit right here.....
Veteran
I've been experimenting with essential oils (rosemary in particular) for almost a year now as aphids and spider mites are an ongoing battle for me here. We haven't had a hard freeze for about 7 years now and all the bugs are at full strength all the time.

The sponge stem barrier is not my idea, I saw it here or on another forum but it's a great way to keep pests from "climbing the tree" as it were.

By the way, the essential oils mixes need to be sprayed weekly to be effective, but for a non systemic, organic solution they seem to be working quite well for me. I can't say they eradicate the pests, but they do seem to keep them in check. Plants are healthy, happy and show no signs of pest infestation even though I occasionally can scope a spider mite or two.
 

Sativan

Member
I use a ring of Tanglefoot around the base of the stem if I develop mites or other crawling insects. it does no damage.
 

neongreen

Active member
Veteran
So far so good here. It did no obvious harm, and I dipped them all in a neem bath recently which had the desired result.

Thanks to all for the ideas and alternative suggestions.
 

Easy7

Active member
Veteran
With outdoor guerilla it's important to trim back nearby plants. Not only light but the bugs. I never tried pine tar as copper wire does a good job with slugs. Other bugs seem to not do terribly much.
 
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